It’s even worse on their breakfast biscuits. Damn things may as well start using deli slices.
Your life will be far better if you just decide to stop fast food 😂
I challenge you to learn to make this at home. Stop eating fast food.
Hey check out mister doesn’t get home at 10pm and has access to a safe kitchen
This is probably a good thing honestly. Track your calories for a few weeks and you realize super quick how out of control portion sizes are.
Perhaps. If they hadn’t doubled the price at the same time.
If anything that just makes the decision to stop eating it even easier.
This is chicken vs ground chicken or at least a lower quality chicken.
Totally agree, the portion sizes are way too large for a normal person in most Western countries and Middle East. However, also most people judge/rate restaurants based on portion sizes not quality, less food equal bad reviews.
Stop going.
Fast food sales have plummeted since covid.
We have stopped going.
Few things made me feel more depressed that seeing cars backed up for what must have been an hour long queue trying to get McDonald’s at the drive through, since that’s the only bit that was open.
I don’t really want to wait an hour for good food, let alone some hyper processed slop.
Surely another price increase will make up for our terrible products not selling!
Accurate. They had less customers.
Yet they also had more profits. By 2024 the profits were way up compared to 2018.
2024 was the year people had enough and now there is a decline.
Not arguing with your point at all, just adding some context because I find it interesting.
If I’m not mistaken, isn’t this the case because the business model has shifted? I’m not sure about the broadwr market, but I believe McDonalds makes more renting space to franchisees than anything else. Corporate is still raking it in from the franchise holders, while those franchise holders are the ones suffering from reduced sales.
See also McDonalds requiring franchisees to use a specific vendor to repair ice cream machines (I think they’ve been sued and forced to stop doing this since)
You haven’t stopped enough though. Plummeting is not the same as them crashing and burning.
I have, and recommend anyone to do the same.
Wendy’s and Arby’s know what stop going means. Here’s hoping McDonalds enjoys it just as much next year.
So many reasons to not eat out and especially where that sandwich is likely from. Better to make a good meal with chicken, rice, and veggies for pennies compared.
Or go to a local shop and get a decent sandwich.
Okay but what if you don’t have the time/energy to do that? Still need to eat every day
You do have both though, you just prioritise not to.
Try to eat local then if possible. While they’re not immune to this, if I had to eat out I’d rather it go to my local sandwich shop instead of Subway.
Valid
Then acknowledge you’re making a conscious choice to accept the sandwich someone else made
I do though… Doesn’t mean I have to be happy about the fact that portion sizes are shrinking, the cost per sandwich is growing, and the contents of my paychecks remain… let’s call it “aggressively stagnant”. Still, I’d rather spend 5 minutes and $10 on food that’s ready right now as opposed to several hours buying, prepping, cooking, cleaning, etc for myself in most situations.
Edit: I just realized you’re not the guy I first replied to, buuut I think I’ll keep my comment as-is
$10
Lol I got lunch at Five Guys for myself and my mother the day before yesterday. Two burgers, one order of fries, and two fountain drinks, for $44. For bonus points, I couldn’t figure out how to use the fucking drink dispenser – I apparently aged 40 years in two minutes. For even more bonus points, the bottom of the bag ripped open because of all the grease from the fries.
I too love Five Guys, but yeah they’ve gotten really expensive over the last several years, even before (or like, faster than) the current market trend of everything else getting more expensive. Plus 99% of the time I’m only buying for me so that helps(?)
You guys think the suppliers don’t hold both you and the restaurants by the balls? They raise your prices just as much as they do the restaurants. You still gotta eat. Voting with your wallet isn’t political action and this problem requires a political solution.
Unfortunately, bookmeat has a point… There is a monopoly brewing on food supply chains and it is only getting worse as the largest restaurant supply company is trying to buy the number 3 (I think) company. Basically, even local hole-in-the-wall type places are being squeezed by one of the 3 options to have food supplied. We need anti-trust and consumer protection laws to start being enforced in this country ASAP.
Let’s stop buying fast food BS, buy from local restourants, shops etc etc or make the shit yourself at home if you can and bring it with you, sure it may get cold but better than that overpriced burger in your hands now
I used to live 6 hours drive from my parents and drive to theirs after work on Friday for a weekend roughly every month or so.
If there’s somewhere around halfway I can get fed, go to the bathroom, and take a short break which also doesn’t push my midnight arrival time much later, then of course I’m going to do that instead of going out to a full service restaurant, or cooking myself and having to clean up from it, again pushing my arrival later? I’d be shocked if most people wouldn’t agree with this?
Is there a harris teeter? They do massive sandwiches for cheap and they have a bathroom.
For those who are feeding whole families where economies of scale can apply and forty minutes of shopping, thirty minutes of setup, twenty minutes of work, and then ten minutes of cleanup can feed half a dozen mouths at least two meals per day for an entire week or more, it is indeed worth it. But if you are, however, working three jobs and barely have time to sleep let alone cook, and you factor in the time it takes as time you could have been on the clock earning money, and the ridiculous cost of groceries lately, sometimes self-prep is just not cost effective
Go ahead and let yourself grab that Costco rotisserie chicken and eat it straight out of the bag with your hands. There’s still something primally satisfying to it, and no one has the right to take at least THAT away from you. You have symbolically hunted for this bird behind the punch clock. Savor the time it saves you.
if you can
Is the key in my message, anyway, it’s better if you buy food from lical restourants or shops, they usually sell bigger quantities for less than fast food
(well… at least where i live and a good chunk of europe, idk how the situation is in the USA and other places tho)
Just order a “big mac” and you will see, it should be called a “mini-mac” now, but is just big in the price sense.
I don’t get Chick-fil-A.
It’s as expensive as takeout from a real restaurant, for a sandwich with plain dry bread.
The chicken is… fine. Consistent, other than shrinking over the years. Tomato and lettuce are fresh; that’s the highest praise I have.
Shakes are runny. But fine.
Yet people queue like it’s Disney World. Why?
I just don’t get it. Why wouldn’t I go to, like, Raising Cane’s or Chicken Express or Steak and Shake for a better sandwich for less? Or some other place (or my own homemade sandwich) for something actually healthy?
Before Chick-fil-A built a restaurant in this area, they had a food truck that passed through every week. It was fantastic. Delicious, hot, efficient, and the employees all seemed pretty happy.
After they built a location here, and after the long lines died down, I tried it. The sandwich was barely warm. I spent the weekend with food poisoning, unable to leave the house because I was pooping constantly.
I tried again at a location in California, on a road trip. I again got a sandwich that felt like it had been sitting out, cooling for a long time. No food poisoning that time, but that’s the last time I went. Now I buy a few bottles of their sauce when it’s on sale and make my own chicken sandwiches.
I’ve discovered that good honey mustard mixed with BBQ sauce is better than the Chuck-fil-a sauce anyway (as it’s just mustard + bbq + sugar).
But yeah, that’s interesting. I’ve never seen one of their food trucks before.
people love the bigot biscuits.
There’s like 3 places within a half mile of my Chick-fil-a I can go to and get a REAL chicken sandwich for the same or less cost.
Real as in slab of chicken and it has that grill taste to it.
And I’m not giving my money to an anti-LGBTQ organization.
Whenever I’ve been in a Chic-fil-a I feel like I’m at some church social event. And there’s cars wrapping around the building and jamming up traffic out into the street. It’s some cult shit.
That’s why I buy fried chicken from Popeyes and bonchon South Korean fried chicken
Fuck yeah. Bonchon is so good. I have one near my work. I wish there was one close to my home. :(
Yeah, I get it
I’ve only been to Chic-Fil-A a few times. When I went, they always said something like “have a blessed day,” giving me cult vibes.
Yeah they’re super jesus-y. They had the whole thing back in 2012 where they fired people for being lgbtq+, their owners fund a number of Christian political organizations, and they aren’t open Sundays. Not sure if they franchise or are all corporate, but I think they might even have rules that franchises can’t be open Sundays. There was another story where they claimed religious discrimination after an airport denied them retail rentals due to them being closed Sundays.
Yet people queue like it’s Disney World. Why?
religious zealotry mostly. it’s a shitty chicken sandwich who’s only redeeming quality is the pickle.
The chicken is not fine. It’s soggy and rubbery.
And it’s a triangle now. I seem to remember that it used to be a real piece of chicken, but not any more.
Also on a moral ground, the CEO is extremely anti-lgbtq and still every lgbtq person i know is addicted for some reason (mainly G’s, some L’s and a T)
Me neither. I heard the hype so I went, I love me a good chicken sandwich. It was fine. But I don’t think I’ve gone again. Might if I was hungry and it was nearby. But it always has a line up the door and was packed. These people must see something that I don’t in it.
You were with me until the latter part. People aren’t hitting up a sit down restaurant when they want fast food because they want to get in and get out without having to leave their car.
I have a Chick Fil A literally a 2 minute walk from me. I go often because of convenience. I don’t have to wait in a long line in my car and because it’s one of the few fast food joints that offers healthier alternatives like grilled chicken nuggets, salads, fruit, sides of kale, etc. It’s not a common occurrence to have options like that at a fast food place. The Chick Fil A and Taco Bell are right next to each other, but I end up going to the Chick Fil A 9 times out of 10 over Taco Bell because of this.
I agree that it’s not worth going out of your way over. But it does have some big perks over other fast food joints.
My brother actually likes it there because they are one of the few fast food places that still have a play place for kids.
Edit: Huh, weird. I was trying to respond to the dude who said you should get a better sandwich from a bar instead.
Most Taco Bell items are surprisingly healthy/balanced too though. Like, other than some of the crazier novelty items, pretty much everything on the menu is just protein and veggies wrapped in a tortilla. The bean and rice burrito has some of the best macros of any fast food item, and as a bonus, it’s still relatively cheap, especially compared to Chik fil a.
I mean, the vast majority of menu items are carbs, cheese, and protein. There’s really hardly veggies in there at all. A nominal amount of shredded lettuce is really nothing compared to fruit and a salad.
As a diabetic I have to watch what I eat but I still enjoy fried shit on occasion but I can’t do rice at all. God I miss rice. I honestly don’t know why there are no fast food places that offer diabetic friendly meals.
Nobody offers the low carb high fiber tortillas. Or low carb high fiber bread. Grilled veggies like zucchini and onions with sausage. Even snack places. There are some good low sugar deserts that could be made and ready to sell.
I swear if it’s not carbs its fats and sodium. One of these will do me in. I’ve never understood healthy fat vs non healthy and can’t identify it on labels plus cholesterol
My main mid afternoon snacks when I’m hungry is either beef jerky which is expensive as fuck so I really limit that. Peanuts or cheese. Cheese isn’t usually filling though.
I’ve been diagnosed for about 5 years sometimes I do fine. But winter is when I crave carbs the most. I don’t check my sugars often and I’ve never really looked into correct diet. Because I also have a family to feed and making shit just for my self seems to triple the budget
Man I’m sorry to hear. You’re already diabetic so I mean carbs are out…but I mean I feel like fats and sodium aren’t going to be as much of a worry until you also have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Altho once you do then you’re fucked I guess. Can’t enjoy anything anymore. I’ve heard of salt substitutes, but I don’t know much about them.
Play place for kids. Odd name for bacteria breeding pool
Lol well you aren’t wrong!
I agree with all this.
But it’s expensive. And slow, because it’s so busy.
That changes everything for me. If I’m going to pay a ton for a chicken sandwich and wait for it, that kills the convenience, and I am going to be quite a bit more critical.
My theory is it’s “the best” and a consistent default choice in areas that don’t have good fast food chains.
It’s better lunch than McDonald’s.
…But it doesn’t explain why it’s still so popular in my areas. There are clearly better places to go.
I work in one and I wanna say its the default for many religious people because of how the company associates its self
This. The hatred infused into every bite is addictive to most bigots and zealots.
Every Chick-fil-a I have ever been to was exceptionally clean and staffed entirely by white teenagers, typically girls. They also have a simple menu and good advertising. I can’t put my finger on it, but something about “clean” stores staffed by young white girls appeals to Chick-fil-a’s demographics. White southern religious people love Chick-fil-a.
A weird thing I’ve noticed about Freddy’s is that whenever a new store opens (they’ve done a lot of expansion recently in my area) the staff is all white teenagers, mostly girls. And then within a few months it’s entirely staffed by black people. I wonder if they have a roving crew of white people to open new stores with and get the mostly-white locals accustomed to eating there.
That… explains a lot.
I figured that’s a component, but it must be bigger than I realize.
I had heard so much about it that when I visited the US years ago I really wanted to make sure I tried it. I was rather disappointed to say the least, as you say, it was fine… nothing special, just fine.
The first one I’ve had recently that has really wowed me was Popeye’s opening in the UK, holy crap that was amazing. Huge bit of chicken, perfectly cooked, so juicy inside and so crispy on the outside. The proper amount of sauce, it even looked like the pictures… I crave that experience again…
Probably gonna have american’s rolling eyes at me waxing lyrical about Popeye’s but I’ve had it before in America and it was really good, but not superlative like the UK one.
Do I think theres something magical about it here? No. My theory is that it is because its new here, expectations and standards are really, really high, they need to establish themselves as worth going to over KFC or the local bossman chicken shops but I have no doubt that the standards and quality will start to drop, corners get cut as more franchises open and it will be back to ‘fine’.
Oh man.
Popeyes is middle tier in the (US) south. It’s dirt cheap and overly salty, but spiced well. I like their shrimp and po-boys.
I’m not rolling my eyes though. Popeyes is good. But real fried chicken is a religious experience in comparison.
Popeyes is great where I live. Popeyes or Publix, I don’t even bother making fried chicken and I make 90% of what we eat from ingredients, including bread. Fried chicken benefits from standardization - Popeyes and Publix are huge and can get chicken pieces that always weigh the same, can keep the oil at a specific temp, I can’t do that.
I like both better than the “real” fried chicken I can do at home. Popeyes has the edge IF the spicy is available. What I am mad about is the discontinued onion rings they were amazing.
I absolutely hated popeyes until the chicken sandwich released. If i go its the only thing i enjoy getting and is crazy how good it ended up being when everything else was meh. I do agree popeyes is mid tier at best because having 1 good item doesnt mean the place is now great, unless your raising canes lol.
Popeye’s is Canadian owned, and it seems to always be great whenever I go there. As we know, the US has lower standards for food quality than we do in the Commonwealth, so maybe it really is just higher quality in the UK.
Weird I have heard of KFC being very lauded in the UK. It always confused me as an American because it always seemed very mid to me. I was wondering if you guys had way better quality KFC than us or something. Now I’m wondering the same for Popeyes.
Overseas KFC is supposedly better than US KFC, conspicuously so.
And Popeyes is actually pretty regional, anyway. Even within the US, I was shocked to find some locations don’t serve shrimp, when that’s the whole reason we went to Popeyes when I was a kid.
I laughed my ass off when Popeye’s adopted their “Louisiana Fast” slogan. I used to live in Louisiana and there is absolutely no such fucking thing. Their fried chicken is decent, though.
KFC is bang average in the UK. Popeyes (UK) blows it out of the water.
My twin use to go to chickfila during the dress like a cow thing to get a free meal. My twin is gay. I think they felt it was taking food for free? They haven’t done it in awhile, so guess not even free they’re worth it anymore. I never went, I prefer Popeyes.
I have similar anecdotes.
I don’t get that at all. Hence I don’t purely buy the “popular with bigots” angle either; I think it’s just trendy, kind of like Starbucks, and people probably aren’t thinking about their stances when they wait in line.
Why would you go to Disney world?
I would pay the kind of money that people pay to go to Disney to not have to go to Disney.
Compared to chicken from other fast food restaurants, it’s top of the line. I don’t even like it but it’s so much better than ilk like McD’s, burger thing, windys
Lol no it’s not. I honestly prefer McDonald’s mcchicken over chick fila. Popeyes spicy is the goat for fast food.
Only been to chick fil a 4 times I’ve never understood the hype and honestly don’t think it’s good. Pretty bland in fact
Popeyes spicy is the goat for fast food.
This is local to the Philly/NYC area, but Asad’s Hot Chicken is really fucking good. I expect them to expand considerably in the next few years … and then turn to complete shit a few years after that.
it’s top of the line.
fucks sake find a better line.
McD’s, burger thing, windys
This is not my fast food environment at all, though.
I guess chains are just kinda regional. But I might go to Chick-fil-A if those three were the only alternatives.
I don’t get it either. You can either pay $12 for a sandwich that’s continuing to shrink and taste funny, or hit up a bar that suddenly has the best chicken sandwich you have ever eaten.
I don’t get the lines either, but I do think I enjoy it more than you do. Ill have it maybe a few times a year and im always satisfied with what i get, but the price is rough. I enjoy the grilled chicken sandwich with pepperjack and bacon. I will then throw a bunch of the chick fil a sauce on top since your right it is very plain. I almost wonder if they leave it plain just so you can do this yourself. Its a decent sandwich with all of that. We just got our first raising canes by us and i agree the chicken is way better, but i cant do the sandwich just the strips since its literally the same thing with less chicken for a little more money.
Never heard of chicken express before. I had steak and shake like 20 years ago when i was in the south and remember it being good as well. Wish i had that as an option.
I do think the popeyes chicken sandwich is still really good for a fast food sandwich. Its huge, tender, and the mayo somehow adds a lot of flavor. They also have deals sometimes which helps. Shake shack chicken sandwich was by far my favorite, but its so small its kind of insulting for the price asked. Its got some dill mayo spread on it thats really good, i wont even order the burger from them anymore. Again it seems like i go a lot but this is only my experience over the years lol, i get one maybe once every 3 to 4 months from some place.
What gets me is less fast food and more the middle ground food, frozen stuff you throw in the oven that’s not quite processed to hell and back but definetaly not as healthy as cooking completely from fresh. It’s been getting smaller over the years but the increasing replacement of every ingrediant under the sun with slightly different variations of palm oil means that despite the decrease in size the calorie count has either remained the same or actually gone up. More expensive, less filling yet somehow more fattening.
Wow, they went from a gluttonous ball of fried chicken half the size of your head, to a perfectly reasonable portion size that would feed an adult. Outrageous.
I live in Taiwan and the food market here is INTENSE.
My kid loves chicken nuggets from McDonald’s. So when I was visiting America, I noticed that the size of the nuggets are about 20% thinner and noticeably shorter than what we have locally. It wasn’t always like this. I still lived in the US during early pandemic.
In Taiwan, there are so many restaurants and food stalls and online delivery and Line messaging app group buys that everyone is trying to get a tiny slice of the consumers food budget. It’s because the barrier to entry is so low. Less than 1500USD, you can get a food stall and materials to start a food cart.
What that means is that restaurants who pull this shit gets quickly found out and the restaurant is gone pretty quickly.
Less than 1500USD, you can get a food stall and materials to start a food cart.
I bought a used school bus a few years ago, and as part of the search process I started running into food trucks for sale (here in the US). Oh my fucking god are those things expensive, even when they’re already well-used. It’s no wonder food truck food is so absurdly expensive, and it must still take them forever to pay off their initial costs. Additionally, a lot of places here won’t even let you operate a food truck at all unless it’s associated with a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
I actually tried to open a food truck in Washington. I actually went as far as finding a used truck that was already equipped with fire suppression installed and have some of the equipment I needed.
Because the truck was in Oregon, I had to get it certified in WA and that was something like 5k and not counting any retrofits I had to do to just get it to code.
The truck was 58k(in 2018) and added together it would have been an investment of over 150k before the doors even open. I gave up after.
Yeah, that was the price range of the trucks and equipment I was seeing. I’m just surprised there are any food trucks operating anywhere at all in this country.
It’s kinda like subway franchises. You’re paying hella money and at the end you still make minimum wage.
At least with a food truck there’s a chance the food is good!
Ya for real. Subway is gross
Yeah the Taiwan food scene is incredibly competitive and everything tastes so amazing. If the good is not good, then you get priced out. There are even Michelin Stared street vendors, although it may not be indicative of the quality.
I had a full meal at a night market for 6 USD including desert.
The free market would be a kid opening a better burger van across the road from Maccas and everyone jumping ship. The reality is you need zoning approval from the local governance, licensing fees, parking fees, etc, before you even have a van or any cooking gear yet. Then everyone goes to Maccas anyway because it’s familiar even if it’s bad.
Now you’re making me want some fried sweet potato balls! Or what’s the new vendor item now?
diarrhea lettuce… you are brave soul for not yoinking that out
r/USdefaultism
Some people need a low cost ozempic
Nothing cuts weight like Flight Milk!
As if literally everyone hasn’t already switched their providers
The price must be lower, right?! right?!
2x is all I can do
Actually…
There’s a non-chain burger place in my town that explicitly states that they are not fast food at the order counter.
Best burgers I’ve ever had in my life.
They are pretty massive burgers!
Promote that shit. Where and name?
Seriously! OP, we talking smash burgers? How close is that place to your house!? Where’s your house.
Don’t you love how not only is everything so expensive, but they’re also all worse quality 😁
ordinary fast food tacos are probably the worst. ‘crispy’ by name, hardly so once you open the bag and take a bite.
the shells are so thin now, they get soggy in mere seconds. the sad thing is, part of you is actually hoping for that outcome because the alternative is a shell that’s already splintered into numerous pieces just from being wrapped-up and put into the bag.
Hard shell tacos from most places suck eggs. Especially with how greasy the low quality meat they use turns it into dust. I try for soft shells now when I do buy. Or those weird combination ones with an inner hard shell and outer burrito tortilla.
I can’t get crunchy tacos anymore the shells are so thin now they’re always split.
The quality is still the same. Its always been shit.
