How to Save McDonald's.

[mmntech]

Near me, they've had coffee on sale almost continuously for a long time - more on that after the next quote.

They've been really pushing the coffee here too. McD's is trying to make a dent in the Tim Hortons' juggernaut. Most folks say their McCafe coffee is a lot better.

Tim Hortons' is another big chain that's reached market saturation and is now desperately trying to keep customers in the doors. They largely have the same issues as McDonalds. Too many menu items and high prices for what you get. Most of their revenue comes from coffee sales, which I expect has fairly low margins. BK just bought them out last year, so I'd expect an aggressive US expansion. Not what they need though.

 

[nageov3t]

reasons why i dont go to mcdoanlds:

1) the burgers are crap.
2) workers at the one near me make mistakes %50 of the time i order. Manager gives zero shits about it.

They don't make the burgers "fresh" anymore and it's not even faster. What they do now is make the burgers, put them in warming bins then make the burger and put it in a low power microwave.

go back to making it fresh. sure it took a slightly longer but the burgers were far better.

reduce the menu.

how long ago was that the case?

when I worked there in high school in the late 90's, everything came straight from the warming bins unless a customer specifically requested a burger straight off the grill (which isn't a big deal to do, although it's an asshole order to put in during the dinner/lunch rush since it throws off the entire line)

 

[kranky]

I agree that Wendy's has them beat on taste and cost. If i go out to a ff place for burgers, etc, its usually Wendy's (for burger snobs recognize they are easy to find down here, and cheap). Although I do go to mcds for iced coffees, smoothies, and fish sandwiches.

However, down here at least the actual Wendy's stores are....a bit less than pleasant. Most are a good 30 years old and have seen very minimal attempts at improvements. Best idea is to use drive thru and try not to think about it.

The closest Wendy's to me was ancient and always a mess, to the point I left a review specifically calling them out for the mess - fries on the dining room floor, dirty tables, the condiment counter always splattered with ketchup and napkins strewn about. Always food on the floor in the kitchen, easily visible from the counter. The Arby's down the road remodeled big time. A Jimmy John's opened. Clearly the competition was heating up. Then one day I saw a construction crew at the Wendy's with the parking lot fenced off - they leveled it and built a new one from the ground up. Guess remodeling wasn't going to cut it. But the new one is pretty classy - big-screen TVs, faux fireplace, two cash registers in the ordering line then you move ahead to a big counter for pickup.

 

[Phoenix86]

A better idea: Just let them die.

That's a terrible idea, I mean, just fucking stupid.

I want you to go to your room and think about what you just said.

 

[Oyeve]

McDonald's needs to become more premium (something like Chipotle). It seems like they're incrementally moving in that direction.

Surely you jest. Chipotle premium? MUSHAHAHAHAA!

 

[nageov3t]

Surely you jest. Chipotle premium? MUSHAHAHAHAA!

I mean, I think it's considered to be "premium fast food," along the lines of 5 Guys (compared to just plain fast food, Taco Bell)

 

[Ns1]

Y'all are doing mcdonalds wrong. 20 piece nuggets and large coke = $6 and food for 2

 

[ControlD]

They've been really pushing the coffee here too. McD's is trying to make a dent in the Tim Hortons' juggernaut. Most folks say their McCafe coffee is a lot better.

Tim Hortons' is another big chain that's reached market saturation and is now desperately trying to keep customers in the doors. They largely have the same issues as McDonalds. Too many menu items and high prices for what you get. Most of their revenue comes from coffee sales, which I expect has fairly low margins. BK just bought them out last year, so I'd expect an aggressive US expansion. Not what they need though.

That, and also Tim Horton's has the worst food I have ever had at any fast food chain. Hell, even their donuts suck. How do you screw up a donut? Their coffee is OK though. You can't swing a dead cat in Detroit without hitting a Timmy's. Makes me wonder about those people sometimes.

 

[who?]

Years ago Rallys went out of business because their menu didn't have enough variety just burgers and fries now McDonalds is saying they need to simplify their menu.
Artificial trans fats from hydrogenation are a problem are natural trans fats in beef bad also?

 

[Phoenix86]

Surely you jest. Chipotle premium? MUSHAHAHAHAA!

More premium, not premium.

You realize there's a difference between Taco Bell and Chipotle right? One is more premium than the other.

It's not a bad idea for McDs but I think they should stick to their bread and butter. Cheap fast food. They just need to revamp their entire menu, their basic burger leave a ton to be desired. Don't get me started on the chicken. Not sure there's a single chicken item that's worth while.

edit: They need to get the mothers back into the store. When I go to chick-fil-a I see all the mothers with their kids there. When I go to McDs (rarely) I see maybe one family in there tops. Kids toys aren't enough. It's the quality/price of the food. Sure it's cheap but it taste cheap.

 

[mmntech]

That, and also Tim Horton's has the worst food I have ever had at any fast food chain. Hell, even their donuts suck. How do you screw up a donut? Their coffee is OK though. You can't swing a dead cat in Detroit without hitting a Timmy's. Makes me wonder about those people sometimes.

Tims' menu is across the board awful for sure. Even their coffee sucks. It only really survives by being an institution and the fact that they're everywhere.

They used to be good before Wendy's bough them out in the 90s. Prior to that, all the locations were franchise owned and corporate took a hands off approach. Everything was baked fresh in store. Problem was that menus and food quality varied widely from location to location. When the new owners took over, they wanted to make sure customers got the exact same experience whether they went to a Tims' in St. Johns or Vancouver. Menu was standardized and they started mass producing and freezing food products out of a central hub. That's when quality took a nosedive.

A friend of my mom's works at the factory that makes the artificial flavourings for Tim Hortons'. The ingredients lists are longer than the parts list for the Space Shuttle. Their muffins and whatnot don't contain real fruit at all. It's just flavour pellets dyed to look like real fruit.

 

[waggy]

how long ago was that the case?

when I worked there in high school in the late 90's, everything came straight from the warming bins unless a customer specifically requested a burger straight off the grill (which isn't a big deal to do, although it's an asshole order to put in during the dinner/lunch rush since it throws off the entire line)

and i think they started the downfall in the 90's. When i worked at mcdonalds in 91-93 we made everything fresh. hell i could make a dozen burgers in less then a minute.

they also started to add tons of shit to the menu.

I think if they reduced the menu. went back to to making it fresh. more poeple go.

The only reason i go anymore is for French fries and coffee.

 

[ControlD]

A friend of my mom's works at the factory that makes the artificial flavourings for Tim Hortons'. The ingredients lists are longer than the parts list for the Space Shuttle. Their muffins and whatnot don't contain real fruit at all. It's just flavour pellets dyed to look like real fruit.

That is both funny and scary at the same time.

 

[Aikouka]

I think one huge blunder is ever assigning a static price value to a specific set of menu items. In other words, you don't create a Dollar Menu or a $5 Footlong to try to drum up sales, because you're just going to make these items popular. However, as ingredient prices fluctuate or inflation occurs over time, these items may become too costly to warrant having them. Normally, you can excuse these items for their horrible margins because the point of cheap items is to get people to buy items with better margins in conjunction with the cheap ones. In my experience, most people that ordered from the dollar menu typically stuck to the dollar menu, and that's a problem.

Quarter pounders would come with the fat sizzling on top, not the dried out flavorless "patty" they serve lukewarm nowadays.

It sounds like your food just wasn't that fresh. I haven't worked at McDonald's since I was a teen, but patties were kept in the warmer for... I think 90 minutes? If you got a fresh patty, it was definitely better than ones that had been sitting around, and frankly, it's the manager's job to try to ensure that patties don't sit around for too long.

However, there's an easy way to ensure fresh food at McDonald's... ask for no seasoning. Now, it won't work on the chicken items, because they don't have any, but for a patty, they'll be forced to put one down and not sprinkle seasoning on it. For french fries, they'll be forced to put a no-salt batch down (no-salt batches have a french fry box left on the handle). The lack of seasoning on the burger shouldn't matter if you have a burger with enough toppings and you can just add salt to your fries.

 

[mmntech]

That is both funny and scary at the same time.

I had two jars or the stuff: wild blueberry and cinnamon. Was fun showing them to my Tims' addicted friends.

 

[vi edit]

Well...they have some of the worst burgers in the big name fast food shops.
They have the worst chicken sandwiches.
I think their nuggets are some of the nastiest ones out there.
And their fries used to be the pinnacle of industry but due to vegetarian demands, health concerns and overall cheapening they are now usually mushy and bland.

The one thing they have is Happy Meals and branding. But for me and my family now Wendy's is almost always a priority over McDonalds. But I'll go for Chic Fil A over either of them if available. I really think CFA is the biggest threat to McDonalds. No, it doesn't have burgers but everything else it does, it kicks McD's ass at. It's cleaner, better quality, the staff is infinitely more friendly, the playgrounds are cleaner, and the chicken is actually something that resembles chicken.

 

[KMFJD]

I had two jars or the stuff: wild blueberry and cinnamon. Was fun showing them to my Tims' addicted friends.

People that insist on going to Tim Hortons make me sad

 

[Ns1]

Well...they have some of the worst burgers in the big name fast food shops.
They have the worst chicken sandwiches.
I think their nuggets are some of the nastiest ones out there.
And their fries used to be the pinnacle of industry but due to vegetarian demands, health concerns and overall cheapening they are now usually mushy and bland.

The one thing they have is Happy Meals and branding. But for me and my family now Wendy's is almost always a priority over McDonalds. But I'll go for Chic Fil A over either of them if available. I really think CFA is the biggest threat to McDonalds. No, it doesn't have burgers but everything else it does, it kicks McD's ass at. It's cleaner, better quality, the staff is infinitely more friendly, the playgrounds are cleaner, and the chicken is actually something that resembles chicken.

I went to a CFA again this past week based on Internet hype and I was left with the same feeling as the first time - wtf is this shit. It's like, worse than Chipotle hype.

I'm possibly willing to give it a 3rd go, wtf is the holy grail order @ CFA?

 

[Oyeve]

Since they changed their formula for the nuggets to be almost real meat, they suck. Bring back the old nuggets!

 

[IGBT]

They aren't worth saving. They are circling the drain because consumers have realized the health consequences of industrial fast food.

 

[DrPizza]

That, and also Tim Horton's has the worst food I have ever had at any fast food chain. Hell, even their donuts suck. How do you screw up a donut? Their coffee is OK though. You can't swing a dead cat in Detroit without hitting a Timmy's. Makes me wonder about those people sometimes.

People that insist on going to Tim Hortons make me sad

I'm convinced that the reason Tim Horton's is popular whatsoever is because a lot of hipsters find it cool to say, "Hey, I'm running down to Timmy Ho's for some coffee..." Sort of like how McDonalds is sometimes called "Mickey D's" - "Timmy Ho's" makes you sound like you're on some sort of cutting edge trend.

However, I do know one thing - if you really really want to aggravate them at TH, when you go through the drive-thru, order french fries. Then, insist that you got french fries there last week.

 

[nageov3t]

it's a shame there's no non-religious/non-anti gay version of CFA

 

[nageov3t]

They've been really pushing the coffee here too. McD's is trying to make a dent in the Tim Hortons' juggernaut. Most folks say their McCafe coffee is a lot better.

Tim Hortons' is another big chain that's reached market saturation and is now desperately trying to keep customers in the doors. They largely have the same issues as McDonalds. Too many menu items and high prices for what you get. Most of their revenue comes from coffee sales, which I expect has fairly low margins. BK just bought them out last year, so I'd expect an aggressive US expansion. Not what they need though.

Tim Horton's feels exactly like Dunkin Donuts to me.

not the greatest coffee and not the greatest food, but they fill that "convenient, and good enough without being expensive" niche.

I'd rather go to the deli for a breakfast sandwich and a local chain for coffee, but I'm not going to make 2 stops if I really want both.

 

[Oyeve]

it's a shame there's no non-religious/non-anti gay version of CFA

Meh, my son is gay and he loves their chicken sandwiches. Too bad they don't really exist in Manhattan.

 

[SMOGZINN]

it's a shame there's no non-religious/non-anti gay version of CFA

There is! The YUM! Brands Company, which owns Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut has started a new chain called Super Chix, their first restaurants are in the Dallas area but they are set to expand. I went to one the other day and they are a lot like CFA.