That is good to know... will have to see if the place they are in honors the coupons!!!
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Thoughts on chain restaurants.
- Thread starter maflynn
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That is good to know... will have to see if the place they are in honors the coupons!!!
Dunno if Mac Donalds counts as a restaurant, but it certainly is a chain. They opened in my home country in the early 1970s. Passing near the first one to open, I dropped in to give it a try....... Disappointing burger; I have not graced the golden arches with my presence in the five decades since.
In general eating out is rare for me unless I am travelling. Then I prefer the variety of independent local eateries to the standard fare of chains.
In general eating out is rare for me unless I am travelling. Then I prefer the variety of independent local eateries to the standard fare of chains.
“Fast food” serves one primary purpose, eat fast, and taste acceptably good. McDonalds are lined up every highway in the US or so it seems, clean, with bathrooms, editable food, usually next to a gas station.
I first saw McDonalds in the Washington DC area around 1968. I can’t remember what competition they had if any back then. The sandwich that put them on the map imo was The Big Mac, just because it deviated from typical hamburgers in taste, and was delicious. That was when regular burgers were $.35, but I can’t remember what it cost. It took a long time for me to tire of them, but, on occasion, I’ll still partake. We have 2 McDonalds in our neighborhood. On a recent trip to France the city center and smaller towns, the McDonalds we stopped at were full of people wanting to eat fast.
And have wifi, so can pop in for a nosh while you check your email, download some podcasts, etc while on a roadtrip.
Ditto the Starbucks at seemingly every exit.
"I'll have a
;-)
Did you get a Royale with Cheese? And how 'bout a beer?
The decline of Kentucky Fried Chicken is the one that disappointed me. That used to be such a treat, seems like they buy and mis-cook the scrawniest chickens anymore.
And I had thought Village Inn went bankrupt over the pandemic. I checked googlez and it looks like there are still 3 more in SLC, but all three here in Ogden are boarded up.
And I had thought Village Inn went bankrupt over the pandemic. I checked googlez and it looks like there are still 3 more in SLC, but all three here in Ogden are boarded up.
It's not just Chain restaurants. I've noticed this with all food service. But I noticed this even before the pandemic. Pandemic either accelerated that trend and or made it worse. I don't think there's any simple explanation. It's likely a combination of multiple factors.
- gradual and now accelerated due to inflation rise in prices of ingredients.
- rise in energy costs
- ingredients scarcity (there's only so many places that can provide all this produce and other ingredients to every single place, restaurants, grocery stores, etc)
- population growth exacerbating the above issues
- covid shutdowns accelerating everything above.
- food movements removing transfats making them less tasty(novel idea use self discipline and don't eat them in excess)
- COVID related employee revolt
- less employees, less service, less efficiency,
- less cooks, so they hire mediocre cooks, or existing cooks are over worked
- people slowly stop going because all the consequences of less cooks or lower quality cooks, producing lower quality food, slower service with less servers, low morale, so less cleanliness, etc
- trickles down to other industries that support the restaurant industry
There's probably even more things to consider. This is just what I could think of immediately.
- gradual and now accelerated due to inflation rise in prices of ingredients.
- rise in energy costs
- ingredients scarcity (there's only so many places that can provide all this produce and other ingredients to every single place, restaurants, grocery stores, etc)
- population growth exacerbating the above issues
- covid shutdowns accelerating everything above.
- food movements removing transfats making them less tasty(novel idea use self discipline and don't eat them in excess)
- COVID related employee revolt
- less employees, less service, less efficiency,
- less cooks, so they hire mediocre cooks, or existing cooks are over worked
- people slowly stop going because all the consequences of less cooks or lower quality cooks, producing lower quality food, slower service with less servers, low morale, so less cleanliness, etc
- trickles down to other industries that support the restaurant industry
There's probably even more things to consider. This is just what I could think of immediately.
We have been Popeye’s Louisiana Fried Chicken fans for several decades, especially their red beans and rice. When we moved to Texas (no comments please
) we tried Kentucky Fried Chicken and Church’s which do not compare favorably at all.
The various outlets of Popeye's by me seem to be in a post-lockdown death spiral.
Trouble hiring/retaining staff, led to closed dining areas, leads to 30+ minute waits in drive-thru line to order, only to get wrong order or dried out food. All the dining options surrounding the Popeye's near me are busy, Popeye's... noone. And if want to take the chance on that drive-thru when noone there, back to bad food, wrong order, or will take 20 minutes to get your food cooked.
Order-ahead in the app is a no-go as they make you get into that drive-thru to pickup your food. Rinse/repeat of above.
Trouble hiring/retaining staff, led to closed dining areas, leads to 30+ minute waits in drive-thru line to order, only to get wrong order or dried out food. All the dining options surrounding the Popeye's near me are busy, Popeye's... noone. And if want to take the chance on that drive-thru when noone there, back to bad food, wrong order, or will take 20 minutes to get your food cooked.
Order-ahead in the app is a no-go as they make you get into that drive-thru to pickup your food. Rinse/repeat of above.
FWIW, we have a couple of small, family-owned restaurants within blocks of our home... and in my experience, they have suffered the same shortcomings as the chains... smaller portions, increased prices and, at times, bad service. At one of them, the owner has become quite testy. I am sure part of the issue is the supply chain thing that started with the pandemic, but that's no excuse for the "testiness" and poor service. I have always been big on supporting local, but I am having a tough time with the one restaurant.
Part of the issue with all service industry enterprises like restaurants is a combination of supply chain issues, as well as being able to hire, train and retain quality staff. Even the chains are struggling in this regard. I have been in some chain restaurants where there are customers waiting to be seated and half of the tables are empty because there is not adequate wait staff to work the tables.
My wife and I have been eating at home more and more, largely because of these issues... and most of the time, we can prepare meals that are just a tasty, and maybe even more nutritious than we can get at the restaurants, often for less money.
McDonald's also has surprisingly good coffee... we have several local coffee shops in the area, but avoid Starbucks like the plague... their coffee is overpriced, and not a fan of their coffee or the politics.
We have a bunch of Dutch Bros coffee kiosks popping up all over the place - like weeds in my front yard... their coffee isn't bad, but again, overpriced.
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I always liked McD's coffee. They have the best cups too. Does a good job of not transferring the heat to the hands, unlike the cheap garbage coffee cups from other places.
Agree completely on the automated table-top payment kiosks... I get it that good service is hard, but I tip based on that service. I will not be held hostage to tip 20% of more just because it's an option on the screen... and I do prefer to tip in cash... but Mr/Ms food server, don't stand there with your puppy-dog eyes trying to shame me into tipping you. Do your job well, and I (and I believe most patrons) will tip generously... you are not entitled to a tip just because you took my order.
Prices have gone through the roof for everything except my wife's paycheck and my retirement income. Fast food seems to have experienced the greatest increase in price.
Our rule when traveling is that we cannot eat at a restaurant that we could visit when we are home... this rules out all chains, fast food or otherwise, and affords us an opportunity to expand our food horizons... lately, it's become more and more difficult to abide by this rule.
Yeah, but living in Arizona, I'd pay almost anything for a bag of White Castle burgers! (We finally got one WC restaurants in the metro area - and the drive is ridiculous and the wait is worse... 5 million people in the Phoenix metro area and ONE White Castle restaurant. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
Where I am at, I find this a bit odd. Dining at home is the norm, and taking lunch to work from home is common. We might eat out when out on the town or more commonly when travelling.
There are fast food outlets, including the likes of MacDonalds and other chains, but most folks regard what goes for food at them as bland, calorie laden, generally not all that nutritious and more expensive than home cooked meals.
Independent eateries vary, but to stay trading they have to offer better tasting, more nutritious fare at a reasonable price, albeit somewhat pricier than the chains.
We might go for flasher tucker at flash joints with prices to match when we are feeling flush and celebrating something or another.
I never meant to imply that fast food (McDonald's, etc) was nutritious... I was talking about some of the local mom and pop diners. One of those near our home used to have tasty, nutritious food and very reasonable rates. There was a time in the not to distant past that my wife and I could eat well and for less expense (~ $20-25 total check) than we could at home... and when you factor in the convenience (of not cooking/cleaning), and the fact that our schedules were full of activities with family (grandkids school presentations, athletic events, church events, etc), it was just easier to eat out.
Things have change drastically... when you have to pay $4 or more for a class of iced tea, and what the restaurants are now charging for meals, it no longer makes sense.
That's the issue. Even before the pandemic it still wasn't fast. 20 minutes is far from fast food. And most of the time it's not fresh either. Why are we waiting so long if it's not MTO?? Now forty years ago it was ridiculously fast. Our DT had average times under a minutes. Won't even get acknowledged that fast at the speaker anymore.“Fast food” serves one primary purpose, eat fast, and taste acceptably good. McDonalds are lined up every highway in the US or so it seems, clean, with bathrooms, editable food, usually next to a gas station.
I first saw McDonalds in the Washington DC area around 1968. I can’t remember what competition they had if any back then. The sandwich that put them on the map imo was The Big Mac, just because it deviated from typical hamburgers in taste, and was delicious. That was when regular burgers were $.35, but I can’t remember what it cost. It took a long time for me to tire of them, but, on occasion, I’ll still partake. We have 2 McDonalds in our neighborhood. On a recent trip to France the city center and smaller towns, the McDonalds we stopped at were full of people wanting to eat fast.
An odd parallel here in Utah, when In-n-Out Burger came here. First spot was in Centerville, about halfway between here and SLC proper. I travelled there about 3 months after their opening, and the traffic was STILL snarled and cops on every corner, definitely not worth it.
A second IOB opened here on Riverdale Road (actually walking distance from where I live) but its parking lot never acheived half-full, can't quite figure out why (its next door to the cross-national Hill AFB population). The burgers to me are, meh. I don't get it.
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Picked up a McDonald’s yesterday which is rare for us. It included two happy meals and two separate burgers and cost £19.45. With prices this high I won’t be doing that again in the near future. It’s a lot of money for crap food and little of it too! I’d imagine chain restaurants are struggling at the moment here with high inflation and less people through the doors. We are going to see a lot of restaurants closing over the next 6 months and a lot of job losses. As bad as I feel for the people who work in that industry, I have to assess my own spending too and eating out is a luxury, not a necessity. My weekly food bill has gone up £30+ already as prices increase too. Not good.
Agree the issue is they're doing all three now: price up, portion down, quality down. I'd rather just have it be price; at least that is the most honest, instead of sneaking in portion shrinkage. And definitely don't cut quality. The other two don't matter if the product is horrible now.