McDonalds has a multinational presence, along with taking regional pricing into account (meaning the prices of food items differ and adjusted based on GDP per capita), like a Big Mac is $6 before tax while the same is $2 in another country.
The menu is different by country (certain menu items are only available in that region, like how Japan has burgers with teriyaki sauce or rice buns) along with the menu being around ¥1500 for a tray while the same is $40 in the US.
I mean, have you tried McDonalds overseas? If so, is it cheaper when you consider regional pricing and what item do you wish was available at US McDonalds but only remains in that country? Is McDonalds in other countries better or worse?
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You can always rely on McDonald’s to sell the cheapest product they can make, at the highest price people will pay for it.
Yes. Go to a non-chain place. Support small business
Yes and yes.
Fast food has become even more expensive in the last 10 years, it’s as much as some sit down restaurants with much better food.
But… It’s consistent!
So are my stools.
Not if you eat at McDonald’s!
Can’t speak to McDonald’s, but I can for KFC.
KFC outside the US is great. Genuinely good and typically not the cheapest food, but not pricey. In some places it’s just original recipe (which is fairly crispy) and spicy.
In the US it’s fully disgusting. Top to bottom, everything is gross, and it’s not cheap enough to be so gross. I would rather skip a meal than eat KFC in the US. But KFC anywhere in Africa is on par with the excitement of a Nando’s - guaranteed good food ahead.
Last time I had McDonald’s at all was 2007 in Morocco and it made me feel gross, so I haven’t touched it since.
KFC is regarded as midrange in China. And to be fair it’s not bad. My wife tried a KFC in the Netherlands and it was shockingly terrible.
KFC is terrible in France. Then again, so is McDonalds, and both are waaay too expensive for what you get.
I actually prefer Burger King here, which is something cause in the states it’s… not great.
McDonald’s used to be cheap decent food here in the U.S. but over the last decade or so the prices have kept going up while the quality has gone down.
To be fair no one has ever considered McDonald’s to be gorumet food but it didn’t matter because it was cheap and it was still pretty good.
Now they are neither cheap nor good. You could get a real burger at a much better restaurant for about the same price.
Since they’ve converted all of their restaurants into soulless little bland shoeboxes no one even stays there to eat anymore. The building is basically just a hub for drive through orders and DoorDash pickup.
It’s pretty depressing. I hardly ever go there anymore. A Whataburger just opened down the street where the food is much better and everything is at least 25% cheaper depending on what you order.
no one even stays there to eat anymore. The building is basically just a hub for drive through orders and DoorDash pickup.
i cant understand this…
I used to eat mcdonalds a lot… i’m talking about $1 value menu items, a long time ago… now its 3x more expensive, and way shittier…
And now people are paying these 3x, prices, for shittier food AND paying delivery and tip on uber eats…
I have young genZ coworkers who get a box of McDds fries delivered on a whim… and its $10… i do not understand… i’m such an old boomer
I have young genZ coworkers who get a box of McDds fries delivered on a whim… and its $10… i do not understand… i’m such an old boomer
my gf’s gen z-son and his gf order a fries and a sundae each regularly from McD via Ubereats here in Aus. I am “but wot now” to myself. I don’t see them often but my gf does and she tells me its a bi weekly thing
I am old (Gen x) i don’t understand.
this is the inevitable fate of every publicly traded company. they all enshittify eventually.
They didn’t have cheap and decent mcdonald’s to compare too. At the tail end of it their parents were buying it if they had any. You and I are basically the crotchety old people who used to say “You used to get a burger and a drink for a quarter!”. I mean shit, fries and a drink used to be an after thought, now they basically double the price of a meal. The cheaper items like a regular cheeseburger, with pickup selected are 2.99 each at my local mcdonald’s. If you select the meal it makes it two cheeseburgers (so $6) and fries and drink for 11.89 for medium. Medium is barely any fries and drinks still cost them almost nothing yet it’s just about double.
The funky colours in the 90’s were exactly meant to make ppl leave quickly again. This is no new development. Regarding the food itself, i’d avoid it like a plaque. There’s a reason mc donalds burgers dont rot compared to burger king.
The old colorful designs were meant to entice people into the restaurant, the hard uncomfortable seats were meant to ensure you didn’t hang around all day once you were done eating. They always wanted people to go there before. Now the interior is so depressing that it’s clear they don’t want people to eat there at all
They always wanted people in the building, that’s why they had a freaking playground in there
I thought the funky colours were to lure in the children. Same as the happy meal toys and ball pit play area and the cartoon mascots everywhere.
but over the last decade or so the prices have kept going up while the quality has gone down.
True for literally every fucking thing.
I’m so sick of it.
If you have a family it’s definitely expensive. And I literally sat down in a booth the last time I went to a McDonald’s and there was a huge turd just sitting on the seat next to me, no lie, and so it’s literally crap as well.
I’ll never go back after that experience. I just can’t trust any location, the business model is to enshittified
Yes to both. Food quality is probably poorer than it’s every been (which is saying something!). And the prices are crazy expensive for the shit you get. Their prices have gone up more than basically any other fast food chain in America.
McDonald’s is different in every country. For me it’s Sweden > Norway > Spain > India > Thailand > USA.
The USA is the worst - most expensive, worst quality.
That’s not to say that McD is good anywhere though.
Yes, McDonalds in America is overpriced crap.
It didnt always used to be, but the past 10 years has seen a hard downward spiral in McDonalds America.
Fast food in America, In General, has had a hard downward spiral in the past 10 years. Quality is down, prices have skyrocketed.
Things you used to get off a dollar menu, now cost 3-5 dollars.
As an American I gave up on fast food. It’s expensive, stories about workers not getting paid or treated well
Around 2014 or so, I used to go to McDonald’s for two McDoubles and a small soda. The McDouble was on the dollar menu, and all drinks, regardless of size, were $1. I could eat a filling meal for $3.
Today, a McDouble is $2.79 in my area and drinks are $1.59, $1.79, or $1.89 depending on size. I’m looking at a minimum of $7.17 for the same meal I used to eat a decade ago, not counting tax.
I used to go out to nice restaurants and spend around $20-30 to feed myself and my wife. Now I spend around that much just feeding the two of us at McDonald’s. Going out to a nice restaurant with my wife is easily gonna cost me $50-$100 today, plus tip.
And I always tip a minimum of $20 regardless of the cost of the meal. Much more if it goes over $70. I don’t agree with tipping, but I’m not gonna screw over waitstaff when their income is heavily based on tips.
[…] have you tried McDonalds overseas?
I lived abroad for nearly a decade, thanks to military service, and I always loved trying McDonald’s in every country I visited, just so I could compare with the US as my baseline.
[…] what item do you wish was available at US McDonalds but only remains in that country?
My favorite foreign item, which I miss dearly, was the teriyaki burger in Japan. It’s the best McDonald’s burger I’ve ever had. Japanese food in general is my favorite of all the foreign foods I’ve eaten and I’m definitely planning a trip back to Japan once day just to gorge on their local foods again. But I will definitely be making time for a McDonald’s teriyaki burger the next time I’m in the country.
Is McDonalds in other countries better or worse?
That’s kind of a complicated question, because it depends on the country and whether you’re looking for “healthier” or “tastier.”
In Europe, food regulations prevent American fast food joints from loading their food with tons of sugar, so they end up being (relatively) healthier than their American counterparts. And depending on the country and where they source their ingredients, it might be tastier too. Although it’s hard to beat a fattening greasy American burger on flavor.
But I remember being in Germany around 2011 or so when they introduced a “1955 Burger,” which they claimed was the burger McDonald’s used to sell in Germany in 1955. It was exceptionally good! I came back many times while the promotion was going on.
When I was back in America, I caught another promotional for the “1955 Burger,” but it was gross! And nothing like the German variant. Apparently, Germany made the burger differently than we did in the US back in the day, and I much prefer the German version.
Today, a McDouble is $2.79 in my area and drinks are $1.59, $1.79, or $1.89 depending on size. I’m looking at a minimum of $7.17 for the same meal I used to eat a decade ago, not counting tax.
They actually have a McDouble meal for $6 now that has a McDouble, 4pc nuggets, fries, and a drink.
If it’s anything like the UK it’s certainly crap.
All fast food is delicious when cooked with the fresh ingredients and exactly to the standards that they spent many thousands of dollars perfecting in their corporate test kitchens
The problem is that the overcooked patties and the stale buns with too much ketchup and the wilted ass lettuce used by your local franchise and assembled by a 15yo who couldnt give less of a fuck ruin the experience. Thats also assuming you eat it fresh in the “restaurant” not after a 10 minute drive home at which point its fully congealed and the chips are soggy.
If Ronald wanted they could sell their nuggets and fries in the freezer section of a supermarket. Then everone could enjoy the product of all their taste science at home.
Its capitalism that ruins it.
McD is crap everywhere.
