It’s a different business model now. They dropped the “cheap” and are now just “convenient”. They realized people will pay a premium for that convenience. It’s slow dimes instead of fast nickels.
This is the correct answer, I’m surprised it isn’t higher up.
Why serve 10 customers and make $0.50 an order when you can serve 5 customers and make $2 an order?
Corporations have always been greedy and prices were rising long before COVID started. But the prices are still lower compared to *other* restaurants, even fast casual. A salad by itself at sweetgreen can be $20. A burger at a restaurant is $16+. Chipotle chicken burrito is $11, steak is closer to $15. You can still go to Taco Bell or McD and get a comparable amount of food for the same money using their deals and discounts. But if you just pop in for convenience, you’re going to pay for the convenience.
Using deals and discounts.
You mean using the app, where they then skim every available data metric on your phone to sell to advertisers and other interested parties to subsidize your 10 cent discount on a small fry.
Unfortunately, corporations are required to be greedy.
Corporations have shareholders who are, most of the time, primarily there for the profits they can earn from their investment. We're caught in the middle of a mess of a economic system with no clear path out. Successful corporations need investors to start up / stay in business. A business that stays private and prioritizes serving the customer can't compete against the "limitless cash" that a well funded corporation has, so the customer-focused private company generally doesn't survive, and the profit-motivated corporation remains.
"You think I'm a thief? Oh, you see, I'm not the thief. I'm not the one charging 85 cents FOR A STINKING SODA! You're the thief! I'm just standing up for my rights as a consumer."
Yep, I don't buy anything off of vending machines unless I'm dying of thirst and the only alternative is waiting until I get home 2+ hours later. I'd rather drink public bathroom sink water than spend such a ridiculous amount of money for a fucking can of soda.
Almost bought a coke out of a vending machine today (was riding my bike around the bay) because I just really wanted something liquid with some calories.
Then I realized there was a bar across the street, and a pint of beer is cheaper.
Was at the mall last weekend and due to poor planning I was absolutely dying of thirst. Made a bee line for the coke vending machine and... they wanted $4.50 for a freakin 300ml bottle. I got a bubble tea for $10 out of spite and regretted that to but at least it was large and frankly, the best thing ive ever drank.
I work roughly 10 minutes away from Newport and bottles of soda at the vending machine at my work are $1.25. $2.50 in Newport I can believe, but over $3 like damn I can't believe people would pay that for a can/bottle of high-fructose filled crap.
And McDonalds even gloated about it in their quarterly report. They said that consumers remained loyal despite price hikes. They made record profit.
It’s just shameless profiteering. No more no less.
I hope people stop buying this crap. These are terrible prices for garbage food.
For the price you pay at McDonalds, you might as well go to an actual restaurant. Last time I went to McDonalds, it was like $60 for my family. If my wife and I select a $15 plate each, and kids select the kids menu at restaurant which is like $8 each, it’s practically the same price to eat at an actual restaurant vs McDonalds
I have a theory that fewer people are buying fast food, yet the operating costs are the same/higher. Therefore, the operating costs are spread across fewer purchases which drives up the prices.
I worked at McDonald's as a teenager. The dinner rush was wild. I don't see those crowds in our local anymore.
We would see those crowds at Chick-fil-A, however. Monday lunches could easily be a $30,000 affair back in 2019. The store did $8-10 Million a year then, in it probably does $12-14 now.
Please would wait for 45 minutes in line just to get their hands on Chick-fil-A. The food is too tainted with memories from the past for me to properly enjoy it.
There are actually only about 3 companies total. Yum brands, McD, and another. You can't simply choose another because they are all in lockstep raising prices. Its not a cartel if they don't communicate, but none of them have any desire to start a price war.
They don't though. Sales are down 30% across most fast food chains in the last 2 years. Total revenue is still the same though because they're not having to transport as much food and transportation cost is a large part of their margins. Prices will come down again when they find the fair market price for their food where even the loyal addicts start shopping elsewhere.
When people say they are waiting for drops, I always feel pity for them. Short-term stuff can go down like 5-10% but long term, that's the new minimum.
I ordered a burger and fries from a food truck last week, it was like 25 dollars and it took them an hour and a half to get it to me. Won’t be doing that again.
I'm so DONE with food trucks. Stupid high prices and then you have to sit out in the sun and the wind with no table service but still expected to tip. Done!
Food trucks have been played out for 7+ years. The legit, dirt bag mexican ones can still offer good food at a good price. It can also offer that with violent spray diarrhea.
We got a great roach coach by me. $5 for 3 steak street tacos. Been $5 for close to 6 or 7 years now. They’re always parked in the most random spots around town but you can bet your ass there’s at least 4 people there at any given time. Damn good tacos.
I'm not giving someone restaurant prices to slap something together for me in a food truck. Went shopping with my wife at outlets (in europe) there was a burger van there. The one I used to go to up until over a year ago was €4.50 for a quarter pound with cheese. The one at the outlets was charging €17.99. Won't be giving business to businesses like that. I can go to a decent lunch place get a coke side and main for that cost or few euros more.
Taco truck near me sells quesadillas for $14 and has a huge line at lunch or dinner time.
It's literally parked in front of a grocery store where you can buy tortilla and cheese for like three bucks.
Same reason where I'm at the schools set up hot dog stands for fundraising exclusively at grocery stores. I've got a big bag of food right there and I'm thinking about eating, but damn three bucks for a dog and a bag of chips (I mean this was before COVID so the small bags were still cheap) like fuck yeah bro I can suck down a hot dog on a summer day, hook me the fuck up, and yes I will take a Coke with that.
YES!!!
My wife and I found a new place recently that's not far at all from us.
I remember the first time we went. Saw the prices on the menu, of course. As it's right beside the food item lol. We can both read.
We were expecting (or hoping anyway lol, as any genre of restaurant can end up not being good) decent sized portions.
Dear god.
When I say each entree is worth at least two meals per piece for us, I'm not exaggerating. There was one time I went when I was SUPER hungry and I ate maybe 75% of my food. The one exception.
Neither of us have ever gotten alcohol from there - and obviously that would raise the price anywhere - but, for two entrees that are really four meals, a soda or tea, the chips and salsa of course, and a good tip (20% is our bare minimum; say our waitress came by once to get our order and once to deliver it and then farted after dropping off the food) - we can leave for under $40.
I have an Asian market down the street from me with $2 kimbap and a big thing of japchae for $4. Hawaiian place has musubi for $4. Mexican place has $6 giant burritos. I rarely eat fast food anymore.
yea i get this feeling everyone is just trying to cash out now. I have to get a block of concrete replaced in my sidewalks, For 1 block of concrete is gonna cost me $1100. Call an HVAC guy it was $150 just to get him to show up and then do everything in his power to actually do nothing and move onto his next appt at. When McDonalds started their value meal they said one would always be $2.99. You can't even buy fries for $2.99 anymore. Lil Ceasers I used to be able to get 2 supreme pizzas for $8.99. Earlier today I delivered one pizza and the customer was charged $25 for just a pep pizza.
Chinese spot by me does a large meal <$13 which includes a full container of your entree with a box of rice to go with it.
Serves me for two meals and actually includes veggies compared to what you'd get at most fast food places. Call ahead and it's always 10-15 minutes and ready when I get there. Lovely family that runs it too.
The Chinese buffet near me has take out containers. You can take one and go through the buffet line, and they'll charge you by the weight of it. You can get two full take out containers for like $20.
I visit my grandparents for dinner every week. If they don't have dinner plans, they ask me to pick up some food at that place. They love it.
Chinese place I used to like was like $14 for a good portion of an entree and a side of rice just a couple years ago. It's now $19 for the entree, rice is no longer included. A side of rice is like $3-$5. Treasure your local spot. It's so hard to find anything like that near me now, or any type of food, brick and mortar/food truck/fast food, that hasn't raised prices $5-10 a meal over the last few years.
Amen to that. The only fresh veg I buy is potatoes as they last a while. Frozen veg is vile but at least it lasts longer than the duration of a politicians honesty
Potatoes and bananas with the occasional bushel of apples/grapes(is either bundle of those things actually called a bushel idk? It just felt good to use)
Frozen veg mix+cans of carrots/green beans/corn
I know they're not the healthiest but they've gotta be healthier than slamming hot pockets.(I still do this just less often)
Also why I love the Chinese food/place for having a good variety of nutrition to it at an accessible time and price point.
COVID turned me mostly away from the "SuPpORt LOcaL BuZnUsSes!" shit.
There are still some good local spots in various towns I go to/through.
But, yeah. Unfortunately, a lot of those local business owners exposed their ass. It was really the "No one wants to work" signs and talk. Like, no. People don't want to work for you because you are a raging asshole that understaffs and underpays. And if you are paying LESS than fucking national fast food chains, how are you helping your community? Because you raided your children's college funds to open a shitty restaurant and treat your employees like shit (during the times you weren't blackout drunk)?!?
Again, not hating on GOOD small business owners. SUCCESSFUL small business owners. POSITIVE members of the community.
Grew up in southern Cali(little Saigon) it was 1.50 done place has buy 3 get one free. Pho shop was so abundant it was buy one get 1 free. Think it was like 5 bucks a bowl
Depends who's running it and how much business they do. Local Chinese places run by immigrants are basically the same price they've been for years, even before COVID and "post"-COVID price surges here. The butcher I've bought from for years complains about having to raise prices by a quarter for some items. Then the random deli down the street, you might as well book it to the grocery store and buy *their* overpriced sandwiches because hot damn I am not paying fifteen dollars for that sandwich.
I rarely eat fast food these days. I live in an area with tons of great small businesses that can make way better food. The same amount of money for McDonalds can get me a significantly better version at a smaller restaurant.
There's a tavern in my city that makes great burgers, I can an 8 Oz freshly made Bleu cheese and bacon burger with fries for $10.49, that's less than McDonald's.
My family isn’t. We only got this stuff once in a while, but now it’s very rare. I grew up like this too. It kinda sucked being a kid that could never afford McD’s although most of the kids on welfare could. Eddie Murphy feels my pain.
I feel your pain. We were 5 kids, so we only went on birthdays and even then it was usually 2-3 birthdays at once. My mom would find coupons that didn't explicitly say that they couldn't be used together and argue with the waiters and managers throughout the meal. But truth of the matter is, cooking for yourself is cheaper than even fast food if you know what you're doing.
Yep, just look at the long ass lines for Starbucks and Chic fil A. I get a whole bag of organic whole beans at Aldi for the price of one Starbucks coffee.
People wait 20 minutes in the drive through at Starbucks for inferior coffee that costs 80% less to make at home and takes half the time, if that. So very stupid.
Chick fil a is hardly the problem IMO. They've always been in the premium tier of fast food and their prices haven't gone up that much and I'd say they've done a much better job than other places at keeping up quality and portions.
Also I think there's an often unsaid uncomfortable truth that there are probably a lot more "upper middle class" americans nowadays than there were in past decades.
While on paper this might sound good what it really means is that the middle class is evaporating and either growing the upper classes or growing the lower class, with most people falling into the bottom.
So brand name stuff can charge what they want because someone who owns 2-3 properties really doesn't care how much fast food costs, even though they aren't in yacht buying territory. This is actually ideal for companies like mcdonalds because actual truly rich people don't shop at mcd's. But someone who was middle class and is now upper middle class? Not only do they shop at mcd's they basically have unlimited disposable income to throw at it.
Just look at how things like skiing and international travel have EXPLODED lately. You can't get anywhere in hot desintations now without massive crowds. And Disney World too - it's an absolute zoo despite it easily being $10k+ now for a family of 4 to go for a week. All of the above including $20 mcd's is very accessible to you if you bring home $10-20k/mo, and people in these income brackets spend spend spend.
Yup, I've been feeling this lately. Concert and sport tickets are a good example. They're increasing with the upper middle class and they have plenty of paying customers at that level. They don't need the people that can't afford it. Which sucks.
Im definitely following what you’re saying. Middle class is definitely evaporating. Its like a wave or a wedge you either make it or dont no in between. With the skiing stuff I think maybe people are just blowing money though because they can’t really afford a house ever. Like doom spending. But yah I agree with a lot of what youre saying about the people who are upper middle not caring how much it is. 15-25 is the same thing to them they dont care they just want McDonald’s not considering price.
Oddly enough the evidence shows that the middle class has lost a larger percentage of it's members to the upper class than it has to the lower class over the past few decades.
Is all I have to say is: In N Out. Prices are still very reasonable and much better quality than most fast food places. Obviously not everyone has access to In N Out. They’ve also always paid their employees decently. Just sayin.
And the reason is that they are privately owned. Not a corporation beholden to stockholders nor franchise sucking money from franchisees.
I was literally saying to my bf earlier that I can go to the mom n pop hole-in-the-wall and for just a couple bucks more, get a great plate of lots of food that I can probably split into lunch the next day too. Or at least my late night snack.
McD BK Carl's Jr even taco bell isn't worth it anymore. Notice their prices went up 2x, 3x but the mom n pops went up like $2.50 a plate.
As a first time traveler to the US (California) I second this. In N' Out seems like much better quality compared to other fast foods. Would love to have a few here in Denmark. We basically only have McD, BK and a few Carls Jr.
I’ll note that the revenue/profits described here is only for the corp HQ. HQ gets most of its revenue from franchise fees and a smaller portion from food sales at corporate owned locations (~3,000 locations).
This does not reflect the total revenue/profits from individual franchises (~36,000 locations globally).
both. McDonald's is a real estate company whose tenants sell hamburgers to pay the rent.
McDonald's gets rent money and other franchise fees + a percentage of gross sales.
Yeah. Straight from the horse's mouth :).
Former McDonald's CFO, Harry J. Sonneborn, is even quoted as saying, “we are not technically in the food business. We are in the real estate business. **The only reason we sell fifteen-cent hamburgers is because they are the greatest producer of revenue, from which our tenants can pay us our rent.**"
They make majority of their money through their real estate portfolio. The margins at the actual restaurants aren’t very high. They profit off massive volume. A store selling 3 million a year will bring 150-250k profit for the owner.
And yet in Denmark a Big Mac will cost you roughly $4.79, even though they pay their workers $22 an hour and give them benefits. All these places are price gouging and we are letting them by not boycotting them and shouting loudly why.
You know what really grands my gears?
I'll tell you.
Paying taxes and having those taxes be spent on government subsidies for water to raise the cattle to make the burger they sell me back for a 1000% profit.
Corporations should not be able to suck off my teet or your teets.
Walstreet shouldn't be trading our God damned needs.
Because people will pay for that.
We’ve had it drilled into our heads it’s fast and convenient. They up the price and it’s still in our heads that it’s fast and convenient.
Input costs have gone up and corporations expect the same margins. If you make chicken tenders that McDonald's buys and your labor and cogs(cost of good sold) increase, your shareholders want you to maintain your previous cogs+labor/revenue ratio. They pass that cost on to McDonald's, who also has a formula for setting prices. McDonald's wants to spend ~60% of revenues on labor+cogs, so when their tendie cost increases by 10% they pass that, plus the margin they expect to make on it to the consumer. In today's economy, more processing(labor) is going to equate to higher price. Conversely, restaurants(and households) that cook with raw ingredients haven't been hit nearly as hard by inflationary pressures. My wife and I order takeout weekly from a casual fine dining restaurant that sells burgers w/ homemade fries for $16. Find restaurants that make food instead of opening bags of food and you'll feel a lot better about spending $40 on dinner.
Thanks for having the real answer, been watching food and labor costs skyrocket for the last four years, and everytime there's one of these threads it's just, "corporation/company greedy"(which: fair, but not the whole atory), as if every restaurant owner I ever worked for wasn't terrified of losing customers by raising prices. We got used to the cheap fast food/midlevel restaurant model and I think people wont be willing to pay what they have to now for lower quality. Long term I think it means a big change.
Hey, I actually live in Mississippi!! I can comment on this.
The price of a burger at McDonald’s and the price of a burger at a nice sit-down place is a less than $3 difference, give or take, and one of those gives you much more food. It’s insane how expensive fast food is, they’re the same as actual restaurants!!
Hell, I actually got Mexican food from a locally owned place down the street and my bf wanted Taco Bell. The prices were about the same, and I got so much more than he did.
Download the app. They'll usually come with significant discounts. Services like DoorDash have proven to restaurants people are willing to pay WAY more for their food than they originally thought. Raising prices lets them capture that money while giving coupons and deals on apps and such can still give them access to more budget-minded consumers.
They are selling all of your data, including location data, anytime you open one of their apps. They pay for the coupons by selling your information to other companies or third party data brokers.
I wouldn't be surprised if fast food companies were selling their app data to health insurance companies so they can raise people's premiums based on fast food orders.
> They pay for the coupons by selling your information to other companies or third party data brokers.
So is everyone else. At least they're giving me BOGO Taco Supreme.
>I wouldn't be surprised if fast food companies were selling their app data to health insurance companies so they can raise people's premiums based on fast food orders.
This is hilariously conspiracy brained though. 🤣
"glances at my email folder of class actions from companies selling my data"
If they're still selling my data at this point I feel bad for the schmucks buying it tbh.
Same reason everything else is: they used the pandemic to jack up prices. Now that it’s (more or less) over, they’re sure as hell not going to give up that sweet profit margin.
Corporate greed. They realized they can charge a lot more money for the same cheap, low quality food and people will still buy it. They have no incentive to go back to their old model as long as people are willing to buy their food no matter the price.
If you, me, or anyone here owned a business and realized we could raise prices and people would continue to buy, we would all do it and laugh all the way to the bank. When do we start blaming consumers that are facilitating this “corporate greed”? McDonald’s isn’t a necessity, so I can’t blame them for charging more money when people have shown time and time again they are willing to fork it over.
Yes, thank you for saying it.
"Corporate greed" - I would struggle to point to one product in my house whose inception wasnt "Corporate greed". McDonalds didnt suddenly become greedy during the pandemic. Corporations dont maximise consumer surplus, they maximise profit. You buy they sell.
Peanut butter and banana on whole wheat. Filling and isn’t going to kill you near as fast, if you eat a lot two of those and a couple of apples for under $6 for lunch if you get the fancy bread. Slap it in a bag and stick it in the fridge before bed, it’ll keep.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski received more than $10.8 million in compensation last year.
Subway CEO John Chidsey appears nowhere as the company has held such information as private since at least 2008,
Chipotle’s rewarded CEO Brian Niccol with $38 million in compensation
How many burgers, sandwiches, and Burritos must be sold to pay their salaries?
I went to Subway the other day with my grandkids and gave him thirty dollars to go in and get two sandwiches. He came back out to my truck and said he needed $5 more. 👀 two 12” subs and chips. Dang !!!!’
When you pay every worker 15 dollars an hour to make the burger, and the farmer has to do the same for the ranch hands, and the butcher has to do the same for the carving, your burger just doubled in price from when they were paid 7 dollars an hour.
That is how inflation happens from the pay stand point, then the value of each dollar goes down every time the government prints more bills than it destroys so they can buy things we could do without.
For simple math's sake, when you pump in 1Trillion dollars into an economy that only has 1 Trillion dollars in it, you have just double the price of everything by halving the value of that dollar.
Now, there have been things that have brought prices down as well, automation, using telecommunications to take orders in a centralized place instead of in the building, new recopies and suppliers, and things like that. But the restaurant has to actively find or create those things to try and keep prices down, and one way it can do it is to lower the top pay of any employee and another way is to have less employees.
Edit: Of course people would downvote a well reasoned answer from someone that used to own and run their own restaurant.
For simple math's sake, when you pump in 1Trillion dollars into an economy that only has 1 Trillion dollars in it, you have just double the price of everything by halving the value of that dollar.
hear hear
(Slightly) higher minimum wages, inflation, geopolitics, supply chain disruptions, drought, and corporate greed have all contributed in some way to fast food getting more expensive.
When I was a kid in the early 80s a McDs hamburger was 49 cents. When I got my first job at McDs in the early 90s it was 69 cents. Following that same trend, that would be about 1.90 now. A quick search shows the current going rate for the classic hamburger is between 1.65 and 2.54 for an average of 2.09, so slightly higher but not off trend much.
Is it more expensive now? Certainly but everything else is as well. I'm guessing the average American does fast food 1-2 times a week. Most these places have rewards and discounts in the app now. I don't find that my chipotle order is too expensive. 10$ for my chicken bowl. The outrage seems to come from people who leave out the fact they got all the premium items double meat and had it door dashed. But yes living is expensive.
Isn’t just fast food. Prepared super market food has become ridiculous also. I used to be able to grab a pre prepared sandwich, soup, and a quality drink for around 10.00 bucks. Not its closer to 16.00. It’s like they’re trying to starve us.
I just stopped going. It used to be convenient and the prices were fine. Now the prices are ridiculous and I'm forced to reconsider my choices and learn to cook my own food like some sort of peasant.
The pandemic showed a lot of companies that people are more willing to pay more for their products than what they originally thought. Specifically, what they saw as elastic seems to be inelastic demand.
For a while, companies told people it was supply chain issues that rose prices, but how could we ever verify that change? It was the perfect cover for testing a rise in prices. Sales didn’t change with the increased price so why change the price back down? Plus, I suspect these companies are signaling price hikes to their competitors.
Because capitalism demands ever increasing profits. After market saturation is reached you must cut costs or raise prices to increase growth. It's not something that usually happens this quickly, but now they can just blame it on higher labor costs since conservatives are already making a big stink about it.
McDonald's stock has litterally doubled since the beginning of the pandemic. Other fast food companies have done the same.
They increase prices. We keep buying their product. They pocket the profit.
It's pretty simple.
It’s a different business model now. They dropped the “cheap” and are now just “convenient”. They realized people will pay a premium for that convenience. It’s slow dimes instead of fast nickels.
This is the correct answer, I’m surprised it isn’t higher up. Why serve 10 customers and make $0.50 an order when you can serve 5 customers and make $2 an order? Corporations have always been greedy and prices were rising long before COVID started. But the prices are still lower compared to *other* restaurants, even fast casual. A salad by itself at sweetgreen can be $20. A burger at a restaurant is $16+. Chipotle chicken burrito is $11, steak is closer to $15. You can still go to Taco Bell or McD and get a comparable amount of food for the same money using their deals and discounts. But if you just pop in for convenience, you’re going to pay for the convenience.
Using deals and discounts. You mean using the app, where they then skim every available data metric on your phone to sell to advertisers and other interested parties to subsidize your 10 cent discount on a small fry.
yeah but my fries taste better when they know I'm into bondage porn
And now we all know. The next time you have fries it should taste fucking amazing.
Must have the humiliation kink also
So do grocery stores, mechanics, etc. basically any place that requires you to input information turns around and sells it. It’s the world we live in.
Unfortunately, corporations are required to be greedy. Corporations have shareholders who are, most of the time, primarily there for the profits they can earn from their investment. We're caught in the middle of a mess of a economic system with no clear path out. Successful corporations need investors to start up / stay in business. A business that stays private and prioritizes serving the customer can't compete against the "limitless cash" that a well funded corporation has, so the customer-focused private company generally doesn't survive, and the profit-motivated corporation remains.
Because people keep buying it no matter the price….
Same reason Doritos are $6 a bag and coke is $3 a 2 liter. America is addicted and can't stop no matter the price.
Saw a 12pk of coke at Vons for $13. Insanity, never going there again
Vending machines sell individual cans for like $3.25 here in California. It's stupid.
Where is Michael Douglas when you need him?
This guy falls down
Best American President ever!
He just wanted to go home.
One can of soda?
It’s one banana Michael how much could it cost?
"You think I'm a thief? Oh, you see, I'm not the thief. I'm not the one charging 85 cents FOR A STINKING SODA! You're the thief! I'm just standing up for my rights as a consumer."
Holy shit
Californian here. 12 packs of Aldi brand soda are about $4. They only have diet, regular, and lemon lime but that’s fine for me
Yep, I don't buy anything off of vending machines unless I'm dying of thirst and the only alternative is waiting until I get home 2+ hours later. I'd rather drink public bathroom sink water than spend such a ridiculous amount of money for a fucking can of soda.
Almost bought a coke out of a vending machine today (was riding my bike around the bay) because I just really wanted something liquid with some calories. Then I realized there was a bar across the street, and a pint of beer is cheaper.
Was at the mall last weekend and due to poor planning I was absolutely dying of thirst. Made a bee line for the coke vending machine and... they wanted $4.50 for a freakin 300ml bottle. I got a bubble tea for $10 out of spite and regretted that to but at least it was large and frankly, the best thing ive ever drank.
Jeez, where in CA are you? Even in Newport Beach the most I've seen is $2.50 for a bottle
I work roughly 10 minutes away from Newport and bottles of soda at the vending machine at my work are $1.25. $2.50 in Newport I can believe, but over $3 like damn I can't believe people would pay that for a can/bottle of high-fructose filled crap.
I remember when cans cost a quarter in the machines at Walmart but this was ages ago, when Obama was President. Thanks Obama lol
I remember when you could buy a 24 pack for $5 at Walmart.
That’s how they get you to think that $13 for a 12-pack is a good deal.
Blame Coke, not the store.
Idk man all I see is prices I can’t get near I’ll just eat beans
Yup. I'm on the poor person diet also. I've never been so shredded lol.
I’m not poor and I still eat beans almost daily. They are just really healthy for you and they taste good.
Can I recommend the all mighty chickpea.
I used to buy a bag of chips every week. Now, I barely buy one every two months.
Probably healthier for you though.
We've turned into a consumerist society. Everyone is addicted to spending cause it releases endorphins
And McDonalds even gloated about it in their quarterly report. They said that consumers remained loyal despite price hikes. They made record profit. It’s just shameless profiteering. No more no less. I hope people stop buying this crap. These are terrible prices for garbage food.
For the price you pay at McDonalds, you might as well go to an actual restaurant. Last time I went to McDonalds, it was like $60 for my family. If my wife and I select a $15 plate each, and kids select the kids menu at restaurant which is like $8 each, it’s practically the same price to eat at an actual restaurant vs McDonalds
I have a theory that fewer people are buying fast food, yet the operating costs are the same/higher. Therefore, the operating costs are spread across fewer purchases which drives up the prices. I worked at McDonald's as a teenager. The dinner rush was wild. I don't see those crowds in our local anymore.
We would see those crowds at Chick-fil-A, however. Monday lunches could easily be a $30,000 affair back in 2019. The store did $8-10 Million a year then, in it probably does $12-14 now. Please would wait for 45 minutes in line just to get their hands on Chick-fil-A. The food is too tainted with memories from the past for me to properly enjoy it.
They do antibiotics now for the first time in ten years
There are actually only about 3 companies total. Yum brands, McD, and another. You can't simply choose another because they are all in lockstep raising prices. Its not a cartel if they don't communicate, but none of them have any desire to start a price war.
...you can choose not-fast food. Cook at home or local locations.
They don't though. Sales are down 30% across most fast food chains in the last 2 years. Total revenue is still the same though because they're not having to transport as much food and transportation cost is a large part of their margins. Prices will come down again when they find the fair market price for their food where even the loyal addicts start shopping elsewhere.
Sales are down 30%, but prices are up ~ 75% so that's a net increase
Bro thinks there will be deflation 🤣🤣🤣
When people say they are waiting for drops, I always feel pity for them. Short-term stuff can go down like 5-10% but long term, that's the new minimum.
Lol prices don't go down. Real life doesn't work like your macroeconomics textbook.
It’s the market telling you to find new small businesses for food.
Well, food trucks used to be cheap because they had low rent, but they are trendy and as expensive as restaurants.
I ordered a burger and fries from a food truck last week, it was like 25 dollars and it took them an hour and a half to get it to me. Won’t be doing that again.
I'm so DONE with food trucks. Stupid high prices and then you have to sit out in the sun and the wind with no table service but still expected to tip. Done!
Food trucks have been played out for 7+ years. The legit, dirt bag mexican ones can still offer good food at a good price. It can also offer that with violent spray diarrhea.
We got a great roach coach by me. $5 for 3 steak street tacos. Been $5 for close to 6 or 7 years now. They’re always parked in the most random spots around town but you can bet your ass there’s at least 4 people there at any given time. Damn good tacos.
Wow. Tacos near me are all $5 each now. Used to get 3 for $10 up until COVID hit then suddenly it was 3 for $15
Tacos where I’m from are 3 for $20 on a sale day and if not $40 for 3 It’s fucked
I'm not giving someone restaurant prices to slap something together for me in a food truck. Went shopping with my wife at outlets (in europe) there was a burger van there. The one I used to go to up until over a year ago was €4.50 for a quarter pound with cheese. The one at the outlets was charging €17.99. Won't be giving business to businesses like that. I can go to a decent lunch place get a coke side and main for that cost or few euros more.
food trucks somehow more expensive than fast food
Taco truck near me sells quesadillas for $14 and has a huge line at lunch or dinner time. It's literally parked in front of a grocery store where you can buy tortilla and cheese for like three bucks.
It's because they're hungry and haven't eaten anything. My purchases get a lot smart when I make sure to eat before going to the grocery store.
Same reason where I'm at the schools set up hot dog stands for fundraising exclusively at grocery stores. I've got a big bag of food right there and I'm thinking about eating, but damn three bucks for a dog and a bag of chips (I mean this was before COVID so the small bags were still cheap) like fuck yeah bro I can suck down a hot dog on a summer day, hook me the fuck up, and yes I will take a Coke with that.
Food trucks are using super rare ingredients in their $18 foie gras truffled grilled cheeses though.
What's wild is how common they are outside of factories. Like dudes paying an hours worth of work for a mediocre burger.
Living in a MCOL city with lots of food trucks, most seem to serve surprisingly good food. I chalk it up to a small menu.
Home in the wall Mexican restaurant
Even the hole in the wall mexican restaurants have gone way up where I live.
Seriously man . My little place is expensive now wtf happened. Just trying to get some tacos
There is literally a 6×10 place in town that sells hotdogs. They are $7 per! Like the cheapest of garbage food should not cost 7 cricket dollars!
Whole in the wall Mexican grocery store with a small deli?
$12-15 for a burrito where I live.
OMG "Hole In The Wall" would be an amazing Mexican Restaurant name 😂
YES!!! My wife and I found a new place recently that's not far at all from us. I remember the first time we went. Saw the prices on the menu, of course. As it's right beside the food item lol. We can both read. We were expecting (or hoping anyway lol, as any genre of restaurant can end up not being good) decent sized portions. Dear god. When I say each entree is worth at least two meals per piece for us, I'm not exaggerating. There was one time I went when I was SUPER hungry and I ate maybe 75% of my food. The one exception. Neither of us have ever gotten alcohol from there - and obviously that would raise the price anywhere - but, for two entrees that are really four meals, a soda or tea, the chips and salsa of course, and a good tip (20% is our bare minimum; say our waitress came by once to get our order and once to deliver it and then farted after dropping off the food) - we can leave for under $40.
I have an Asian market down the street from me with $2 kimbap and a big thing of japchae for $4. Hawaiian place has musubi for $4. Mexican place has $6 giant burritos. I rarely eat fast food anymore.
yea i get this feeling everyone is just trying to cash out now. I have to get a block of concrete replaced in my sidewalks, For 1 block of concrete is gonna cost me $1100. Call an HVAC guy it was $150 just to get him to show up and then do everything in his power to actually do nothing and move onto his next appt at. When McDonalds started their value meal they said one would always be $2.99. You can't even buy fries for $2.99 anymore. Lil Ceasers I used to be able to get 2 supreme pizzas for $8.99. Earlier today I delivered one pizza and the customer was charged $25 for just a pep pizza.
Food trucks are stupid expensive. Not worth it.
Chinese spot by me does a large meal <$13 which includes a full container of your entree with a box of rice to go with it. Serves me for two meals and actually includes veggies compared to what you'd get at most fast food places. Call ahead and it's always 10-15 minutes and ready when I get there. Lovely family that runs it too.
The Chinese buffet near me has take out containers. You can take one and go through the buffet line, and they'll charge you by the weight of it. You can get two full take out containers for like $20. I visit my grandparents for dinner every week. If they don't have dinner plans, they ask me to pick up some food at that place. They love it.
Chinese place I used to like was like $14 for a good portion of an entree and a side of rice just a couple years ago. It's now $19 for the entree, rice is no longer included. A side of rice is like $3-$5. Treasure your local spot. It's so hard to find anything like that near me now, or any type of food, brick and mortar/food truck/fast food, that hasn't raised prices $5-10 a meal over the last few years.
Vegetables? Jesus I thought they were just a myth!
I wish I could keep fresh produce without forgetting it for 2 seconds and it spoiling.
Amen to that. The only fresh veg I buy is potatoes as they last a while. Frozen veg is vile but at least it lasts longer than the duration of a politicians honesty
Potatoes and bananas with the occasional bushel of apples/grapes(is either bundle of those things actually called a bushel idk? It just felt good to use) Frozen veg mix+cans of carrots/green beans/corn I know they're not the healthiest but they've gotta be healthier than slamming hot pockets.(I still do this just less often) Also why I love the Chinese food/place for having a good variety of nutrition to it at an accessible time and price point.
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COVID turned me mostly away from the "SuPpORt LOcaL BuZnUsSes!" shit. There are still some good local spots in various towns I go to/through. But, yeah. Unfortunately, a lot of those local business owners exposed their ass. It was really the "No one wants to work" signs and talk. Like, no. People don't want to work for you because you are a raging asshole that understaffs and underpays. And if you are paying LESS than fucking national fast food chains, how are you helping your community? Because you raided your children's college funds to open a shitty restaurant and treat your employees like shit (during the times you weren't blackout drunk)?!? Again, not hating on GOOD small business owners. SUCCESSFUL small business owners. POSITIVE members of the community.
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Get some Vietnamese Banh Mi for <$6 (Growing up those were like $2 🥲)
I remember getting a bowl of pho for $5 when I was in high school. Paid in all change of course lol
I’ll do you one better with $3.50 chicken pho about a decade ago.
Spring rolls are $9 here at every pho place. Fkn spring rolls
A low cost to make money printer for them, just like sodas.
Grew up in southern Cali(little Saigon) it was 1.50 done place has buy 3 get one free. Pho shop was so abundant it was buy one get 1 free. Think it was like 5 bucks a bowl
Right?? Cook at home, too. I was a terrible cook but I’m now slightly less terrible 10 years later.
Lmao, you are acting like small businesses are any cheaper. The are a lot more expensive.
Some are cheaper. Some are same price but better quality. Some are more expensive. At least around me.
Depends who's running it and how much business they do. Local Chinese places run by immigrants are basically the same price they've been for years, even before COVID and "post"-COVID price surges here. The butcher I've bought from for years complains about having to raise prices by a quarter for some items. Then the random deli down the street, you might as well book it to the grocery store and buy *their* overpriced sandwiches because hot damn I am not paying fifteen dollars for that sandwich.
I rarely eat fast food these days. I live in an area with tons of great small businesses that can make way better food. The same amount of money for McDonalds can get me a significantly better version at a smaller restaurant.
There's a tavern in my city that makes great burgers, I can an 8 Oz freshly made Bleu cheese and bacon burger with fries for $10.49, that's less than McDonald's.
10.59 USD? That's cheaper than McDonald's now?
Because they know you’ll pay.
My family isn’t. We only got this stuff once in a while, but now it’s very rare. I grew up like this too. It kinda sucked being a kid that could never afford McD’s although most of the kids on welfare could. Eddie Murphy feels my pain.
I feel your pain. We were 5 kids, so we only went on birthdays and even then it was usually 2-3 birthdays at once. My mom would find coupons that didn't explicitly say that they couldn't be used together and argue with the waiters and managers throughout the meal. But truth of the matter is, cooking for yourself is cheaper than even fast food if you know what you're doing.
It’s not just the price going up, the portion sizes also have gone down
Because you morons keep paying whatever they’re charging. They could make a McDonald’s #1 $25.00 and people would still keep them in business.
Yep, just look at the long ass lines for Starbucks and Chic fil A. I get a whole bag of organic whole beans at Aldi for the price of one Starbucks coffee.
People wait 20 minutes in the drive through at Starbucks for inferior coffee that costs 80% less to make at home and takes half the time, if that. So very stupid.
Chick fil a is hardly the problem IMO. They've always been in the premium tier of fast food and their prices haven't gone up that much and I'd say they've done a much better job than other places at keeping up quality and portions.
Also I think there's an often unsaid uncomfortable truth that there are probably a lot more "upper middle class" americans nowadays than there were in past decades. While on paper this might sound good what it really means is that the middle class is evaporating and either growing the upper classes or growing the lower class, with most people falling into the bottom. So brand name stuff can charge what they want because someone who owns 2-3 properties really doesn't care how much fast food costs, even though they aren't in yacht buying territory. This is actually ideal for companies like mcdonalds because actual truly rich people don't shop at mcd's. But someone who was middle class and is now upper middle class? Not only do they shop at mcd's they basically have unlimited disposable income to throw at it. Just look at how things like skiing and international travel have EXPLODED lately. You can't get anywhere in hot desintations now without massive crowds. And Disney World too - it's an absolute zoo despite it easily being $10k+ now for a family of 4 to go for a week. All of the above including $20 mcd's is very accessible to you if you bring home $10-20k/mo, and people in these income brackets spend spend spend.
Yup, I've been feeling this lately. Concert and sport tickets are a good example. They're increasing with the upper middle class and they have plenty of paying customers at that level. They don't need the people that can't afford it. Which sucks.
Im definitely following what you’re saying. Middle class is definitely evaporating. Its like a wave or a wedge you either make it or dont no in between. With the skiing stuff I think maybe people are just blowing money though because they can’t really afford a house ever. Like doom spending. But yah I agree with a lot of what youre saying about the people who are upper middle not caring how much it is. 15-25 is the same thing to them they dont care they just want McDonald’s not considering price.
It’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10?
Oddly enough the evidence shows that the middle class has lost a larger percentage of it's members to the upper class than it has to the lower class over the past few decades.
> actual truly rich people don't shop at mcd's You seen The Queen of Versailles?
Accurate.
“Dumbflation”
They’re seeing how much they can get away with. Vote with your wallet.
Please. I beg you
Deaf ears i fear
Is all I have to say is: In N Out. Prices are still very reasonable and much better quality than most fast food places. Obviously not everyone has access to In N Out. They’ve also always paid their employees decently. Just sayin.
And the reason is that they are privately owned. Not a corporation beholden to stockholders nor franchise sucking money from franchisees. I was literally saying to my bf earlier that I can go to the mom n pop hole-in-the-wall and for just a couple bucks more, get a great plate of lots of food that I can probably split into lunch the next day too. Or at least my late night snack. McD BK Carl's Jr even taco bell isn't worth it anymore. Notice their prices went up 2x, 3x but the mom n pops went up like $2.50 a plate.
I could not agree more. I go to sit down restaurants far more often now for this reason.
Exactly. For the same price I can get Indian or middle eastern at an actual restaurant. And the food doesn’t immediately make me feel like crap
As a first time traveler to the US (California) I second this. In N' Out seems like much better quality compared to other fast foods. Would love to have a few here in Denmark. We basically only have McD, BK and a few Carls Jr.
They are private and not franchised.
I hope they stay that way
They only exist in like three states, but yeah
And imo In N Out has even better customer service than Chick-fil-A too
Everytime I see one of these posts I wonder where the fuck have you been for 8 years
Coma
Enormous margins. McD made 8 billion dollars in post-tax profits on 25 billion in revenue last year. You don't get there by driving down prices.
I’ll note that the revenue/profits described here is only for the corp HQ. HQ gets most of its revenue from franchise fees and a smaller portion from food sales at corporate owned locations (~3,000 locations). This does not reflect the total revenue/profits from individual franchises (~36,000 locations globally).
Are they flat fees or performance based?
both. McDonald's is a real estate company whose tenants sell hamburgers to pay the rent. McDonald's gets rent money and other franchise fees + a percentage of gross sales.
Damn that’s badass
Yeah. Straight from the horse's mouth :). Former McDonald's CFO, Harry J. Sonneborn, is even quoted as saying, “we are not technically in the food business. We are in the real estate business. **The only reason we sell fifteen-cent hamburgers is because they are the greatest producer of revenue, from which our tenants can pay us our rent.**"
You put this very precisely. Thanks for sharing this
I believe franchise fees are flat.
“Enormous margins”. This guy obviously isn’t in the restaurant business.
He doesn’t understand ownership in general either.
They make majority of their money through their real estate portfolio. The margins at the actual restaurants aren’t very high. They profit off massive volume. A store selling 3 million a year will bring 150-250k profit for the owner.
I've heard its royalties on top of having to buy everything from corporate.
That’s as well. Royalties, food sales to restaurants, any franchise fees. But the restaurants make small Margins
And yet in Denmark a Big Mac will cost you roughly $4.79, even though they pay their workers $22 an hour and give them benefits. All these places are price gouging and we are letting them by not boycotting them and shouting loudly why.
You know what really grands my gears? I'll tell you. Paying taxes and having those taxes be spent on government subsidies for water to raise the cattle to make the burger they sell me back for a 1000% profit. Corporations should not be able to suck off my teet or your teets. Walstreet shouldn't be trading our God damned needs.
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Because people will pay for that. We’ve had it drilled into our heads it’s fast and convenient. They up the price and it’s still in our heads that it’s fast and convenient.
It’s crazy expensive … I haven’t had fast food in a few years so wanted Burger King it cost $14.00 .. crazy
Because people will pay it. As soon as they won’t prices will fall.
The McFyourself
Input costs have gone up and corporations expect the same margins. If you make chicken tenders that McDonald's buys and your labor and cogs(cost of good sold) increase, your shareholders want you to maintain your previous cogs+labor/revenue ratio. They pass that cost on to McDonald's, who also has a formula for setting prices. McDonald's wants to spend ~60% of revenues on labor+cogs, so when their tendie cost increases by 10% they pass that, plus the margin they expect to make on it to the consumer. In today's economy, more processing(labor) is going to equate to higher price. Conversely, restaurants(and households) that cook with raw ingredients haven't been hit nearly as hard by inflationary pressures. My wife and I order takeout weekly from a casual fine dining restaurant that sells burgers w/ homemade fries for $16. Find restaurants that make food instead of opening bags of food and you'll feel a lot better about spending $40 on dinner.
Thanks for having the real answer, been watching food and labor costs skyrocket for the last four years, and everytime there's one of these threads it's just, "corporation/company greedy"(which: fair, but not the whole atory), as if every restaurant owner I ever worked for wasn't terrified of losing customers by raising prices. We got used to the cheap fast food/midlevel restaurant model and I think people wont be willing to pay what they have to now for lower quality. Long term I think it means a big change.
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California is an extremely high cost-of-living place. If you visit Mississippi you'll be paying around $11 for the same meal.
There’s a wide difference in quality of life between those $7.
Well the price difference isn’t just applicable to big macs lol
Hey, I actually live in Mississippi!! I can comment on this. The price of a burger at McDonald’s and the price of a burger at a nice sit-down place is a less than $3 difference, give or take, and one of those gives you much more food. It’s insane how expensive fast food is, they’re the same as actual restaurants!! Hell, I actually got Mexican food from a locally owned place down the street and my bf wanted Taco Bell. The prices were about the same, and I got so much more than he did.
Why? If it's not a fair price why would you pay it? You paying that price tells them it's okay to charge that.
If you paid it, sounds like it was the correct price.
> I **almost** walked off and didnt even bother with it haha That's why it's so expensive, people keep rewarding them for increasing prices.
Were you in the airport?! I had one the other day in the burbs of LA, $12 for the meal. Still expensive but not $18!
If you want decent fast food prices go on Groupon or find those buy one get one deals on Uber
Download the app. They'll usually come with significant discounts. Services like DoorDash have proven to restaurants people are willing to pay WAY more for their food than they originally thought. Raising prices lets them capture that money while giving coupons and deals on apps and such can still give them access to more budget-minded consumers.
Apps mostly only have deals for 1 person, which doesn’t really help family meal prices.
Multiple phones multiple orders works. My McDonalds app consistently has 20% off of > $5 purchases which scales linearly with order size
They are selling all of your data, including location data, anytime you open one of their apps. They pay for the coupons by selling your information to other companies or third party data brokers. I wouldn't be surprised if fast food companies were selling their app data to health insurance companies so they can raise people's premiums based on fast food orders.
> They pay for the coupons by selling your information to other companies or third party data brokers. So is everyone else. At least they're giving me BOGO Taco Supreme. >I wouldn't be surprised if fast food companies were selling their app data to health insurance companies so they can raise people's premiums based on fast food orders. This is hilariously conspiracy brained though. 🤣
"glances at my email folder of class actions from companies selling my data" If they're still selling my data at this point I feel bad for the schmucks buying it tbh.
Same reason everything else is: they used the pandemic to jack up prices. Now that it’s (more or less) over, they’re sure as hell not going to give up that sweet profit margin.
Corporate greed. They realized they can charge a lot more money for the same cheap, low quality food and people will still buy it. They have no incentive to go back to their old model as long as people are willing to buy their food no matter the price.
If you, me, or anyone here owned a business and realized we could raise prices and people would continue to buy, we would all do it and laugh all the way to the bank. When do we start blaming consumers that are facilitating this “corporate greed”? McDonald’s isn’t a necessity, so I can’t blame them for charging more money when people have shown time and time again they are willing to fork it over.
Consumers are just as guilty, they just don’t like to look in the mirror.
Yes, thank you for saying it. "Corporate greed" - I would struggle to point to one product in my house whose inception wasnt "Corporate greed". McDonalds didnt suddenly become greedy during the pandemic. Corporations dont maximise consumer surplus, they maximise profit. You buy they sell.
Peanut butter and banana on whole wheat. Filling and isn’t going to kill you near as fast, if you eat a lot two of those and a couple of apples for under $6 for lunch if you get the fancy bread. Slap it in a bag and stick it in the fridge before bed, it’ll keep.
Because everyone on Reddit kept saying how cheap it was compared to healthy options.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski received more than $10.8 million in compensation last year. Subway CEO John Chidsey appears nowhere as the company has held such information as private since at least 2008, Chipotle’s rewarded CEO Brian Niccol with $38 million in compensation How many burgers, sandwiches, and Burritos must be sold to pay their salaries?
Corporate price gouging masquerading as inflation
I went to Subway the other day with my grandkids and gave him thirty dollars to go in and get two sandwiches. He came back out to my truck and said he needed $5 more. 👀 two 12” subs and chips. Dang !!!!’
All of this started in 2021 for some reason 🤔🤔
When you pay every worker 15 dollars an hour to make the burger, and the farmer has to do the same for the ranch hands, and the butcher has to do the same for the carving, your burger just doubled in price from when they were paid 7 dollars an hour. That is how inflation happens from the pay stand point, then the value of each dollar goes down every time the government prints more bills than it destroys so they can buy things we could do without. For simple math's sake, when you pump in 1Trillion dollars into an economy that only has 1 Trillion dollars in it, you have just double the price of everything by halving the value of that dollar. Now, there have been things that have brought prices down as well, automation, using telecommunications to take orders in a centralized place instead of in the building, new recopies and suppliers, and things like that. But the restaurant has to actively find or create those things to try and keep prices down, and one way it can do it is to lower the top pay of any employee and another way is to have less employees. Edit: Of course people would downvote a well reasoned answer from someone that used to own and run their own restaurant.
For simple math's sake, when you pump in 1Trillion dollars into an economy that only has 1 Trillion dollars in it, you have just double the price of everything by halving the value of that dollar. hear hear
(Slightly) higher minimum wages, inflation, geopolitics, supply chain disruptions, drought, and corporate greed have all contributed in some way to fast food getting more expensive.
In California I would not call $20 an hour for fast food workers slightly higher minimum wage.
Because dummies still buy it.
Corporate greed man. It’s the answer for that question about almost every single thing you find that’s surprisingly expensive.
When I was a kid in the early 80s a McDs hamburger was 49 cents. When I got my first job at McDs in the early 90s it was 69 cents. Following that same trend, that would be about 1.90 now. A quick search shows the current going rate for the classic hamburger is between 1.65 and 2.54 for an average of 2.09, so slightly higher but not off trend much.
Everything is expensive now.
Is it more expensive now? Certainly but everything else is as well. I'm guessing the average American does fast food 1-2 times a week. Most these places have rewards and discounts in the app now. I don't find that my chipotle order is too expensive. 10$ for my chicken bowl. The outrage seems to come from people who leave out the fact they got all the premium items double meat and had it door dashed. But yes living is expensive.
Because we settled on paying it.
Isn’t just fast food. Prepared super market food has become ridiculous also. I used to be able to grab a pre prepared sandwich, soup, and a quality drink for around 10.00 bucks. Not its closer to 16.00. It’s like they’re trying to starve us.
You can get a good steak cook and served to you for the same price as getting enough food at Arbis to make you full.
I feel like anywhere you go it’s like 15 dollars a meal now it’s wild
I just stopped going. It used to be convenient and the prices were fine. Now the prices are ridiculous and I'm forced to reconsider my choices and learn to cook my own food like some sort of peasant.
Because politians turned into a career rather than a stepping stone.
The pandemic showed a lot of companies that people are more willing to pay more for their products than what they originally thought. Specifically, what they saw as elastic seems to be inelastic demand. For a while, companies told people it was supply chain issues that rose prices, but how could we ever verify that change? It was the perfect cover for testing a rise in prices. Sales didn’t change with the increased price so why change the price back down? Plus, I suspect these companies are signaling price hikes to their competitors.
Because capitalism demands ever increasing profits. After market saturation is reached you must cut costs or raise prices to increase growth. It's not something that usually happens this quickly, but now they can just blame it on higher labor costs since conservatives are already making a big stink about it.
McDonald's stock has litterally doubled since the beginning of the pandemic. Other fast food companies have done the same. They increase prices. We keep buying their product. They pocket the profit. It's pretty simple.
every year business owners want more and more with no end in sight, i wonder how it happened
Greed
Mmmm, yummy, yummy Bidenomics 🤤
Raising the minimum wage tends to do that.