That’s just it, though. A lot of fast food places have been pricing themselves up to the point where they’re meeting the price of proper sit-down restaurants. The only thing they have to offer at this point is convenience. It’s just not worth buying fast food any more.
Last time I went to Taco Bell, I paid $27 for two people, and was told to wait in a parking space. 25 minutes later, they brought out our cold stale food. I could phone in a takeout order from the fancy local Mexican restaurant up the road for almost the same price, same wait, and better food. So convenience is not even part of it, at least where I live.
That’s pretty bad. Taco Bell has been consistently decent in the few states that I’ve lived, but every franchise has some variation in quality.
There’s so many reasons to still get fastfood.
Some people, especially kids, actually like it.
Some people are picky eaters or have difficulty with a lot of foods due to neurodivergence, and fast food is often the lowest common denominator within a group of people.
Some people are on the go and fast food might be the quickest thing to get (not always the case, I know).
Some people don’t live in a city or town or don’t have access to transportation to a different place, or the time to go there. A fast food place might be the closest place to get food.
You might be in a new location and want to go with a chain so you know what you can expect.
It might just be the only place that’s open on a Sunday or at night.
I personally never get fast food from these international chains anymore, but I realize that’s because I have access to plenty of different options, and I actually like to cook (if I have the time).
This wasn’t really a discussion about whether or not people need fast food. The main issue is that fast food places are selling low quality food options at high prices compared to restaurants that are selling higher quality foods with personal service.
I don’t want to spend $15-20 on a meal that just tastes like different textures of salt. At that price, I expect some quality food, and fast food prices clearly don’t match the quality they’re providing.
Judging by the last time I went to Burger King that $30 probably paid for 2 people to eat. There are plenty of good restaurants I can go to and get an entree for $15 or possibly less.
No good restaurant has a $15 entree unless your idea of good is Chile’s. Which is fine, no judgment to those who enjoy Chile’s and such. But let’s be clear here.
That depends very much where you live. Around me, 8-15 is a pretty standard range for decent sit-down places. You can pay more, but most places hit that range pretty squarely. Depending where you go, you can get burgers and the like for under $4, much better quality than fast food, but not sit down places.
Wages here are pretty damned low, though, so they really can’t charge a lot and actually have business.
Where do you live?! I ate a Mexican lunch so fat I nearly exploded. $20, tip and all.
Well yeah $15 is not going to get you haute cuisine prepared by Chef Ramsay himself, but there are tons of little local spots that fall in that range. Hell, I could get Chinese take out or a whole pizza and spend less than $30, and those are both better than Burger King lol
But, that’s the point. Chile’s can be good food for $15 dollars for those families that it caters to. Hell, I’ll go to Ruby Tuesdays and get a double of their Cajun chicken pasta, and sit at the bar, when I’m away for work. And the place is rough… like the manager is racist as fuck and skips black couples, her teeth are black, and idk how she’s so big when I know she’s using meth… but, hey, I want my double Cajun chicken pasta and to fuck off because I’m away due to work and it’s cheap. Its rural, very BFE Georgia, too.
Point I’m making, though, for people who can say ‘$15 is good’, then for them it’s good. Your statement sort of feels like it takes away from that group’s struggle.
I can feed my family at a sit down restaurant for about the same price as fast food, and the food is better on top of it…
I keep hearing this sentiment but I’ve yet to find a single real world example.
So I have to use doordash to look at pricing cuz I’m not installing the McDonald’s app.
The quarter pounder with cheese it is $10.59 for the combo meal. It used to be just over $2 when I was a teenager.
Using DoorDash still but for a local restaurant called muddy cow, the cheeseburger meal there is $13.
So I can go to McDonald’s and will cost me $11 or I can go to the sit down restaurant and it’ll cost me $13. And the sit down restaurant the burger was fresh cooked, I get way more fries (and frankly better fries), and I don’t act like pickles are the most valuable thing on the planet.
I don’t know just open up door dash and start looking at prices around you that’s what I did.
For $30 you can order a week’s worth of meal kit for two (6 meals) from some of the cheaper meal kit websites.
Ignoring the fact that you also need the spare time and energy to prepare a fresh meal every day after potentially working 2 or 3 jobs and maybe taking care of a couple of kids. And never mind disabled people who can’t cook for themselves…
It’s interesting how people who make these judgments like you never seem to be this critical of the people who own the fast food chains and actively make the decision to sell shit food for obscene prices, or our economy forcing people in to corners where it’s their only option (even if it isn’t yours). I guess it’s just so much easier punching down, eh?