Originally Posted By TheLookingGlass:
They really push the apps because of the telemetry and tracking data they gather about you. You might only use the app once a week for a fast food order, but that thing is running in the background 24/7 gathering data points on you.  Selling that data is an additional way to make money off people.

No thanks.

Originally Posted By RTX:
Sounds as if those people just need more help in these difficult times. I wonder if we could try an EBT-type card for them to swipe at fast food places only? Maybe give them an extra 2-300 bucks a week on that card to help them get through this? Seems the right thing to do.

Originally Posted By Walleyeguy24:


Is my sarcasm meter broken or was this post actually serious?

Originally Posted By Naffenea:
I laugh at the thought 50k is low income.

Also, no two burger and a drink combo should cost $30.

So any fuck nugget McD manager, the fastest way to cut prices is to get your drinks down to under a dollar. No way that syrup costs you $3 a cup.

Originally Posted By giantpune:
Do we have a "no shit, sherlock" emoji?
Fast food joints want to charge you $3 for a drink?  The majority of their cost is in the cup.  They have $0.15 invested in it, and want to mark it up 2000%.

A combo meal shouldn't be $12, $15, or $20 like it is getting in some areas.

And lets not even get into them hiring the stupidest, slowest humans on the planet.  Even when you order ahead on the app and tell them to start making the food, it still takes them 30 minutes to make a whopper and fries and hand it to you through the window.  You already took away all the punching in the order on the cash register and counting money and these dumb fucks still cant figure it out.

Originally Posted By Orion10182011:
The gap between the cost of fast food and a nice sit down restaurant has really narrowed.

Originally Posted By djkest:
It's really hitting small breweries / wineries as well. Seeing a big slump in business.

Originally Posted By Drsalee:
Fuck these prices.

I have cut back my eating out by 75%.  All restaurants.

Originally Posted By ZuoZongtang:
Can SNAP be used at Mc Donald’s?

Originally Posted By Orion10182011:
The gap between the cost of fast food and a nice sit down restaurant has really narrowed.

Originally Posted By TheLookingGlass:
They really push the apps because of the telemetry and tracking data they gather about you. You might only use the app once a week for a fast food order, but that thing is running in the background 24/7 gathering data points on you.  Selling that data is an additional way to make money off people.

No thanks.

Originally Posted By Drsalee:
Fuck these prices.

I have cut back my eating out by 75%.  All restaurants.

Originally Posted By DamascusKnifemaker:
Maybe they will eat better food and be less fat but I doubt it.

Originally Posted By TheLookingGlass:
They really push the apps because of the telemetry and tracking data they gather about you. You might only use the app once a week for a fast food order, but that thing is running in the background 24/7 gathering data points on you.  Selling that data is an additional way to make money off people.

No thanks.

Originally Posted By Palm:
We have stopped all together going to “fast food” establishments. It isn’t because we can’t afford it; it is because we don’t see it as a good value. For example the wife and I ate choice ribeye last night. We each had 7 oz cut of a ribeye for $5 each. We baked a potato in the oven and grilled the ribeye on the bbq. It sure beats $15 each for a burger meal from a fast food joint.

Originally Posted By SAE:
"Hey, welcome to Jizzle Burger can I take it's order today?

"Yeah, huh, give me the motherfucking bug burger combo wit okay?"

Originally Posted By DamascusKnifemaker:
Maybe they will eat better food and be less fat but I doubt it.

Originally Posted By SteelonSteel:



Drinks were always the profit center.  

I remember in the 80’s we analyzed what a soda costs versus what the company pays for it.  


Back then iirc the numbers were something like.....
$0.03 for flavored syrup
$0.0005 water
$0.0005 gas for the bubbles
$0.007 for the cup, lid and straw

$$0.11 cost, price for customer was $0.89

Originally Posted By Orion10182011:
The gap between the cost of fast food and a nice sit down restaurant has really narrowed.

Originally Posted By TAG_Match:


Similar situation at my house, but once in a blue moon the wife and I get a craving for Whataburger #2 with cheese.  Brought it home for like $32 something.  

I had been putting back packages of meat at the grocery store that I could afford, just wouldn’t buy on principle because the price is ridiculous.  Told my wife after paying $32 for burgers and fries for us, the meat that I had been putting back was not so ridiculously priced after all.

Originally Posted By callgood:
Link

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60489/Capture_JPG-3170705.JPG

SAN ANTONIO, Texas March 27 (Reuters) - Runaway prices at U.S. fast-food joints and restaurants have made people skittish down the income ladder and executives at chains including McDonald's (MCD.N), opens new tab and Wendy's (WEN.O), opens new tab recently said they worry about losing business from those on the tightest budgets.

Roughly a quarter of low-income consumers, defined as those making less than $50,000 a year, said they were eating less fast food and about half said they were making fewer trips to fast-casual and full-service dining establishments, according to polling in February by Revenue Management Solutions, a consulting firm.

The rising price of food is contributing to budget-conscious diners cutting back.

Whether consumed at home or in a restaurant, food prices rose 20% from Jan. 2021 to Jan. 2024, the fastest jump on record. A recent census Household Pulse Survey showed half of people earning less than $35,000 a year had difficulty paying everyday expenses, and nearly 80% were moderately or "very" stressed by recent price increases.

Lauren Oxford, a musician who works part time at a bed-and-breakfast in Tennessee, said she used to stop by McDonald's after running errands, treating herself to two double hamburgers, fries and a drink, for less than $5. As prices rose, she switched to smaller hamburgers and stopped getting the drink.

But after a year in which McDonald's franchisees drove prices up about 10% according to the company's executives, she's going to McDonald's less in general. "Now I don't know if I can justify that."

In the Fed's most recent Beige Book compendium of anecdotal reports gathered from business and community contacts around the country, 7 of 12 regional Fed districts reported low-income consumers were changing spending habits in search of bargains, seeking more help from community groups, or struggling to access credit.

About one-third of Black American households, and 21% of white American households, earned less than $35,000 in 2022, according to the latest available U.S. census data.

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/60489/Capture_JPG-3170707.JPG

For fast-food companies that often promote an image of affordability, low-income consumers are a significant portion of the customer base and a bellwether for longer-term trends. But they are typically the first to cut back spending and the last to come back.

But now, chains may be less likely to chase customers as hard as they have in the past because even with a drop in traffic, sales have remained consistent supported by increased prices.

Fast food companies aren't "in a hurry to take traffic over profit the way they were a decade ago," said Mike Lukianoff, CEO of SignalFlare.ai and a veteran consultant in the fast food industry.

For example back in 2008, Subway introduced its nationwide $5 footlong, which became the poster sandwich for the Great Recession. That spurred rivals to introduce extreme value deals for budget-conscious customers, such as "$5 Fill-Up Boxes" at Yum! Brands (YUM.N), opens new tab KFC.

In 2016, McDonald's, after a prolonged slump in sales, introduced a bundle deal it called "McPick 2", allowing customers to choose 2 items, like a McDouble, for $2. Within months, Wendy's offered a four for $4 deal. Burger King offered five for $4. Pizza Hut had a $5 "flavor menu."

APP-DRIVEN DISCOUNTS
Now, instead of across-the-board menu slashes and broad discounts, industry analysts say chains are being more selective, aiming them at specific demographics or limiting them to specific meal times or channels, such as its app or only through delivery.

McDonald's executives told investors in February that it would rely on its existing "value menu" to appeal to low-income consumers who might be tempted to eat packaged food at home instead. CFO Ian Borden said affordability is core to the brand, and the company would continue "evolving" its value offerings.

"The battleground is certainly with that low-income consumer," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski told investors, referring to people making less than $45,000.

Wendy's recently introduced a limited-time $1 burger   available only through its app. Its CFO Gunther Plosch told investors in February that among lower-income customers, their traffic is down but their share with the general market is unchanged.

For major fast-food companies, loyalty apps are the go-to strategy among major brands to increase retention and the average amount of money spent. The upside for chains, David Henkes, senior principal with Technomic said, is that they capture more transaction data and demographic data for the consumer, "which is a trade-off many are happy to do."

For example, McDonald's frequently offers in-app discounts, such as 20% off an order or free delivery with a large enough order.

Domino's (DPZ.N), opens new tab halved the minimum purchase price to get points in its loyalty program, to $5 from $10, its CEO told investors at a conference in January. It also reduced the number of purchases needed to get a free pizza to as few as two from six. "And so essentially, for this lower-income consumer, we've made the brand more accessible," CEO Russell Weiner said.

To be sure, not every chain is seeing weakness among low-income customers. At Taco Bell, which sells a single taco for $1.40 at many of its stores in San Antonio, locations in low-income markets did better than other locations, Yum! CEO David Gibbs told investors in February.

McDonald's still holds its appeal for Andreas Garay, a retail worker eating at a McDonald's in westside San Antonio. He said he plans to keep his coffee-and-Big-Mac habit-- even if prices continue going up.

Originally Posted By Waldo0506:
That girl eats 2 McDoubles, a fry, and a drink for a meal?

I have abs. This is what I ate today:

-breakfast was coffee, home made breakfast sandwich with 1 egg, cheese, and 1 piece of bacon. 5 strawberries

-lunch a hamburger with water and an apple

-dinner was 5 chicken wings and 2 cookies and water

Stop eating for 2 people, damn.

Originally Posted By Naffenea:
I laugh at the thought 50k is low income.

Also, no two burger and a drink combo should cost $30.

So any fuck nugget McD manager, the fastest way to cut prices is to get your drinks down to under a dollar. No way that syrup costs you $3 a cup.

Originally Posted By JellyBelly:
McDonald's food is too low in quality for the price.

Originally Posted By Paul:
I won't compromise my privacy to use a discount app so a double burger with bacon, fries, and a coke are just under $20 now at Wendy's.

That was a day's take home pay when I first started working, but back then the minimum wage was $2.65 and that meal above was a $1.

Originally Posted By Mike_314:
Imagine that, companies raise prices and people buy less.  Who'd have thunk it?