Before getting to the headline, I want to remind you what CTH outlined two years ago about these massive food price increases.
You might remember me saying that processed food prices will increase at a much greater rate than fresh or lesser processed foods. Factually, even organic products (ie. produce) could/would end up less expensive (in relative terms) to the increase in price at your supermarket, as compared to the price increases for the more processed foods.
The reason is simple, processed food use more energy; energy prices are skyrocketing; the processing costs (packaging, transportation, freezing, sanitizing, storage, warehousing and distribution etc.), at each step of the processing cycle, in addition to higher labor costs, drive up the end result of the price.
In this energy driven inflationary environment, less processing and handling equals lower overall cost increases from field to fork. More processing, handling, distribution equals higher overall costs. This is simply a supply chain, truism.
Into this issue comes McDonald’s Corp. Last I heard, approximately 85% of McDonald’s business was franchise. The franchise has to purchase the product (food) from the main company. Supply side cost increases in the food are transferred from the company to the franchisee via higher product costs. The restaurant is then forced to raise prices to accommodate their increased costs. A portion of the revenue from sales then flows back to the main company.
It is important to note here, there is a natural disconnect in supply side price increases within the franchise model. The parent company must, must, negotiate the best possible contract terms with the suppliers because the increases in costs are passed directly to the franchise. The parent company doesn’t immediately feel any problem until the revenue from the franchise drops due to the forced raising of retail prices and diminished sales. There is a lag.
McDonald’s is extremely exposed to processed food price increases.
McDonald’s franchises were forced by supply cost increases to raise retail prices. The retail prices were raised into a primary customer base that is already under extreme inflationary pressure. The average McDonald’s customer is exposed to inflation at almost every level of their life.
A typical family of four will now pay between $30 to $40 dollars for a single meal at a McDonald’s restaurant. That is not practical for the customer base. The result is lowered sales at retail, as eating a meal at home becomes the less costly option. The downstream consequence is lower revenue returned to the parent company.
The only way the parent company can offset the supply side costs to the franchisee is to lower overall operating costs. Expenses have to be cut. Advertising budgets reduced. Administration costs reduced. Administrative staffing levels reduced. Supply contracts renegotiated. Packing, warehousing, distribution and all vendor contracts renegotiated, consistently looking for better terms.
(Wall Street Journal) McDonald’s Corp. is temporarily closing its U.S. offices this week as it prepares to inform corporate employees about layoffs undertaken by the burger giant as part of a broader company restructuring.
The Chicago-based fast-food chain said in an internal email last week to U.S. employees and some international staff that they should work from home from Monday through Wednesday so it can deliver staffing decisions virtually. The company, in the message, asked employees to cancel all in-person meetings with vendors and other outside parties at its headquarters.
“During the week of April 3, we will communicate key decisions related to roles and staffing levels across the organization,” the company said in the message viewed by The Wall Street Journal. McDonald’s declined to comment Sunday on the number of employees being laid off.
McDonald’s in January said that it planned to make “difficult” decisions about changes to its corporate staffing levels by April, as part of a broader strategic plan for the burger chain.
Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said in an interview at the time that he expected to save money as part of the workforce assessment, but said then he didn’t have a set dollar amount or number of jobs he was looking to cut. “Some jobs that are existing today are either going to get moved or those jobs may go away,” Mr. Kempczinski said.
McDonald’s employs more than 150,000 people globally in corporate roles and its owned restaurants, with 70% of them located outside of the U.S., the chain said in February.
McDonald’s in the message acknowledged that the week of April 3 would be a busy one for personal travel, which it said contributed to the decision to deliver the news remotely. Workers who wouldn’t have access to a computer during the week should provide personal contact information to their manager, the company said. (read more)
$15/hour minimum wage for flipping burgers or punching buttons on a cash register is as big, if not a bigger, factor in the price of your Big Mac.
Thank the Democrats
Bingo.
They can thank their corporate officers, also.
That, and a lot of corporate overhead full of “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “equality,” and very limited personnel actually moving the company forward and doing the productive work. Also, their advertising budget must be astronomical, and besides that, the ads target a very young crowd (who don’t work), like tweens and younger kids who can only pester the adults to take them to the “happy place.”
That model was bound to fail, and so it has – good riddance to bad food.
Add into all those likely macro-economic factors in play here — are the ever increasing dietary changes being made among many ‘former’ habitués of fast-food eateries.
While we were in forced hibernation mode we made good use of our “free” time: Thank you DoD et al for preparing us for this opportunity — self-directed online learning and research.
It seemed to me to be more than a slight bug in our tormentors’ plans that they should force us indoors with nothing more to do than to use our God-given intellect and man-devised tech tools with which to “break-the-code,” so to speak.
And break it we have. Not only have we made it our purpose to fix ourselves, go Keto or low-carb (veiled reference to Micky D), for example, but we’ve made it our business to get right with God, seal-up the gaps in our understanding of history and political science (not-so-veiled reference to Marxism, the Comintern, and so-called Progressivism) — and others’ attempts to utterly destroy not only our nations but our very lives.
OK
That’s more than enough to chew on for now.
Yes, these price increases are affecting even large companies now. We’re in a recession, even if the Biden administration is juggling the GDP by selling LNG to Europe in increasing amounts and whatever other manipulations. The bottom line is something that companies can’t pretend about. But McDonald’s has had other problems that have cost them.
McDonald’s lost an untold amount from leaving Russia. At first, the company temporarily closed its 850 restaurants in Russia and 180 in Ukraine, but continued to pay its workers, costing about $55 million a month. It lost $100 million in food that was already in the supply chain. Then in May, 2022, it announced it was closing all restaurants in Russia. The company owned 85% of its Russian restaurants with the rest franchises. The Russian restaurants sold to an owner of several Siberian franchises for an undisclosed amount, but McDonald’s most likely took a big hit.
I’m sure that McDonald’s was reading/hearing the State Department propaganda about Ukraine. Perhaps there was some government pressure to leave Russia – to hurt the country more??
In addition, McDonald’s has had a lot of controversies and suits against it over Covid policies, sexual harassment charges, Coke’s fake study on cola drinks, fighting a woke agenda, unpopular menu decisions, etc. At least some franchises closed during Covid – I know from trips I made during that time.
I hope they will survive, but until economic conditions improve – under President Trump, let’s hope – they will have a tough time because people are having a tough time and energy costs are only going up. And up.
Economic conditions won’t improve *unless* President Trump returns to the White House, period. No one else will do what it’ll take to turn things around.
McD burgers 15 cents in 1959, in DC. YUMMY.
So was a gallon of gas!
Yup. They were 15¢ in our neck of the woods when the first one in the region opened up.
There were two other similar burger joints that we preferred; Burger Chef and Sandy’s. Same prices, same food (burgers, fries, shakes) and our family and many friends preferred those other chains. We rarely hit up McDonalds.
I believe it was advertising and the “Over XX million sold” on their sign that just kept increasing and increasing that drew people in.
Also, early franchises had carefully chosen locations for traffic volume and ease of access. That was w-a-a-y before there was a McDonalds every few miles.
McDonalds was an amazing corporation… was.
Bye-bye, McDonalds. Nice run while it lasted.
Wow
Remember the first ecoli scare? That was the last time I ate ground beef.
The ecoli scare was just that – a created “crisis” to drive more regulatory and monopolistic control of the food supply chain. After that I doubled down on rare burgers – “still mooing” as they say. 🙂
As a retired McDonald’s franchisee, I can tell you that McDonald’s does not provide, or own, the food distribution to its franchisees. They contract out all of the food/paper distribution to third parties. McDonald’s develops the products, recipes and quality standards only. Finally, they have become a very liberal company and big supporters overall of the Democrat Party. In the recent past, several high level corporate executives have quit and gone to work for Democrat Administrations. They have lied down with dogs and got up with fleas. Go woke, go broke!
No wonder they’re doomed. Everything dems touch turns to 💩
I forgot to mention that they were “woke” with identity politics well before it became the current rage. Back in the 1980’s they organized operators on the basis of gender and race: They had a Women’s Operator Network(WON); Black McDonald’s Operator Association(BMOA); Hispanic McDonald’s Operator Association(HMOA). These groups were given certain benefits by Corporate that were not available to all operators. Sort of de Facto reparations, if you will, in order to keep Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton at bay.
McDonald’s could use a thorough overhaul.
They had a thorough overhaul — when they abandoned all their profit centers in Russia and in Ukraine. They closed all their shops in those two countries. Then, in what seems to be a lie, in July of 2022 — a mere eight months ago, they proclaimed that shuttering all thos stores “…actually helped improve its operating profitability.” Hahahahahaha — So now, only eight months later, Profits are down! we gotta let a lot of people go!
Gonna try to put a link here:
https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-selling-russian-business-improved-operating-margin-vkusno-tochka-restaurant-2022-7
Well… There may have been a “one time” savings as costs were cut… But so were revenues. McD (and to a lesser extent BK) has been badly run for years now. I remember when they changed the oil used for fries… And the flavor went to he’ll. Nobody eats at a burger place because It is healthy… It has chosen to cater to the “urban” market in its advertising and left the ” value driven” market to others. Their offerings do not inspire quality, but budget saving choices. Given the higher costs across the market, it would not surprise me they have lost clientele to better, slightly more expensive offerings that are now a justified choice in light of price increases.
Then, there’s the perceived lack of safety there… Remember the frequent violent incidents at urban McD’s??? The instances of “wilding”? I usually eat at A&W or Sonic for burgers and Chic-Fil’a or Culver’s for chicken sandwiches. Slightly more, but clean, safe and better staffed. And they always have shakes.
The road to profitability runs through customer satisfaction.
I haven’t had Chik-Fil-A since the CEO told me to find a black man and wash his feet.
This all day long! People act like Chik Fil A is some righteous based company. They are not. They are woke. They are fake. They are a Southern RINO chicken chain. Chik Fil A is the RGA or US Senate of restaurants.
That may be true, but I gotta say, they run the drive thru like a well oiled machine…….Boom!
Chic-fil-A was not woke as long as Truitt Cathy was running the business. When he died, the kids betrayed the business standards of their father. I used to eat at the original Chic-fil-A in Hapeville, GA when I worked midnight shift at an airline there and we ate with all sorts of people. Truitt never discriminated against anyone and was a friend to all. He ran a great company and treated his workers with respect and dignity.
Sure wish they did not ladle MSG into their foods ….
Amen, I stay away from most processed foods for exactly that reason. It is cheap way to make food taste better. Our FDA at work, looking out for the industrial food complex. MSG has so many side effects and is just not healthy.
Absolute total BS. All three of my children worked there on their way to fine careers. The local owners here are not that, not what you describe. The business worked their way around their college schedules to accommadate them.
That was my sons experience also. Most of The local franchises still adhere to Truitts principles
Chik- Fil-A made the decision to no longer contribute to Christian organizations who stand for marriage between a man and a woman as God Almighty created it to be.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/42848/chick-fil-a-sauces-christian-charities
I will eat at Chik-Fil-A to keep from getting sick at McDonald’s.
Pop-eye’s has a better chicken sandwich.
Wow! I thought they were one of the few that refused to go woke..maybe they were just behind the times.
That last line in your comment: Should be engraved across the foreheads of every “woke” grad of American business schools. These little virtuous fools have abandoned the prime directive of private enterprise.
I have believed for years that MCDonalds doesn’t cook the burgers at the stores anymore. Everything tastes warmed up. Remember the marketing campaign, that said if you ask for a Quarter Pounder, you shouldn’t mind waiting for it to be cooked fresh? Even with that, they still taste like they’ve been in a warming drawer.
Thanks! That was going to be my 1st question.
I remember when the very 1st McDonald’s opened in a suburb of Cleveland, OH. On a Sunday afternoon, as Folks were driving home from Church, they lined up down the street as far as one could see. When Folks can no longer afford McDonald’s, that’s saying something.
Hamburger, fries, and a malt, for 48 cents and it all tasted pretty good.
Can’t say that today.
Would you like that Build Back Better with fries?
Zing!
Massive beef shortage coming too. People really do need to start following the Sun.
Given the plan to inject mRNA into cattle, I can happily forego beef.
…and pigs, and chickens, and lettuce….
As well as chicken and eggs…..
It seems as if the US is experiencing a much worse inflation and shortage in regards to food.
I live in Northern Ontario, Canada, small city, 52,000 people at most.
Eggs have only went up a fraction of what the American prices have. Same with beef. And chicken.
That being said, most of the product is supplied locally for the grocery stores. There are tons of farms around these parts, and the distribution/transportation costs are what must be keeping them lower than the southern part of Ontario, IE Toronto and area.
Ive spoken to my cousin, who is the boss at Sobey’s here, and he said most of his stuff comes from our local farms.
Trudeau is going to screw us though, I see the globalists carbon plans are now being floated in the Western Provinces. Its going over like a lead balloon.
Saskatchewan and Alberta are already telling him and his Marxists pals to pound sand in regards to farming reduction of animals and fertilizers. They also told him to shove his mnra injections where the sun dont shine, into the food as well.
There are no shortages of product at all, and the prices have risen only slightly where I live.
The American people are getting shafted, 6 ways till Sunday. No doubt about it.
NO doubt… we have too many mega corporation farms.. they ran all the actual farmers out of business the proceeded to fleece the consumers
What’s that empty feeling in your stomach? That weakness? That’s the “planet” being saved. I place the word planet in quotes because this isa term of art that means something like “idol” to those trying to save “it,” him? they?
Their fries are my weakness. Probably the worst thing you can put in your body. I prefer my own burgers. Ground sirloin is $5 a pound. I can make 4 quarter pounders. Why would I ever pay $7 for one at Mickey Ds?
Buy Ore-Ida fast food fries. They are just like MCD but better when you cook them at home.
How long before all store workers are replaced by robots?
At least the robots might be able to correctly count change.
But will they only accept my order if I use the correct pronouns?
that reminds me:
I was at a drive in giving money for my purchase.
I handed her a $20 and a $1 for a transaction that
was $15.00 and change. I was there ten minutes
while she kept giving me the wrong change.
She then called the manager over and he gave
me the wrong change also. I finally said, give me
back the $21 and we will start over. I dug in my
handbag for the exact change and somehow came
up with $15.00 also with singles, fives and change.
I gave her the exact amount and she stared at
it, shrugged her shoulders and put it in the drawer.
In a “cashless society”, that won’t be an issue, me thinks…..
McDonald’s is already using super annoying touch screen order kiosks.
Maybe those ‘minimun
wage” rallies for inclusive workers are showing up in the balance sheets?
Don’t you mean super filthy?
I’ve noticed lately that their “cleanliness” has gone back to the usual ‘standard’ too.
Highly unlikely that those kiosks will be “sanitized”.
And White Castle just made a huge investment in robots to cook and prepare food. It won’t be long automation will be the norm.
Never…reason a $10 illegal has a higher throughput rate than a robot and can do multiple jobs a robot cannot do.
I’m a farmer. It was obvious from the moment Now Biden took office that America and the west was in trouble. All my efforts for raising and selling livestock are predicated upon cheap energy – cheap fossil fuels. Raise the price of those fuels by making them more scarce and the price of all farm products must go up. If the price does not go up, farmers will go out of business and supply of food will fall, further fuelling inflation. The Saudis are limiting oil production and the senile human in the White House is draining the US strategic oil reserves. Read the tea leaves and the end result is obvious. I could get by by adopting the lifestyle and production methods of my great grandfather – using horses for farm work and paraffin lamps for reading. You, however, won’t be able to afford to buy the very small production surplus my farm will generate.
But … at least our Happy Meals will still be affordable. Because food comes from order counter
Happy meal will be crickets and worms.
Thanks for what you do.
They mean to kill us off, war, pestilence, starvation, privation, chaos is the point.
Hang in there John when this fever breaks and the con collapses you are vital, you are more important than all the swamp rats in the country state or federal.
Ultra-MAGA!
Ill be happy, when the dead heads finally wake up, see what is being intentionally done, and rise up and get rid of these tyrants SOB’s….
The leftists who currently think this is all on the up and up, are going to get a face full of the same treatment, they have in store for us all.
That day is coming soon, me thinks.
One would hope, anyways.
Dig the Marshall.
Reality eventually mugs you and it’s ugly but necessary.
I’m an old cheap bastage. McDonalds recently raised the pricec on it’s loss leader soft drinks by 39%. Their breakfast loss leader, the Egg McMuffin, has gone from $3 to $4.49. Those are the only two things I’ve bought from the chain in years. Even tho I can afford the increases, I’ve stopped buying anything from them since they raised the drink price. They don’t care, I didn’t spend enough there for them to notice anything other than I’m not clogging up the drive-thru line any more.
If fuel wasn’t so darned expensive, I could see lining up for a drink, then around and back for a burger, then again for an order of fries….
Me, too! Only every Sunday, I would pick up two Egg McMuffins (which I love and which hold me all day), and go across the street to the Conoco drive- thru to pick up a delicious bottle of “Everfresh Pure 100% Orange Juice, no sugar added”. So good together, even though I know the oj is just basically sugar water, due to the pasturization process.
(I read comments of kids who had worked at McD’s, about the cockroaches gathered around their oj dispensers in the mornings and the areas that are not cleaned well. Plus the cost of their cups of oj are very high, now)
I pay over $10 at McD’s and around $2 for the glass bottle, metal screwcap 16 oz. oj at Conoco. Have been waiting for the price of eggs to jack up the McMuffins, which will make me do with one – or make my own at home.
The oj is the only time I drink anything other than water, although I plan to squeeze my own lemon juice and make a delicious lemonade, using four packets of Stevia and enough water to make two glasses/day; and a taste that is heavenly. I read that lemon water drank lukewarm, first thing every morning, is extremely healthy and probably helps detoxify our livers.
I need to start container gardening and find an Amish family who sells free range brown eggs. Fresh homegrown tomato with brown eggs and homemade lemonade! YUM!
What about all those people who invested in franchises? This sounds very shaky.
Responding to “What about all those people who invested in franchises?”
In many places, franchise owners (speaking generically of any local chain restaurant) are an important part of your local community. These are the people who use their advertising budget to donate food to worthwhile local causes, or feed people during natural disasters. Outside the big cities, these are the “successful” people who give back to their community.
Who owns the locations?
Most McDonalds are in prime locations for fast food business. Who owns the real estate, who controls what can be done with the existing structures, and what is the impact on the community in terms of taxes?
I know “Mr. Global” sees no problem shutting down fast food near interstate exits, because they intend to cut that traffic drastically.
If the eventual fallout of this McDonalds re-arrangement is a number of closed franchises, let’s see if a disparate percentage of the closings are locations that serve transitory customers more so than the surrounding community.
It’s hard to find a time when there isn’t a double line around our McDonalds, in a town of 10,000 that has all the other fastfood chains and several popular restaurants. The gas station/convenience stores all have pizza pickups, as well as several expensive pizza restaurants.
We finally got a Wendy’s, but they don’t get much traffic. I’ve gotten a large chili several times, and a “shrunken” medium chocolate Frosty, several times. Will not get another $10+ salad with fruit and nuts, as it was nowhere as good as the “Oriental” salad I used to get at the Wendy’s 30 miles away. It had a great dressing, mandarine oranges and some nuts. Used to love it!
I must say that the majority of the young staff at the new Wendy’s is not well-trained, which may be the problem. Three older management personnel are good, but I really don’t like going through when the kids are there.
Our McDonald’s has a mix of kids and older women, and all are professional and very polite. I never worry about cleanliness of the workers, there.
KFC has had a big turnover in the past few years, so I know it’s difficult to keep and train help.
The only beef I eat is in the Wendy’s chili. When I occasionally went to Arby’s, it was for their scrumotious Ham and Swiss Market Fresh sandwich, and their equally scrumotious Ghirardelli Chocolate shake, for which I usually had a coupon.
However, they discarded the delicious ham and changed the Turkey Market Fresh sandwich, until it is salty and just not good. Doubt I go back. I never try Sonic, BK, Hardees. And the DQ now charges almost $7 for a small “medium sized” Blizzard. I asked about the charge for a cup of ice, no liquid, and they said $4! I said “$4 for a cup of ICE?” and the girl said, “Yeah!”
Seriously looking at prices of home ice cream makers and ice makers.
They just tore down an old McDonalds and built a brand new one close to where I grew up. It hasn’t been reopened a month and a tornado hit it Friday.
O.U.C.H!
Let it fail. Let everything fail. People love to sit on websites and complain, but it’s going to take a lot of failure before they stop bitching and start fighting the parasites who cause this destruction.
I tend to agree, but the thing is “it” doesn’t need our permission, “it” and ultimately everything (as you surmise) WILL fail.
We have passed “the tipping point” and now its just a matter of gravity.
But, don’t mourn for the loss you percieve, of a World that never existed.
Reality;
Time obsessed people, scurrying around, eating manufactured food, devoid of nutrition, pumped full of meds that didn’t CURE anything, but enabled them to function, expending their energy working, to pay payments for big ticket items (car, house) that never get paid off, and crap that ends up in the land fill.
“You will own nothing, and be happy” has already been the way of the World, for most enslaved by credit, and obsessed with percieved status.
But, we PRETENDED it was something else, …
I really like the last sentence, I don’t do pretend anymore
“Qwn nothing” means they get to steal your savings in return for “guaranteed” income. Just like on the plantation. Oh, but that guaranteed bug-food is only delivered to those who are not white supremacists, or express other forbidden “dangerous” thoughts. Or are not up to date on their “vaccines.”
Devolving the population into tenants is not a new strategy, but always seems appealing to the vermin once they have devoured the life of their plebes.
Got woken up to that reality long time ago. Maybe even started in second grade….
Great comment Dutch, I agree we’re passed the tipping point and now watching the fallout.
“we PRETENDED it was something else”
Yes we sure did, we were (are) living in the Matrix, instead of being in an induced coma ‘Pod’ feeding an A.I. system…we were working, paying taxes and going about our lives and mostly trusting that the Politicians were looking out for us.
No more pretending…the curtains have been pulled back and we see the strings on the marionettes.
Astute.
Dang, I’m living the WEF dream and didn’t realize how good I have it.
Are we fighting? Or are we just bitching?
How has anyone here protested or pushed against PDJT indictment? Anyone called the Supreme Court to pressure them? Anyone called their Rep. and Senators to put some heat under them? Anyone called Sarah Sanders to remind her of what Trump did for her? Anyone called their state’s AG to see if they will push against this? Anyone called ole Asa H., Ron DS, Niki H. offices and told them they are putting nails in their political coffins?
We are doing great boycotting woke Companies (Budweiser is next), but our voices can still be used. Stop buying from woke, start applying pressure to those people who supposedly represent us. There is still the psychological game that can be played. Make them doubt their plan and their actions. Psych-ops can work both ways.
Your healthier for not eating that shit.
Their burger not the bun and cheese is very healthy
Um, no.
Had a nearby Whataburger close down 2-3 days ago. They were open 24 hrs. and always busy, with lines at the drive-thru (busy inside too). It was just shuttered, with no explanation, etc., and I also noticed they were always fully staffed.
I wonder if the processed food costs rising is what prompted them to close?
I don’t eat at McDonald’s much in the first place, but recently it’s been even less. Most of what I get is from their “Value Menu” now, because those prices are still pretty decent (yes they raised their cokes a little, but even that’s still cheaper than anywhere else). So I was about to start feeling a little guilty about that, about buying only their cheapest stuff I mean, until… a few weeks ago my Coke cup had Cardi-B on it! Up till then I had no idea she was being promoted at McDonald’s, I didn’t think ANYONE would promote that slimebag. So yeah, I may keep buying their cheapest offerings, but I no longer feel a bit “guilty” about not buying the higher-priced stuff. 🙂
Good name. It works.
What the hell is Cardi-B?
McDonald’s WAS, fast food cheap. Now a meal cost $9 and change where I am. I can go to my local Mexican restaurant, sit down & be waited on, have a great meal that is so much food I get takeout for another meal, for only a little more than that including the tip. The food has gotten gross & too expensive, I only go through there when I’m desperate anymore. I started taking my own snacks & drinks on trips.
My mother always packed a basket of sandwiches, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and a jug of her fabulous homemade lemonade before we left on a road trip. We had a wood paneled station wagon, and we stopped to eat at picnic tables on scenic overlooks on the two lane highways. The ones with nearby red barns sporting black roofs that said “Burma Shave”, and had little signs posted in a row with funny rhymes. We all would read each one aloud and look for the next.
“Past / School
houses / Take it slow / Let the little / Shavers grow / Burma-
Shave”
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end. Our wildest nightmares couldn’t hold a candle to the mess we’re living in today…
How convenient for the person doing the firing, to be able to do it by email.
Actually, I suppose for the now ex-employee, they don’t have the walk of shame as they are escorted out by security, carrying their cardboard box of stuff.
Thing is, nobody NEEDS Fast food. People need food, but they don’t need McDonalds, or Taco Bell, etc.
And, back in the old days, (pre-covid) many were willing to pay a considerable markup, a ‘convenience surtax’ for say lunch on workday, or a cheap, convenient family night out with the kids.
Those days are over, and no doubt this is just the first of many stories likr this, and fast food is just the ‘tip of the spear’, as Sundance outlines, all companies producing highly processed foods will be going thru this.
They will “trim the fat” of the companies, that like consumers have perhaps gotten a little profligate.
Gee, I wonder if the DEI expert will be getting a pink slip?
Schumpetters “creative destruction” I think he called it, although I suspect he would be horrified by the economics occuring, today.
Maybe McDonald’s has some gender-benders and they know they do not have armed security for an “active shooter” scenario…that was my first thought when I read about the “YOU’RE FIRED!” by email.
Smart move on their part. HQ is in Chi-congo, you know.
I think the “expert” is working for the DIE group, but I hear you!
I was fired and had the walk of shame complete with the cardboard box of belongings. I was escorted out and through the parking garage. The parking garage had an elevator. In the elevator was the guard escorting me, me and a homeless man who had spent the night in the elevator.
The homeless man said to me, “ Fired huh? So sorry.”
Kindness.
Our local grocery store has double burgers with cheese 3.99$. Soup for 5.00$ quart, breakfast sandwiches for 3.69 and entree meals for 7.99$. Store is not woke nor have an agenda. Owner of the store said quote “if you fart in a mask you will still smell the fart”. I’m fond of that store, I’m in daily.
I can buy a pound of hamburger for $3.99 minimum and have at least 4 good sized burgers.
Potatoes are cheap and my own fries are even better.
I never used to buy organic even though I would have liked to because I couldn’t justify the cost difference with a family of 7. But I’ve noticed recently that the price between the two are getting closer and closer. A lot of the organic food at the small market where i live is locally grown and much better quality so I am purchasing organic vegetables now. In the summer I can grow all that I need on my farm and am getting better at over-wintering vegetables but I do run out eventually and require local markets for sustenance.
the organic fruit and vegetables do not have round up type pesticides sprayed on them.
and they are sprayed even when they are plants without fruit; the plants grow with
that crap on them.
your health is worth organic
I like organic and can get produce at a local market from countries that don’t use GMOs. Living for warm weather and the local veg stands and farmers markets to open. Despise continued trips to the grocery store, did before inflation. I had it made for 15 years when we were first married, we moved next door to a little country store and I could walk over & get anything I needed, maybe went to “real” grocery once a month. Everything should be local like that again, I think that’s how people really like things, & would prefer it.
I haven’t eaten there in over 30 years, last time I was there I had nuggets and fries and promptly got ill, that was the end of that.
Those “nuggets” come out of a caulk gun..
That happened to me with Burger King. Stopped eating there and also eating red meat.
I worked corporate 🤮.
Feel bad when frontline employees lose their job, corporate not so much.
I worked frontline at McDonald’s for ten years, three of those as a swing manager. It’s hard, dirty work, dangerous at times (someone slipped and put their hand in the fry vat) but it was a way to get some extra money while the kids were at school. And there were some nice people (not all) as coworkers.
I still have stock from when my store was corporate, I get a little check quarterly.
But the food just doesn’t taste good anymore, and the price means I’ll go elsewhere. The local Sonic still has good food and friendly competent staff. I’ll go there for my $5 burger.
WokeDonalds is getting what it deserves- lousy food, lousy employees, Woke virtue signaling and insulting the American Producing Class has doomed it.
I’m glad to see them go. They have been stinking up America for too long.
But McDonalds gave $1 Million to BLM so they are still ok from a DEI perspective.
$25 minimum wage anyone?
DS, you are spot on, you sandy ol’ critter, except it’s waaaaay more than 70 Mil…
Today’s McDonalds isn’t yesterday’s McDonalds.
I know a lot of skydivers, and in my little corner of the country almost all of the skydiving operations have gone out of bz due to energy costs, for the bz and it’s customers.
If everyone has parachutes, then there’s no need to be worried about “electric aircraft” – aside from those who live under said falling aircraft!
🙂
Hundreds of fewer cars in the drive through daily. That is easy to see.
Shoot, I’m old enough to remember when a family of four could eat at McD’s for $5; in fact, that was their tagline. Their tagline was you could feed a family of four for $5. Now, it costs more than DOUBLE that just for me!
“Burger, fries and a coke and change back from your dollar.”
They weren’t built on woke.
McDonald’s did not even make up a story about the water main back-flow preventers being changed in the main headquarters so employees must work at home. The corporation is not even going to offer the Biden Administration the slightest form of political cover for this move. The Democrat tribe is loosing members, and they are being open about it.
Me, I’m just waiting for ANY of these corporations to OPENLY connect the dots – the ones that lead from THEIR failure to Biden and the WEF agenda. – and speak out against the regime and the agenda. Likely the three-piece suits are scared of the IRS, and are clamming up.
Ain’t gonna happen, just like most doctors are “baffled” by all of the sudden deaths happening these days.
They and the hospitals are getting paid to keep their mouths shut.
Whenever something makes no sense, it’s because the person is paid off.
Other than three trips to KFC in three years, I have not had fast food since fake meat came out. It is cooked on the same grills as real meat, meaning no matter what, you will ingest some fake stuff.
it’s just too easy to make grilled smoked gouda cheese on rye and other things at home.
Of course, I am retired.
KFC has really gone downhill
Up here (north of the 49th), we have a chain known as Mary Brown’s Fried Chicken…..a very nice alternative to KFC, which too has gone downhill.
Last time I ate KFC it made me ill. Can live without.
To me this is how the Great Reset and the Great Awakening ends at the same spot.
You want to see a revival on Main Street, get rid of 50% +- of the big Box stores chain stores and Fast Food. Mom & Pops (local) would flourish again…MAGA!
The tenuous supply chains would be reduced Wall Street seemingly gets a haircut, everybody gets what they want. The Eco-wackos are pleased.
I don’t believe in coincidences as the net result seems to wind up in the same spot. Like the 15 minute city, or the Freedom Cities, same result different name?
This could explain a lot, both sides clamoring to what is essentially the same end result.
Just a thought.
This is what makes me sick. There are Dollar Generals and other Dollar stores going up all over near me. I live in a very depressed area. There are not enough people in 4 counties here to keep them all going. DG does not seem interested in making money, 3/4 of their stock is pled up in the aisle so bad I walked out one day it was such a mess. I have never seen more than 2 people in the store, they don’t want to hire people or pay anybody apparently. Maybe welfare is more here than a paycheck. Local land is getting bought up. I would rather have my little local country store back than this stuff.
McDonald’s has learned, and so have some of you, how we throw sand into the machinery…WE STOP BUYING FROM CORPORATE AMERICA!
CUT YOUR CABLE/DISH SUBSCRIPTION!
Keep the internet portion but get rid of the filth pouring into your home. Until we are united on that, we keep giving aid-&-comfort to the enemy.
HATE AT&T. So was so happy to get rid of Direct TV. Been streaming for almost a decade. Was a little better at the beginning but still okay now. Lots of choices.
AT&T bought cable DirecTV when streaming got more popular. Guess they started losing money. The last year we had DTV the monthly payment increased monthly! Those morons. Cutting them off was the best thing we ever did.
Couple the food shortages with the OPEC oil cuts and Slow Joe can say “Just go Green, Jack” all he wants because evidently he doesn’t know Jack!!
We’re in rural Southern Minnesota…close to the food right?…and the local C-store pizza is almost $25. Pre-BBB you maybe paid $15, and that was only if you did not order the special.
I just learned to make my own pizza
because I purchased pizzas for my grandsons (no drinks)
and it was over $60.00 before tip!
We loved Pizza Hut, but both our local franchises closed. We started making Chef Boyardee until they stopped including all the ingredients. We experimented with our bread machine making dough, I have some issues with wheat, had to try different store brands until we found a mix (cheap), a jar of sauce does us for 2 meals, & we always have some kind of cheese on hand. We are retired & don’t like going out that much now, homemade pizza is a cheap treat for us & the best part is my husband loves to make them. 🙂 Our trips to PH were more about outings to enjoy with the youngsters anyway; they are starting their own families now. Other little family traditions on the way. That’s what the corporations don’t get—they think we can’t live without them & they can do whatever they want. I try to boycott now as much as possible.
Interesting timing. The McD’s here – sitting at the confluence of 2 major interstates – was just levelled a month ago. It was one of the oldest in the region and the location is getting a brand new one. Unknown if it will be all AI Burger Bots™ or not.
Heck they can’t even keep their ice cream machines clean and working. They got Woke a long time ago.
so it can deliver staffing decisions virtually
They don’t have the stones to tell people they are fired face to face?
In many government and large corporation Human Resources departments (which typically handle re-organizations and layoffs and the like), are among the most-infected with lefties of all the departments.
They’re the ones that roll-out and enforce the DEI-initiatives.
And YES, those folks have no stones. Probably particularly if and when they have to layoff fellow Lefties.
Like one poster said above, they’re afraid of a leftie “day of vengeance” when they hand out the pink slips. No doubt McD’s has hired a passel of kooks, trannies, and freaks with multi-colored hair at its corp HQ since that is the woke thing to do, and these people will not like any news telling them that they’re no longer required. They have been receiving participation trophies and false accolades all their lives – a negative messgae is bound to set some of them off and, like Stanley in “Office Space,” they’ll want to burn the place to the ground – or worse.
Our locak small-town McDs, Arby’s, and BK have all gone about 90% drive-through only, dining rooms closed, since the middle of 2022. Cannot get employees, even at $15/hour.
So looking forwrd to ordering from the cheery electronic kiosk, and having my bag of fast food poked at my car window by a robot arm.
Pack your own food! Worked for my family for 3 generations. We just got out of the habit because drive-in is just so EASY. Just like automatic deposit & crypto currency.
Bring in the robots!
Not a good place to eat anyways if you knew the garbage that was in it and what it does to you…you’d say good riddance! I haven’t eaten there in years! It would do America’s obesity problem wonders to see places like these go away! Do yourself a healthy favor and stop eating their processed crap! And in the process, save some money!
I’ve pretty much abandoned fast food for the past three years and with a better diet and more exercise, over that time period I have lost over 50 pounds. Win-Win.
Haven’t eaten at McD’s for many decades. Never took my children there when raising my family. Conscious choice. Not so great to eat at. Love Culver’s or In-N-Out.
McDonald’s basic problem is that their food is no damned good. 🤡
They’ve always been a bottom-feeder, looking for cheaper ways to make cheaper food and hope somehow that someone will still eat it. Needless to say, I don’t.
Didn’t you mean fiends?
years ago, I had an appointment with the purchasing agent of a medium
sized manufacturing company. Imagine my surprise when his former
secretary sat at his desk.
The company was in financial trouble so fired all their executive staff.
I had to train her on the product I sold. It was hilarious.
I never go to McDonalds but I was in a position that I had to grab something to eat. Kind of a last chance thing. A quarter pounder medium combo was $9.69.
I would surmise the closing down of all (?) Russian franchises has had an impact also…… go woke go broke.
My local McDonald’s has seen an obvious decrease in traffic. People just cannot afford to eat out. My family often called it McDogfood anyway.
😄