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Starbucks, Pizza Hut and KFC are among the chains that reported same-store sales declines this quarter.

McDonald’s said it’s adopting a “street-fighting mentality” to creating value to win over customers.

Outliers like Wingstop and Chipotle Mexican Grill show that customers will still order their favorite foods, even if they’re more expensive than they were a year ago.

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It’s finally here: the long-predicted consumer pullback.

Starbucks announced a surprise drop in same-store sales for its latest quarter, sending its shares down 17% on Wednesday. Pizza Hut and KFC also reported shrinking same-store sales. And even stalwart McDonald’s said it has adopted a “street-fighting mentality” to compete for value-minded diners.

For months, economists have been predicting that consumers would cut back on their spending in response to higher prices and interest rates. But it’s taken a while for fast-food chains to see their sales actually shrink, despite several quarters of warnings to investors that low-income consumers were weakening and other diners were trading down from pricier options.

Many restaurant companies also offered other reasons for their weak results this quarter. Starbucks said bad weather dragged its same-store sales lower. Yum Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, blamed January’s snowstorms and tough comparisons to a strong first quarter last year for its brands’ poor performance.

But those excuses don’t fully explain the weak quarterly results. Instead, it looks like the competition for a smaller pool of customers has grown fiercer as the diners still looking to buy a burger or cold brew become pickier with their cash.

The cost of eating out at quick-service restaurants has climbed faster than that of eating at home. Prices for limited-service restaurants rose 5% in March compared with the year-ago period, while prices for groceries have been increasing more slowly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Clearly everybody’s fighting for fewer consumers or consumers that are certainly visiting less frequently, and we’ve got to make sure we’ve got that street-fighting mentality to win, irregardless of the context around us,” McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden said on the company’s conference call on Tuesday.

Outliers show that customers will still order their favorite foods, even if they’re more expensive than they were a year ago. Wingstop, Wall Street’s favorite restaurant chain, reported its U.S. same-store sales soared 21.6% in the first quarter. Chipotle Mexican Grill, whose customer base is predominantly higher income, saw traffic rise 5.4% in its first quarter. And Restaurant Brands International’s Popeyes reported same-store sales growth of 5.7%.
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People went to be poor somewhere else.

You mean people don’t want to pay $15 for a Big Mac?

But how are avocado sales?

+1
You can damn near go to a casual sit down for the price of McDs anymore

Lagging only slightly behind sales of straps.

Can you imagine forking over $34.99 for a McRib in a few years if Biden is re-elected?

There is a McDonald's in a smaller town near mine I drive through alot actually shut down a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a McDonald's shut down before.

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gonna be alot of hungry fatties wandering around...watch yourselves

What’s a Wendy’s Triple with xtra cheese costing these days?

I've only ever seen one shut down due to health violations.

I had a family owned restaurant not too long ago. Impossible to make margins. Absolutely impossible, no matter how good the service or food was. See a lot of family owned restaurants close up this past year. The ones that are still around are begging for customers on facebook. Restaurants are dying around here.

I love wingstop.

My wife and I are a high income household and we are lucky if we dine out 1x/month at a sit down place. Fast food is maybe 2x/month and just a McD’s burger and fries for my son. For me, it’s the McChicken.

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Wagyu is pretty good in our area. Of course I don't spend ANY money on fast food. I learned how to flip a bunch of eggs in a skillet the other day by putting the half finished eggs in the lid, putting the pan upside down on the lid and then flipping it all back over. Fresh tuna for lunch, Royal Red shrimp with a nice flounder tonight. When we were younger and had a busy household it was "easy" to order a pizza. Not so now. It's a bottomless pit of failure. I saw that the commercial occupancy in NYC was 51%today. To heck with it just make the minimum wage $50 and wear a sack over your head.

We're adjusting.  We ate corndogs for supper this evening.  

I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s in over two years now. Wendy’s isn’t far behind. Chic Fil-A is down to once a month at best.

Fast food places are the same price as sit-down restaurants with vastly-better food.   The only reason to eat fast food now is when traveling or really pressed for time.

I started eating a little McDonald's again after staving off them mostly a few years ago when the prices first started getting ridiculous for the quality of food.  They were offering breakfast sandwiches for $1.50 through 4/28 so I started getting my old standby - the Egg McMuffin.  It was consistently good, but no way I would spend the $4.99 they normally charge.  It might have been a hook to get me coming back.  I have had their McNuggets on occasion but $9.95 for 10 PC and fries and a drink is ridiculous.  

Taco Bell seems to be the one really wanting business.  I have eaten them since the Mexican Pizza came back, and I like the ordering kiosk.

In the 80s in high school I worked at a McDonalds
Now I go into them and other fast food restaurants to work on equipment and there is a bunch of people working there
Like x2-x3 for the same size place as what I was working in my youth

And the prices are sit down restaurants equivalent now.
The money is getting to be worth so much less now

Starbucks has new competition all over the place. The number of coffee shop franchises opening in NorTX is astounding.

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People eat out??

McDonald’s said it’s adopting a “street-fighting mentality” to creating value to win over customers.
LOL! Don’t they already have enough problems with those people in their restaurants?

I can grill my own burger better than any fast food joint and it doesn't sit like a lead brick in my stomach.

McDonald's CFO really used the word "irregardless"? The fuck?

People maxed out their credit limit. They had to cut back; as the plastic won’t work any more. The high interest rates on the minimum payment are eating up all of their disposable income.

Bidenomics worked as planed.

"irregardless of the context around us," McDonald's CFO Ian Borden said on the company's conference call on Tuesday."

Not a word, you college graduate moron.

Shits bad when divorced soccer moms and teenage girls cut back on Starbucks. Dad's credit cards must be getting maxed out.

why wood mills and zekes do this?

After a couple disappointing experiences post covid with subpar food and service and the workers who expect tips for everything just because they showed up to work, weve stopped mostly eating out. It's a shame because these places were good local businesses. We almost never eat fast food with the rare exception of chik fil a bit that's been nixed with the change in their policy regarding chicken.

$25 at the MickyD's drive through for some processed food pellets just somehow seems excessive.

Go home. Thaw out a ribeye. Bake a damn potato. Maybe a breadroll. Fuck that double quarterpounder.

Inflation in everything.
Utilities
Insurance
Grocery store
Biden did that and Powell is talking tapering QT and starting QE?
FAFO how that works for you Powell.

Have they lost a customer?

Perhaps the idiot millennial that wrote the article misquoted him?

3 years ago I would grab McDonalds for breakfast on occasion breaking my diet for a treat..  2 sausage biscuits and a large Sweet Tea.  Cost $3.21 .  Happened to stop by this morning and ordered the same thing.  $8.00 and change.   Won't be doing that again.

I gave up on fast food last year when a single meal at Popeyes cost almost $20.  I can go to the local Mexican cantina and spend that much for food and a beer while being waited on.

I'd rather eat healthier for basically the same money as fast food , I have  two  good supermarkets near me

who do gourmet buffets with good food  and very good selection of food .

I did my sister-in-law a favor, taking my visiting picky nephew for McNuggets through the drive-through last week: a drink, fries and 20 crappy nuggets = $17.

Comparison, Chili's (admittedly a mediocre place, but sit down with service), I got a "3 For Me" deal with a pretty decent real beef burger, coke, fries, a green salad with toppings, free chips and salsa = $10.99 plus tip.

Good fast casual is my usual jam, actual McD / Burger King / Wendy's .. haven't been to for a decade.

If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.

Local bar and grill here does a $9 burger special on Mondays. I can go there and get a burger and a beer for damn near what Burger King costs.

Gotta use the apps to keep the price down.

And credit cards are hitting their limits. Going to be fun in the recession.

I was near chipotle last week and looked at a bowl with double chicken and nothing extra and it was $15.  Nah.

For me, it's the McChicken. The best fast food sandwich. I even ask for extra McChicken sauce packets and the staff is so friendly and more than willing to oblige. One time I asked for McChicken sauce packets and they gave me three. I said, "Wow, three for free!" and the nice friendly McDonald's worker laughed and said, "I'm going to call you 3-for-free!".

Now the staff greets me with "hey it's 3-for-free!" and ALWAYS give me three packets. It's such a fun and cool atmosphere at my local McDonald's restaurant, I go there at least 3 times a week for lunch and a large iced coffee with milk instead of cream, 1-2 times for breakfast on the weekend, and maybe once for dinner when I'm in a rush but want a great meal that is affordable, fast, and can match my daily nutritional needs.

I even dip my fries in McChicken sauce, it's delicious! What a great restaurant.

You just need to use the app.

AVOCADOS WILL NEVER FAIL!!!  BUY ALL OF THE AVOCADOS!!!

McDonalds has been going down for a decade. It's not the place it used to be. They hire anybody and everybody that can't find a job else where.
Face tattoos, neck tattoos, and prison records...they don't care. They FU pretty much every order every time. Two years ago, the drive thru girl had a BLM hat on.
They just don't give a shit! Their food sucks now, and the price is double.

I can go to BK and get a combo for $5. There's no LTBGTQ+++ faggotry and they get my order right. FU McDonald's and FU McChicken!
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