Americans are choking on surging fast-food prices. "I can't justify the expense," one customer says

Kevin Roberts remembers when he could get a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a drink from Five Guys for $10. But that was years ago. When the Virginia high school teacher recently visited the fast-food chain, the food alone without a beverage cost double that amount.

Roberts, 38, now only gets fast food “as a rare treat,” he told CBS MoneyWatch. “Nothing has made me cook at home more than fast-food prices.”

Roberts is hardly alone. Many consumers are expressing frustration at the surge in fast-food prices, which are starting to scare off budget-conscious customers.

A January poll by consulting firm Revenue Management Solutions found that about 25% of people who make under $50,000 were cutting back on fast food, pointing to cost as a concern.

phoneymouse,

This food is gross to begin with. I’m always shocked by how many people eat McDonald’s. Have some self-respect folks. Don’t eat that shit. You’re worth more than that.

HubertManne,
HubertManne avatar

its actually way better than it was a decade or more ago. they actually imporved the food at one point. not that it makes is much better in any way except in comparison to itself. that being said there is a lot of fast food places and they were quick and consistant. I have cut down myself due to prices.

bolexforsoup, (edited )

spoiler,

NoneOfUrBusiness,

I mean if you really wanna save isn't cooking at home generally your best bet?

BruceTwarzen,

If you're that broke you'd cook your own food. I think the term you're looking for is lazy

bolexforsoup, (edited )

spoiler,

refalo,

wendys $4 meal still exists and tastes better imo

bolexforsoup, (edited )

spoiler,

rockandsock,

The formerly $4 Wendys meal is $7 here.

vividspecter,

But it’s not even cheap, that’s the whole point of the article.

bolexforsoup, (edited )

spoiler,

nahuse,

Honestly!

And then some have clearly never lived in a food desert without a car.

This other person being like “cook at home” would be hard pressed to find anything at the shitty corner store/bodega/gas station/dollar store that many people rely on for groceries that’s healthier than canned tuna.

refalo,

gross

depends on the country. mcd in japan is like gourmet big kahuna burger compared to usa

stoly,

It was fine when it was an occasional treat that parents would take their kids to. It was terrible when people began to rely on it for daily consumption.

bolexforsoup, (edited )

spoiler,

stoly,

As an occasional thing, it’s perfectly fine.

reddig33,

If you can eat at a nicer place for the same amount of money, why would you eat at McDonald’s?

BobbyNevada,

I would rather spend that money on a local burger joint. Give me a single named joint with a generic paper bag with grease stains on the outside.

Wanderer,

Anything where you can get a burger bun that doesn’t taste like it full of sugar is worth it over anything else.

The bread quality in america is the lowest of the low.

spongebue,

Unfortunately, so many local burger joints have a “flagship” burger featuring a Sysco patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion for $17, sides extra.

MrVilliam,

I know a Sysco burger when I see one. Normal burgers aren’t chode cylinders; Sysco burgers have goddamn right angles. They taste like they’re about 40% gristle. It’s basically just the “technically beef” parts of dollar store dog food pressed into the vague shape of a burger patty. The paper that separates the frozen turd patties is better, both in terms of flavor and nutrition. Fuck Sysco burgers. If Sysco reads this and doesn’t like what I have to say, they can go fuck themselves until their asshole is as fucked up as a Sysco burger eater’s asshole 93 minutes after their shitty lunch.

spongebue,

I am honored to have inspired content like this!

wreckedcarzz,
@wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world avatar

I feel very lucky to have no idea what you’re talking about, and that scares me

Potatos_are_not_friends,

Spoilers:

Sysco provides a lot of restaurant ingredients/premade food. Your chili from fancy restaurant might just be the same damn thing from Wendy’s, the dollar store, and the niche “homemade” food cart.

They might decorate it a bit differently once they open the bag.

This isn’t a good or bad thing. It’s how you can order fries in Maine and California, and they still taste the same. But also why some restaurants, side dishes taste the damn same.

Ragnarok314159,

Sysco supplies a lot of restaurants with food, all kinds of places. But they have also optimized and helped with Enshitification by having restaurants mold their menu on the offerings of Sysco.

What ends up happening is every Mexican, Burger, and pretty much everything else that buys from Sysco tastes exactly the same. Mexican food is especially obvious.

spongebue,

I’m not sure this is an enshitification thing. That should have a degree of hostility with users. This is plain ol’ low-quality product (made easy)

Ragnarok314159,

I chose to label it that way since all these places that had to make their own food are just making the same, tasteless meals.

I go to a mom and pop Mexican place and it’s the same shitty salsa, chips, and menu options. Same with burgers and so many others. I just need to learn to cook better quick meals.

spongebue,

That just means it’s shitty and common (due to its ease) though. Please don’t let enshitification lose its meaning like the word “literally” did - we’ve got a good thing going there.

Zorsith,
@Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Bowling alley food. It’s food, but really it’s just there so they can claim they serve food.

catloaf,

Sysco has variety in their products. I just checked and they apparently have 128 different beef patty SKUs: shop.sysco.com/app/catalog?q=beef+patty&BUSINESS_…

Though I’m sure a lot of them are just variations on leanness and package size. Point is, unless you’re going to a specialty place, any restaurant is going to be buying Sysco patties (or at best, Sysco ground beef packs and hand-formed into patties) but the nicer restaurants are going to be using the better choices, and the shitty places are going to be using the cheapest ground beef formed into a cylinder and frozen.

TheSpookiestUser,
@TheSpookiestUser@lemmy.world avatar

Convenience and familiarity, mostly. If you go to a McDonalds you know exactly what you’ll get and you’ll be able to get it pretty quick.

Dkarma,

Name one burger joint that doesn’t have exactly what mcds has and more…this comment is laughable.

People eat at McDonald’s because of marketing.

MetaphorHuman,

As someone that used to work a lot of late shifts, full menus at 11pm or 2am. It creates familiarity when it's one of the only easy things available.

bolexforsoup, (edited )

spoiler,

ShepherdPie,

I’ve eaten a lot of burgers and fries in my life and can’t think of a single place that replicates a McDonalds burger and fry. Having the same menu item (as in a “double cheeseburger”) doesn’t mean anything as they all taste and look different from one another.

Ragnarok314159,

I hate McDonalds, but on roadtrips they are usually a godsend. A lot of them still have a play place which lets my kids be monkeys for a bit, and the Happy Meals give them a shitty toy to occupy their time for the evening.

It sucls, I don’t eat there, but McD’s has its place.

CaptPretentious,

If you go to a McDonalds you know exactly what you’ll get

A poorly put together “meal” that very likely has been sitting under a heater for a length of time unless you went there when it was busy. And if it was busy, the chance for mistake is high and it’s going to be sloppily put together. What so you can save a few minutes? Most places do take-away… so you call them, place an order, pick it up. No sitting 10-20 minutes in drive-thru. And you got more food, better food, for the exact same price and you probably got it faster on take-out. And dining in… you wait a few minutes… how do you not have a few minutes?

And who actually cares about familiarity? That’s either saying, you go to that one place way to much and your food choices are predictable and boring. Or you’re highly susceptible to advertising. And really, those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

bolexforsoup, (edited )

spoiler,

ShepherdPie,

At least their username is accurate.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Speed, for one. If I’m traveling across the country and I just want to eat and get back on the road, or even if I just need some breakfast before work, it’s a lot faster.

AdrenochromeBandit,

My go to for this stuff now is truck stops. They’ll usually have a fast food restaurant in them but also healthier options for snacks and meals

Laser, (edited )

That nicer place is probably at home. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. But I think all fast food chains raised prices? At least here in Europe it’s not like McDonald’s is somehow standing out as more expensive. Worse, yes. But that was always the case

Dkarma,

You’re failing to realize that the issue here is that it went from basically the cheapest food you could buy to more expensive than cooking at home is the issue here.

Millions of people grew up eating this crap cuz it was cheap. Now that it’s as expensive as other better options people are starting to realize it isn’t cheap anymore.

bolexforsoup, (edited )

spoiler,

NoneOfUrBusiness,

Uh... No. No way. I'm not familiar with US prices but you can make a very satisfying meal with yellow lentils and a bunch of normal household ingredients.

ZeroCool,
@ZeroCool@vger.social avatar

Yeah I can get a better burger/fry combo from a local restaurant that uses high quality ingredients and cares about having my business. There’s no reason to pay the same for low quality junk from a fast food chain.

lagomorphlecture,

If you’re in a hurry mostly.

yukichigai,
yukichigai avatar

Seriously. For the same price as McD's I can go to In-n-Out. That's just comparing fast food places. For the price they're charging for a Quarter Pounder I may as well go to a sit-down restaurant.

crusa187,

Addicted to the absurdly high amount of sugars and preservatives most likely.

disguy_ovahea,

Obvious food quality and health issues aside, I know some are still boycotting McDonald’s for providing free meals to the IDF. They also exploit forced prison labor to drive profits.

truthout.org/…/major-brands-like-mcdonalds-kroger…

guyrocket,
guyrocket avatar

Boycott!

BruceTwarzen,

And eat WHAT? something healthy that grows in the dirt with toilet water?

Remmock,

I get the reference, but as an actual suggestion it’s a little thoughtless.

UncleGrandPa,

Once the cost was almost as much as a sit-down Restaurant. I just switched to them. Haven’t been to a fast food place in 2 to 3 years

BonesOfTheMoon,

We have this local market with an excellent hot food and submarine bar in my work neighbourhood, and it’s the only place I ever go. Not only is it super inexpensive, the people who own it won the lottery some years ago and just don’t charge you tax. The price says 6 dollars, it’s 6 dollars. You buy a few things, she rounds down the price to 10 bucks at the register. The place is always packed with those in the know, and they must make a ton of money even doing it this way. Explore your local hole in the wall places and support local and eat better if you are able. It’s worth the effort and time rather than giving McDonald’s more money.

We also have a local dumpling place where I get a huge box of veggie dumplings for 8 bucks. It’s just a little nothing of a storefront. It’s fantastic.

BigMacHole,

This is HORRIBLE! If we DON’T give these places TAXPAYER BAILOUTS then we will be FORCED to eat at the cheaper LOCAL PLACES!

-Small Business Loving Republicans

BonesOfTheMoon,

I’ll buy you a value menu french fries as a bet that they only do it for Chik Fil A.

mechoman444,

A big Mac is like 11 bucks right now. The fuk.

BaardFigur,

Fast food being a “rare treat” is something I see as a good thing. For me, McDonalds has managed to price themselves out of their niche. Tastier, healthier, and more fulfilling meals are now cheaper

MrBusiness,

I wouldn’t say they’re cheaper, just now less expensive than the alternative. Gotta stick with the beans, lentils, rice, and some veggies since most other stuff is expensive. Fruit seems like a luxury with their prices most of the time.

Shadywack,
@Shadywack@lemmy.world avatar

I really see a lot of grocery prices, and the complaints about them, and then I look at how grocery stores mostly stock some permutation of corn and 5+ aisles of snack shit that’s worse for you than even fast food, while being comparably expensive. The truth is that buying core ingredients and actually cooking, preparing a meal, from scratch, saves you a shit ton of money over the bullshit most people buy. The issue is really that of time budget, in hustle culture we get so busy living life and being tied to the toil of work that the time left to reasonably cook for yourself falls off.

The idea of stepping back, forcing boundaries, and learning this skill, while painful, is still a good thing. Eating less shit, and more good ingredients, leads to better health overall. I hate the price gouging but love what this may lead to. Just fucking cook something healthy with real ingredients, and you may find it’s not just lentils, beans, potatoes, and cheap shit. People might check out some recipes and rediscover the produce area with cheap as fuck awesome ingredients and make stuff that restaurants typically don’t match on quality because the fucking same Sysco Foods truck just drops of microwaveable shit at each restaurant in town and they all just serve you fucked up gross shit you could’ve done far better than on your own.

Draegur,

Businesses will charge as much as they can get away with.

If they CAN charge, they WILL charge, and as long as you keep buying, they’ll keep gouging.

I hate to say it but maybe we could all afford to eat a little less often. We have an obesity epidemic. This “bliss point” hyper palatable processed garbage is killing us. If we stopped buying it, and learned to just fucking live with being hungry every so often, we wouldn’t be dying of heart failure as much.

rapechildren,

www.vidlii.com/watch?v=-HkErc-xfRK

JudahBenHur,

I went through the burger king drive through a few weeks ago and got just a crispy chicken sangwich and the girl said €7.45 and I couldn’t fucking believe it. I kept the receipt to show my wife. I also made sure we got a loaf of bread and some lunch meat to make sandwiches for the last few weeks. Honestly fuck those people

Dkarma,

7.45 is a whole chicken and some other stuff where I am

JudahBenHur,

a whole rotissierie chicken from the grocery store is like €6. its the fast food industry that took the pandemic’s supply chain issues that lasted for several months to increase prices to see how much they could increase profits. double the price and sales dont fall so far that the increase in net profit stays, they keep the increase.

as I’ve said, I started buying bread and lunchmeat. I’m not buying a €13 meal every work day (this is also sandwiches from coffee chains etc, not just fast food crap).

for me, if fast food isn’t cheap its a no go. The good, fast, cheap paridigm stands: you can only ever have two.

it used to be fast and cheap. theyre now telling us its good and fast. it was never good.

killjuden,

www.vidlii.com/watch?v=-WsMgmNsRuD

J12,

If I eat fast food I always check their apps first for any deals. Arby’s had some decent deals a month ago (free sandwich with $3 purchase) but nothing since then and no chance I’m spending $12 for an Arby’s meal.

McDonald’s App is a little more consistent although they’ve got rid of a lot of the good deals.

Without the apps I wouldn’t eat at these places. It’s cheap food at nearly sit down prices.

skuzz,

And the apps exist so the companies can at least gather telemetry from your mobile device, so you’re still paying for them, just…in a different way.

J12,

Yep, they get no permissions except location right when I’m beside the location and they get removed immediately afterwards. And the email gets sent through the Apple hide my email. I’m sure they got more info but they gotta work for the rest.

woodenskewer,
@woodenskewer@lemmy.world avatar

The CEO and now chairman of McDonald’s was paid $19.2 million last year in salary, bonuses and stock, according to federal securities filings.

He was paid a base salary of $1.4 million

restaurantbusinessonline.com/…/mcdonalds-ceo-chri…

Being friendly and just going on his base salary and not all the other piles of money tossed his way, in plebe terms, he makes $673/hour.

Sorgan71,

good. Maybe people will stop eating shit

EnderMB,

You’re kidding yourself if you believe this. When costs are high and incomes are low people tend to eat more processed crap, they just buy it from supermarkets instead of fast food chains.

3volver,

Source? Look at how well Aldi is doing right now in the US. People are being more conservative with their finances. It should be more expensive to buy processed fast food.

EnderMB,

Literally the first Google result amongst hundreds.

thrivemarket.com/blog/natural-food-prices

Processed, crappy food will always be more expensive than natural, whole foods like vegetables.

Sorgan71,

Fast food is more expensive

EnderMB,

That’s not what my comment says. I’ve said that processed food will always be cheaper, so you’re just replacing shit for shit.

Sorgan71,

not always

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