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.
In theory this will mean a more healthy population, as people start cooking food at home, instead of eating fast food.
Sucks for people on the move though.
People who have time to cook will. Many low income families are 24/7 parenting and working with little extra time. Cooking 3 squares is just not going to happen.
Not saying you’re wrong in some cases, but I buy these pre-cooked meals at Costco, where all you have to do is heat them in a pan/oven and serve, then they’re quick to do (and I’m a horrible cook to boot).
But I get it, it comes down to how much money you have, and how much time you have to spend to make how much money that you have.
But the bottom line is, at the end of the day, for practically everyone, eating home cooked meals is going to be better for them, than just sustaining off of fast food meals from outside 24/7.
Who cooks three meals for themselves? Just skip breakfast.
Cook fast meals. Meal prep.
Regardless, stop eating garbage fast food.
disagree. if you stopped eating fast food only because you can’t afford it, you’re not going to all of a sudden “eat healthy.” you’re just going to switch to ramen, tv dinners, frozen tendies, or whatever other <1 minute to cook garbage from the grocery store. nothing’s happened except “cheap fast zero effort food” has become “cheap slow greater than zero effort food”
You’re not wrong, but I’m still betting that stuff you buy from the supermarket and cook at home will be healthier than what’s cooked at a fast food joint.
if by “stuff” you mean actual fresh produce, fruit, and even meat, then yes you’re right-- i’m talking about the prepackaged shit in a flashy red/yellow themed bag/box, which is as close to fast food as you can get without being fast food. that’s what people are switching to if/when they ditch the drive thru
Taco Bell’s app is a game changer, can still get a box for like $6. But that’s the only place I’ll get fast food anymore
You might want to look at the T.O.S. closely.
https://www.allrecipes.com/mcdonalds-new-terms-and-conditions-8384841
They should look at McDonald’s TOS closely because they use the Taco Bell app?
And I’m not really anticipating suing a fast food restaurant. I know what I’m getting myself into when I eat there lol
The article discusses McDonald’s but hidden gotchas in the TOS are becoming an industry standard. I shared the article because if McD is doing it, then it might be a good idea to look at your Taco Bell ToS closely, just in case.
Clearly I didn’t do a good job at making a clear statement with my previous comment.
Taco bell is the only fast food I eat as well. The rewards are pretty good. Free cheesy gordita crunch? Fuck yeah!
I feel real bad for everyone living in a place where Taco Bell won the texmex fast food wars instead of Del Taco. A 1/2 pound bean and cheese burrito is still under $2, the fries I get on the side are more expensive. They were bought out by Jack in the Box so I’m waiting for the quality to start tanking, though.
That’s pure greed at this point…Jimmy John’s is still well in an affordable range. As a rule, I tend to avoid buying food from places with surge pricing as fast food is supposed to be affordable! It’s not fine dining and as a result should be priced appropriately; they’ve forgotten their role in the food space and thus their business will live or die based on future choices.
Fast food was affordable because they paid sweat shop wages. That’s not the case anymore. In any event… I would argue with the “supposed to be” affordable comment. Just because it was doesn’t mean it’s supposed to be. As far as I’m concerned this can only be good for the health of the public- when fast food prices are at least comparable in price to healthy options.
Edit: lol at all the people comparing the US to Nordic countries. Apparently they think US franchise owners are the same as those in countries where making a profit is akin to a sin. Hahaha. They thought by raising wages, owners would cut into their own bottom lines. “Bruh, in countries where mcmansions don’t happen, this isn’t a problem.” Net profits have not gone up at all compared with the rest of the economy.
And apparently people really like their cheap big macs. Eat something else? And I’m sure many of them were arguing for livable wages over the past five years (I was). This outrage is hilarious.
Edit 2: Apparently people don’t know what “gross” means. If my costs go up, then my prices go up… and my gross returns go up to cover both the costs (expenses) and net proceeds. I’m at a complete loss at the nature of these arguments.
McDonald’s NET growth from end of 2009 to 2023 was 4.56 B to 8.47B. A 186% increase. This is roughly a 5% annualized increase. I intentionally sought pre/post COVID numbers for a reason.
In this same time the US GDP grew from 14.47B to 27.35B. Almost the exact same rate of growth at a 189% increase.
Net profits are what you’re concerned with in your arguments when accounting for greed… not gross. If anything, I’ve shown McDonalds is making less money today. But you know, feels are more important than facts.
I won’t believe paying fast workers a liveable wage necessitates the rise in cost unless there’s hard data behind that. Sure, it’s likely a necessity to continue profit growth quarter after quarter, but I’d wager they’re able to continue making massive profits even with having to pay their staff like they’re humans.
I agree with you about fast food though. We’ll be better off without them. Fuck em.
Hey, I can edit too: You never said gross prior to your edit, you were talking about consumer costs. I’m still not yet a believer, but I Iove you :)
My guy, it’s cheaper to get a big mac in Norway than in the US and their lowest wages are more than double ours in the US.
Bruh, McDonald’s exists in other countries…
A big Mac in the Nordic countries costs like a dollar more than America, and their workers get the equivalent of like $20 some an hour, paid vacation time, and the company actually has to pay taxes.
It ain’t the labor that’s expensive.
It’s not the ingredients either.
It’s the profit rate to keep shareholders happy
If that arrow always has to go up, it’s the one thing that’s literally impossible to ever go down.
Fast food was affordable because they paid sweat shop wages. That’s not the case anymore.
McDonalds gross profits are $14.68B over the last 12 months with over 9% year-over-year growth.
They aren’t struggling and other than covid (which just held steady for a few years at $10B), the trend has been going up, not down, not stagnant for many years.
Remember that’s gross profits. If wages were hitting them hard, then we’d see the trend decrease but that isn’t what happened or is happening.
Yes, you’re comparing COVID lows with today’s returns. That’s perfect. Not that I give a damn about franchise returns. I just don’t eat there.
Remember that’s gross profits.
Do you have any idea what “gross” means? You’re literally including the increase to wages in your argument.
They thought by raising wages, owners would cut into their own bottom lines.
I don’t think anyone actually thought that.
They’re simply making the point that the problem is not the wages paid to the employees, as you imply, but the obscene salaries paid to executives and franchisees.
That the American execurives and franchisees are not going to take the necessary steps to correct that problem pretty much goes without saying, but that doesn’t in any way change the fact that that is the problem
The profits today aren’t any different than the profits from 15 years ago (when fixing for economic growth). I’ve already done the math. The only significant variable that’s changed here is wages. I.e., expenses.
2023, McDonald’s net income $8.5B on $25B revenue, or 34% net profit margin.
2009 net income $4.5B on $23B revenue. 20% profit margin.
Over the time period that you picked, their profits - the money that they don’t pay to either workers or farmers - nearly doubled as revenues barely changed.
if base food prices really make the old fast food economics nonviable, I expect the space to die off and be replaced by fast causal. otherwise I expect a lot of them to die on their own greed and the rest to get with it. it seems the fast food space is going all in on drive-thrus so maybe that’s their future niche?
That’s just it, we can see the finances of McDonald’s, and they could definitely make their burgers quite a bit cheaper if they wanted to. But they keep wages low and prices high because it allows them to make massive profits.
Which is stupid to do in the long run, because a nice restaurant is the same price or slightly higher. But all the stockholders are concerned about is quarterly profits, not long term ones. Capitalism is remarkably short sighted.
Jimmy John’s
Yeah, but their owner is a big trump fan, and for some inexplicable reason he’s paying Rudy Giuliani 's legal bills…
Their subs are decent tho and probably cheaper than subway at this point.
Man, subway actually used to be decent too. $5 for a foot long is pretty much what it was worth. And if you knew what you were doing it could have been relatively healthy.
I haven’t been in probably a decade now. But sometimes I still get JJ’s. Just wanted to mention that like a lot of big chains, we really shouldn’t be giving them a lot of money.
If you order online, Subway always has a coupon to get footlongs for ~$7, which is about $5 from 2010 adjusted for inflation. They have a lot of perpetual coupons that they rotate the codes on about once per month, but there’s always an up-to-date list on the subway subreddit.
If you order at the right time, you can get salmonella from the lettuce. Guess how I know.
I could be wrong but I don’t believe he owns the company any longer, I think he was bought out.
Surprised to hear this. Where im at Jimmy John’s is the most expensive. I wonder if it’s supply chain related.
I wonder about that, it could be they simply feel that’s a price people will pay there! Honestly, if I get a sandwich, chips, and a cookie for delivery it’s around 19 and some change. If I buy in store it’s around 13 dollars.
In addition to my original comment, I totally forgot about Culver’s which would actually be the cheapest; Their value combo is less than 10 dollars and mighty tasty! I visit both places as they are lighter on my bank account.
We got JJ’s a couple weeks ago. 3 sandwiches and 3 cookies was over $50. That was not worth anywhere near that much.
I think they all tried to become semi-fancy to compete with restaurants, instead of focusing on being cheap, cheap, cheap.
Boycott!
And eat WHAT? something healthy that grows in the dirt with toilet water?
