Why Did Fast Food Become So Expensive?

[@tjg555]

You didn't mention that portion sizes have decreased at the same time prices have gone up, so we're actually paying twice as much for probably 75% of the actual product as we were 5 years ago.

[@kylebarton778]

the pickles are thicker than the meat patties

[@avocadotoast6369]

Americans and lying by omission go hand-in-hand, like bald eagles and AR-15s

[@zacwoods]

No you arent. Inflation is a thing and the apps always save you a ton.

[@tek_lynx4225]

@@kylebarton778 and the meat patties aren't fully meat, but half Textured vegetable protein. I don't understand why anyone eats at these shams anymore.

[@alidaweber1023]

Shrinkflation!

[@Carkebe]

Paying $0.20 for 'extra lettuce' on my Whopper Jr and having a *total* of 3 shards of lettuce was the last straw for me.

[@kg-Whatthehelliseventhat]

How much did they charge you for the straw??😂😂

[@craigmcpherson1455]

I'm surprised extra lettuce is an option!

[@rbartow22]

It's $0.60 for onions added to my burrito at the taco bell near me. Like wtf!

[@stoundingresults]

And I'm old enough to remember $1.00 for a cheese slice was a ripoff

[@eddyvader22]

There was this time I went to McDonald's and asked for additional pickles and my burger came with no pickles at all...I was already at home

[@hitmangfx7162]

I think the message is that, without the cheap prices, fast food places have no place. The Applebees guy was spot-on...For about the same price, you get much higher quality food (and definitely a better environment). I can see a scenario where McDonalds and others go through a reduction in stores.

[@tjg555]

Just because you sit down doesn't mean the quality goes up. I tried an Applebee's burger. It's not better than McDonalds.

[@coby4482]

@@tjg555 if you think a a processed, factory made patty, is just as good as a fresh hand made patty, then your opinion holds no value whatsoever.

[@tjg555]

@@coby4482 If you think Applebee's doesn't use processed food, your opinion holds no value either. Good day sir.

[@windebiesteultima3317]

@tjg55 quit lying bro. A burger from anywheres gonna taste better than McDonald’s, because their stuff all tastes the same. I don’t go to McDonald’s for a good burger, I go there for McDonald’s.

[@hitmangfx7162]

@@tjg555 Try Red Robin. Better burger (with lots of options) plus endless fries. I mostly only get appetizers at Applebees.

[@purplefreak3]

Fast food is not cheap or fast anymore, they fail on both.

[@jaqque9633]

My local In N Out, last time took me "only" fifteen minutes from joining the queue to driving off with my dinner. I was actually pleased with the speed. There is something wrong with that

[@Zauchi]

I don't get it. When McDonalds meals were cheaper so was peoples pay. Checking UK prices, when a meal was £2.88 (

[@standingmaximumverticaljump]

We might as well go to a sit down restaurant.

[@tywinlannister8341]

And it's not even food

[@BennyCFD]

I'm sure it's M U C H cheaper to stop the junk food and eat healthier.

[@johnnyonthespot4375]

They were once the rage for 3 simple reasons Good food. Fast food. Cheap food. It is no longer Good. It is no longer Cheap. And It hasn't been fast for a while now. WHY do people still go ??!!

[@andrewmcglaughlin8412]

convenience

[@Arnuld15Governator]

Complacency, stupidity and laziness

[@matt8104]

The fast food is designed to be as addictive as possible, and people have a hard time breaking habits..

[@AdvancedAIchatbot]

Took me a couple of reads to get this weird comment

[@Sejund]

​@@AdvancedAIchatbotwhy? Can you not read?

[@MidwestTechAndGaming]

Vote with your money! Don't think the prices are reasonable then don't patronize the restaurant! The prices would come down if all of us did this. I stopped going to fast food places solely because of this. As a side benefit I eat less and lost weight.

[@wetbadger2]

Nobody else is less expensive

[@krabgrass]

Vote Red or America is dead!

[@JackThePeg543]

Not feally feasible for everyone though

[@grelm1322]

The masses are stupid sheep. They'll never change.

[@MidwestTechAndGaming]

@@JackThePeg543 Elaborate why for me

[@coachingmanagersandleaders]

In Seattle, a sausage egg muffin is $5.89. Large fries are $5.19 and a mcchicken is $4.19. I took the dollar menu for granted-we had it so good back then!

[@Nuttyirishman85]

4.20 meal when I was in highschool. 2004 ish. McDouble, mcchicken, 4 piece nugget and small fry.

[@gravanon1577]

People in Seattle got what they voted for.

[@1antisupercat]

@@gravanon1577100%. I don’t feel bad for anyone in Seattle. They got exactly what they asked for.

[@Jeremyho439]

Gonna to be a liberal state with liberal prices.

[@sarahcenia]

​@@Jeremyho439it must be hell being stupid like you.

[@tails21c]

Best solution is not buying those food

[@StephenGangi]

💯

[@BenMonares]

Aka boycott

[@ChavJag]

Here in the UK the price has gone through the roof and the quality has gone through the floor

[@timothydurkan]

You know it's bad when people are praising Applebee's in any way.

[@GeeEm1313]

Yup.

[@cricketandgraham8644]

Why does everyone hate on Applebee's?

[@thesquad2253]

@@cricketandgraham8644 their steaks are basically fake

[@silvy3047]

​@@cricketandgraham8644 because it's the hip thing to do

[@DinDooIt]

@@cricketandgraham8644 Because it's just another multi billion dollar chain corporation that is selling us garbage food that is filled with poison aka "preservatives".

[@Pammy-y7h]

Yesterday I ordered two orders of fries and it cost me $9.49 and they came out cold. Yeah McDonald’s sucks.

[@Zzyzx--]

The quality of the food at all of them is absolute trash. Nothing like it was in the 70s-80s-90s

[@benjamindover4337]

This is so true. Even if the prices were not laughably inappropriate, the food is not even worth eating at all.

[@zacwoods]

You couldve used the app that gives you free fries every week. Thats on you for being lazy.

[@benjamindover4337]

@@zacwoods the app doesn't magically make them warm

[@Zzyzx--]

@@benjamindover4337 Or make them taste like actual fries

[@GlerpidyGlarson]

Now it's a sad meal

[@PhantomFilmAustralia]

It may be a sad meal, it was always a crappy meal.

[@johngalt97]

SAD= standard American diet.

[@kellychuang8373]

With the way things have been also hit the mark on that now it's try not to cry and scream in agony. Since I sure know I'm going to be.

[@kellychuang8373]

@@johngalt97 That really now fits with the time and also considering this video and many others on how bad the economy is really a bad idea to go on shopping sprees now.

[@Bopig]

Nice

[@GoonieLord]

It got smaller and pricey

[@TriviaFreak]

WHERE'S THE BEEF?!?

[@wturner777]

@@TriviaFreak Wendy's really needs to bring that campaign back, now that we're approaching 2025.

[@cricketandgraham8644]

shrinkflation

[@mrheroprimes]

McDonald's has effectively hit the limit on what consumers were willing to pay for fast food. Because why go to McDonald's when you could go to a fast casual place like blaze Pizza for example.

[@GeeEm1313]

You mean Mod Pizza. Blaze isn't good.

[@mrheroprimes]

Blaze is pretty good, I have not had MOD Pizza because there aren't any in my area.

[@veryberry39]

@@mrheroprimes I've had both, and I liked Blaze well enough. Then again, if it's pizza, I'll even eat Little Caesar's to scratch that itch. So maybe my opinion isn't really something to base facts on. lol (though to be fair, I know LC is bad. But it's cheap, so.)

[@billyyank1916]

Yup! Why should we pay so much money for a large meal at McDonald's when we can get something better for the same price? McDonald's has forgotten its place and hopefully they'll start to realize that.

[@brianh2287]

I rarely eat fast food anymore. About every 6 months I will get a craving for fast food, but the craving is what I remember it tasting like. I will stop at a fast food place and always be surprised how nasty it is and how expensive it is. Fast food has become TERRIBLE.

[@Zzyzx--]

Fast food has become trash, people are paying super-sized prices for garbage. Nothing like it was in the 70s-80s-90s

[@yt-user03561]

It's like that with the food in the grocery stores that got more processed in the last 30 years. You can literally taste the difference.

[@Jeremyho439]

What is you choice of fine dining restaurant?

[@Roy_1]

The breakfast is decent, McNuggetts are better than I expected. The biggest issue I have is how slow the service is, I feel like I could make the food faster myself.

[@jd9119]

I always think it's funny that you'll find no shortage of people on the internet who say they don't eat fast food. I'm actually amazed at how great of choices people on the internet make.

[@KiraDenys]

People can’t afford it… Supply costs have gone up, which has increased prices. CEO pay has gone up, but the average worker pay has largely lagged behind. Inflation is a tool used by the owner class to redistribute wealth.

[@cazu2479]

Reaganomics

[@maxdougherty3429]

its just corporate greed. the shareholders always want higher profits, higher stock price. and they effectively leveraged american gluttony, laziness and lack of self-restraint to achieve all that. at the end of the day we have nothing to blame but ourselves

[@kensimpson8133]

This is what 15 dollar an hour wages for low skilled employees looks like. This is what printing money looks like. This is what poor democrat policies looks like.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

Correct.

[@iggberthumperdink]

​@@kensimpson8133holy shit, you are genuinely retarded. Can't expect much from a magat.

[@claytonrios1]

You know it's bad when you can get better deals at brick and mortar places.

[@SadBoysCollectiveCirca96]

its not. brick and mortar have the incumbant space to hold inventory. thus can buy/store more and mark down the costs. geeee whoda thunk

[@Lawrence_Talbot]

@@SadBoysCollectiveCirca96not even remotely true. You’re completely overlooking the massive bulk discounts fast food places get by placing their giant orders from exclusive suppliers. I promise you McDonald’s pays far less for their meat and fries than a local restaurant because they order in a single day what a restaurant won’t see in a year.

[@Iknowyoumadnow]

Tf are they

[@coby4482]

@@SadBoysCollectiveCirca96 literal lamebrain comment. think, mark, think.

[@kellychuang8373]

In these times you're right on that and sadness is everywhere even me.

[@philochristos]

Not only has Taco Bell raised its prices, but they have also removed their best menu items, like the double decker taco and the chicken soft taco.

[@WhatIsMisophonia]

Am I the only one who feels this video didn't actually answer anything, or did I miss something?

[@jd9119]

Yeah, AI created videos don't really answer much of any question they bring up

[@mattyt1961]

it spent more time 'proving' that it happened and less time explaining why. but I guess a video titled "fast food got expensive" wasn't going to get views.... we know it got expensive :)

[@JinbaHGS]

I laughed when McDonald's saw a drop in profits. It warms my heart to see corporate greed backfire for once.

[@extrasalt9053]

We took the 2010s for granted so hard.

[@acerimmer8338]

It's almost like the Obama driven economy was good and prices starting soaring after a certain orange someone blew it all up.

[@Schmootle]

You hit 'the age' I had this feeling in 2005 about the 90s, my parents probably had it in 1985

[@leviturner3265]

I remember going to McDonalds and getting 19 McChickens for under $20 tax included. I was trying to wrap my head around how much that could cost now. According to his prices it would cost a little under $100. I think his prices are a bit higher than one would typically pay for a McChicken. It would not be unreasonable to assume that it would cost around $80. When I got the 19 McChickens that was only... 12 years ago, I believe. A 4-5x price increase is asinine. This is the reason that I do not go to fast food places anymore.

[@AdvancedAIchatbot]

@@leviturner3265 did the calculation for you, apparently 25 dollars

[@marcushailey8498]

Agreed 💯

[@OliGaming-d1u]

Canadian here. McDonald's costs in between $16-$25 per person now ordering a combo. We used to go once a week but I chose to end it now. It costs as much as an actual restaurant.

[@platypuspracticus2]

I feel like it's unfair to point at rising labor costs without acknowledging that the reason why labor costs rise is due to cost of living increases which include some shared elements like cost of ingredients and transportation but also cost of housing which is ignored here. Labor cost increases don't exist in a vacuum and generally tend to come from other economic pressures. Like housing costs.

[@500ccRabbit]

Also more competition. Why pay a high school kid $15/hr when Pablo will work under the table for $6

[@leviturner3265]

It is not unfair to talk about rising labor costs. Every time that the minimum wage increases, the cost of labor increases and the cost of fast food costs all of us more money. That is one of the reasons that fast food is so expensive now. So it is very related. Housing is a separate issue. Interestingly, the population of the United States would be slightly decreasing if it was not for immigration. If the population was slightly decreasing the cost of housing would also decrease as there would be less competition, and the older generations would fade away allowing for more affordable housing. The housing crisis is artificial. There is no reason to have more people here, especially when many jobs are being phased out by technology.

[@leviturner3265]

@@500ccRabbit I do not think fast food establishments engage in hiring people under the table. They are relegated to paying a high school kid that $15, or $20 an hour. A smaller independent restaurant might do that. The reason you would not pay Pablo the $6 would be because it would be illegal, likely he is also illegal and you are incentivizing people to break the law, and therefore you will have more people like that come and break our laws. Thirdly chances are Pablo's English skills are not very good. Lastly, why not support your own community and put the money back into their hands.

[@ExoplasmicDischarge]

Illegal immigration is not helping either.

[@pattycake8272]

Well the kids did say they wanted what their grandparents had, a job that could afford a car and a house. Then the covid hit and the price of living had no cap. Now they are back to square one

[@brandonskiles4835]

Do not insult Wendys, they have had a $5 bag for a long time and McDonald's stole that idea

[@callworthful]

I came here to post exactly this! Wendy's has had the 4 for $4 deal and $5 bag options for years.

[@Vespyr_]

@@callworthful Wendy's is the best. They should be bigger than McDonald's imo, and you can still order at the counter, even with a smile sometimes. Not at some machine and dispensed to you 8-10 minutes later.

[@xJDMWaRRi0Rx]

@@Vespyr_ wendys always seems to have a busier drive through line compared to mcdonalds and bk. I think they might be the bigger fast food place, but mcdonalds is considered bigger on paper because theyre a real estate company, not an actual fast food restaurant

[@roxcyn]

Exactly 👍🏻

[@jasonwilkins1969]

Glad someone said it

[@SkylarTrahan]

Wish we had those fast food prices from back then and food quality

[@giraffesinc.2193]

Wish we had a lot of things from five years ago! No wars, low prices for food, cheap gas ... hrm, wonder what changed?

[@SkylarTrahan]

@@giraffesinc.2193 lizard people..definitely the lizard people

[@AustinJD84]

20 years ago hamburgers at mcdonalds was 29 cents

[@hiddentruth1982]

There are 3 reason fast food got so high. The cost of fuel to deliver stuff to the restaurant, the devalue of the dollar due to inflation. and the cost of labor. All of these happened at the same time causing places to raise the prices to compensate for the added costs.

[@ktwei]

To pay the CEO & the Execs. The everyday worker sees little of it.

[@BoereViking]

So the $20 an hour minimum wage for minimum work is not enough...

[@torablack]

I miss the dollar menu!😢

[@guyk768]

@@torablack The Dollar Menu was nice.

[@bghiggy]

​@@BoereVikingMcDonald's makes enough money to pay their employees $30/hr but they are a greedy corporation who would rather cut hours and automate everything than pay their employees a living wage

[@Dmarkus_greene]

​@@BoereViking yeah in 1 state.

[@neo187420]

Pay attention to all the celebrity endorsed items on fast food menus. These celebrities are paid a huge chunk of change for the advertisement and if you don't think you, the customer aren't paying for it well I got some news for you!

[@dongeraci8599]

Yes, because paying a celeb $10 million in a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry ads .0000003% of a penny to a Big mac.

[@Housesider]

@@dongeraci8599 The point is that once a celeb endorsement gets added onto a product, the company can, and does artificially inflate the price of said product. Of course no consumer is held at gunpoint and forced to buy these things, but greedflation is real and has occurred across every industry and is a very significant percentage of these price hikes.

[@neo187420]

@@dongeraci8599 it's a heck of a lot more than just ten million.

[@the406seadonkey6]

@@dongeraci8599 You don't now what you're talking about. If you're going to be a smart ass, maybe be right next time.

[@Lawrence_Talbot]

Greed. Plain and simple. Prices always go up when an economy is bad but you never see them go back down once the economy improves.

[@jaymoor8995]

@@Lawrence_Talbot How greedy is it if people are still paying? If people stop paying, which has slowly started, prices will come down. We did this to ourselves.

[@Lawrence_Talbot]

@@jaymoor8995 I 100% agree. The problem is modern business theory if sales drop they raise prices to make up for down profits. It’s so backwards but I have seen this applied in too many companies both small and big international corporations. Sadly the greed won’t go away until new leaders come in who truly value their customers and employees

[@Housesider]

@@jaymoor8995 Yes, you've highlighted the fact that the "greed" in question is actually a two-way street. I know that in reality not every individual who complains is guilty, but some amount of them are, and that's always the case.

[@robertdelisi9473]

Hahaha the food industry makes the LEAST PROFIT of any industry. The answer is FUEL PRICES.

[@tefnutofhoney2832]

​@@jaymoor8995"people let it happen so its okay and not greed" Not how it works. Much like how consent doesnt lessen murder charges, acceptance doesnt lesser greed.

[@Tomhyde098]

I haven’t been to a fast food restaurant since February. I paid $15 on what I used to pay $7 for. I realized that it’s just not worth it anymore

[@jonbourgoin182]

If you want extra cheese on your fast food burger expect to pay an extra dollar FOR A SLICE OF CHEESE.

[@Eyevou]

and if you don't want cheese expect to pay for the price of everyone's cheese. (and still probably be given cheese)

[@sexygeek8996]

and that stuff isn't really cheese either: it's "cheese product"

[@zepmarq]

When I got my first job out of high school (1992), about $5 was all you needed to get lunch... Burger, fries, and a Coke...from most places. Now it's closer to $12.😮

[@arejaybee]

Based on the inflation calc $5 in '92 is generally worth $11.42 today.

[@DisinterestedParty]

It is closer to $18 per person in Hawaii for fast food meals. They think they can get away with their corporate greed....and it is up to us, the individual consumers, to show them it is unacceptable.

[@zacwoods]

@@arejaybeeshhhh thats too much logic for these crybabies

[@spitfiremanlizerd]

@@zacwoods Everyone who lived back then knows their money went further. Inflation stats are lowballed lies anyway. Regardless fast food prices were relatively high in the 80s and 90s. They were dirt cheap in the 50s-70s, and peaked in their modern affordability in the early-Mid 00s ( to the point of things like the dollar menu not being profitable, and failing as a loss leader)

[@jd9119]

I recently Door-Dashed a combo from Burger king. A double Wopper, large onion rings large drink. And after stiffing the driver out of a tip, I paid over $30

[@AdamasOldblade]

Whenever I order food these days, I rarely get fast food. I just order from diners and pick up and they’re like slightly more expensive, but I get so much more and better quality.

[@voidfire8824]

It's much cheaper to buy the ingredients for a burger or taco. Idk about pizza though, i think it's still worth it to buy a pizza from a restaurant than a frozen pizza.

[@SadBoysCollectiveCirca96]

no it isnt. not even remotely close. you cant buy single units to make individual items. you have to buy "in bulk" so the over all cost is going to be 5-7 times higher than just purchasing a single burger from where ever. plus you have to make it yourself which is additional cost in time and energy. the price break down may be "cheaper" on paper, but in practise you end up paying more over all. name a one store where you can buy a single hard shell taco or tortilla wrap. outside of a butcher, where can you get 1-2 oz of ground beef? can you get the bun at the butcher shop? what about the cheese, bacon if thats your thing. or the veggies ? you cant buy a single leaf of lettuce, or a single slice of a tomato. youre provably wrong.

[@voidfire8824]

@@SadBoysCollectiveCirca96 I don't have a huge family and my schedule allows me to cook most of my meals. And I mostly shop on the discount days at my local super mercado. But I'm assuming your situation is different.

[@Iknowyoumadnow]

Say it with me.... DIGIORNO'S STUFFED CRUST

[@skylark.kraken]

Pizzas are cheap to make yourself, but I would agree that a pizza from a pizza place is more worthwhile compared to a frozen pizza but they’re both bad options

[@500ccRabbit]

A large pizza is like $30 now

[@collinkeyser6827]

8:37 Yeah Right McDonald's 🙄

[@ti2218]

Honestly I'm glad fast food got to be such a rip off, it's forced me to learn how to cook for myself and now I'm eating much tastier, healthier meals for literally half the price, sometimes less.

[@KrazzyKlown]

3:40 it was recently revealed that a great deal of the health problems experienced by the documentarian of Super Size Me was the result of him actively being an alcoholic at the time of filming, not the food, especially the claimed liver damage.

[@dansmith1661]

Also that he was cheating in other ways. It was a total scam, which all documentaries are.

[@ashextraordinaire]

Taco Bell was my go-to cheap place until prices skyrocketed a few years ago. These days I patronize locally owned restaurants almost exclusively. The prices are the same as or better than those at national chains, the quality of the food is much better, and I've got the satisfaction of helping to support community businesses.

[@Jeremyho439]

You remember Donald Trump?

[@ashextraordinaire]

@@Jeremyho439 Unfortunately.

[@kristentaylor5359]

Yeah it's crazy how much prices have gone up. I used to get the bean burrito at Taco Bell for .79 and now that is 2.19!!! For beans, a bit of cheese and a freaking tortilla? I refuse to pay a lot for fast food. If I can't find a deal, I just eat at home

[@MarkfromNewYork]

$2.19 really isn't that big of a deal like this isn't breaking the bank in 2024. When you have McDonald's charging $10 for a freaking hamburger

[@adamk.7177]

@@MarkfromNewYork some people live on different incomes, Mark. She's still paying over double.

[@markwilliams2620]

You could make 10 very cheesy burritos for the cost of two Taco Hell burritos and freeze the extras.

[@PerceptionVsReality333]

Making your own food is better for you anyway.

[@kristentaylor5359]

@@MarkfromNewYork It's a 277% increase! yeah that IS a lot

[@SDZ675]

If you go overseas to a McDonalds, KFC, or any other fast food place, the difference between there and in the US is huge. Most of these chains put in minimal effort for anything in the US these days and still expect maximum profits.

[@JAKphoenixify]

The founders of these companies with the exception of McDonald's would be rolling in their graves.

[@dogfoot1874]

Rolling up in your mom's vagina

[@ReneMikalsen-rs6qr]

at the insatiable amount of greed the current owners can get away with, now in their graves, regretting not having charged insane amounts before?

[@GreatMewtwo]

The McDonald brothers would be rolling several times; Ray Kroc let them off easily.

[@silvy3047]

The irony of the McDonald's $5 deal is they're probably still making decent profit on it

[@sugarmuffin319]

Macdonald's never should have stopped frying their french fries in lard

[@wturner777]

McDonald's* Also, wouldn't the lard thing scare away the vegans?

[@AarayKyramud]

​@@wturner777fuck them?

[@sugarplum5824]

​@@wturner777 Vegans don't eat at McDonald's.

[@doctordoubledakka3939]

@@wturner777 that's the point, we all took the hit for vegans? who are known for eating at McDonalds

[@SimuLord]

Not lard. Beef tallow. Even Julia Child praised McFries back in the old days, calling them her favorite guilty pleasure. You can thank the saturated fat scare in the '80s for McDonald's switching to vegetable oil, which naturally forms trans fat during the cooking process, making the fries worse for you health-wise (not that fries were ever health food) than those fried in animal fats like tallow or lard.

[@Deluxedracula]

Do Vietnam War food next! Not just MCI’s, but what were Viet Cong and NVA eating, what were military US field kitchens like, what were menus for base cafeterias like, etc!

[@masudashizue777]

A Big Mac cost 63 cents when I first came to the states in 1972. Also, Whopper used to go on sale for 99 cents in the 90s.

[@Whippersnapper7]

In the mid-90's a Burger King near me was doing $1.00 Big Kings (2 burger patties of about 1/4 pound total, cheese, thousand island dressing). Loved those when I was a grad student. A friend commented, "Keep eating those Big Kings and soon people will call you Big King."

[@jasonjason9866]

the dollar whopper was great. They were so much bigger back then too.

[@Alexandros.Mograine]

I visited USA in 2014. The big thing people always talked about was the cheap fast food. From what i see nowdays its even more expencive in most places than in Finland, and we have good health standard regulations.

[@NoUploadJustComment]

Short answer: corporate greed Long answer: coooorporate greeeed

[@KlausCiocannis]

In America isn't even that bad. I am from Eastern Europe and at McDonald's prices exploded by about 250% in the last 5 years while, since 2022, the quality of the food went down significantly. Before, the fries actually had taste, now they are completely tasteless and the meat tastes like plastic. Lucky me I still have cheap shawarma cause I ain't buying this shit no more =)) Edit: Not to mention the insane decrease in portion sizes. They almost cut everything in half lmao. Also, what I have written above is available for all the other fast food chains around here, only the numbers differ slightly.

[@pamelamays4186]

I remember and old McDonald's commercial where a burger, fries and a drink were purchased with a dollar and the customer got change back.

[@Jeremyho439]

And minimum wage was &2.15

[@ChrisS1mp]

8:35 The claim by McDonalds is profits are largely the same. 2023 profits are 130% of 2019's AND 2019 was the best pre-pandemic year for the company since at least 2008 (the data I found only goes back to 2009). So a 30% increased profit on your best year equating to roughly $3.5B more does in fact feel like consumers are fronting the cost of padded profits.

[@oskaveli662]

I just clicked in this video to right in the comment section DEMOCRATS...that is all.

[@TheViciousVendetta]

But how much is McDonald's paying their shareholders? 😂

[@dudevinci]

VIDEO STARTS AT 7:23 No need to thank me

[@crisc9280]

You didn't mention that McDonald's especially hires these absurdly expensive endorsements such as Michael Jordan or some singer or rapper. All of that senseless advertising gets added in.

[@caesandraseawell1518]

Why was there no mention of agriculture or subsidies that kept prices/real costs deceptively low for so long.

[@KarlTheExpert]

Meat is still waaaay too cheap considering its environmental impact. Fast food is bad either way and it's corporate greed fueling prices but this stuff should never have been cheap.

[@rawbmar1166]

@@KarlTheExpert lmfao not the woke environmentalist who wont be happy until meat doesn't exist on dinner tables. Get out with that environmental impact BS.

[@Game_Hero]

@@rawbmar1166 there is nothing "woke" about a climate that's going to suck every penny out of you with every catastrophe. Unless I guess the 1970s are "woke" I guess.

[@jonathankuns9743]

Arbys got rid of their large plastic cup soda and now call the old medium cup large

[@darrenorange2982]

Most of that inflation has occurred from 2021-2024.

[@Game_Hero]

due to covid and the big logistics bottlenecks it caused, on top of countries invading other countries which doesn't create a climate proper to spending.

[@SattarM-ju3dv]

I love this Chanel more than whole internet... Thanks

[@Billyboy4209]

Been to Chili’s and Applebee’s more in the last six months than I have in the last six years

[@stonerhino83]

It sounds like you may be suffering from depression.

[@abbery9202]

I noticed this and completely stopped. Bought a stainless steel pan and have been making my own burgers for the last 3 months that taste way better and are healthier at 3$/pop for a 1/3lb grass fed beef burger. I'm in California. Not going back either. I'm glad prices rose high enough to motivate me to try something else. I used to eat fast food at least 4-5 times per week and loved it but was routinely disappointed in some meals being cold and seeing the prices skyrocket to where I felt I was being ripped off at every drive through. Bottom line: Cook your own burgers, get healthier, save money and be self sufficient. We get addicted to fast food for not only the taste but also the convenience, now it's more convenient for me to cook at my house instead of sit in LA traffic to get lunch and I love that.

[@NewMessage]

Ronald McDonald gots debts... gotta make that scratch, or they'll take his thumbs!

[@epicon6]

Anything really popular is gonna get expensive no matter how crappy it is. If it’s cheap to produce it’s an even better idea to raise the prices..

[@chica_california]

I remember when Mc Donald’s had hamburgers for 25 cent deals on Tuesdays. They would sell out before the end of the day. I think it was back in the 90’s.

[@Jeremyho439]

It was when the president was a republican.

[@jd9119]

The $0.29 hamburger was a gimmick to get you to eat at McDonald's. They were really wanting you to buy fries and drinks so that they'd make money on it.

[@DilbertChan]

"Adjusted for inflation" means nothing if you aren't taking into account every factor other than the prices of material, ingredients, and labor. Companies and corporate bootlickers will say "Labor is the biggest cost, *shrugs*, increasing wages will simply be passed on to the consumer🤓", ignoring that inflation is more than simply increased wages. If labor costs are a problem, it's the company's fault for seeking infinite growth, growing infinitely, and acting shocked infinite growth has infinite cost. It's not any one company that's responsible for increased costs. It's all of them. They got a taste of increased prices due to inflation, they aren't going to back down. Not even if the world ended tomorrow. "Things might be bad now, but for a short time we made things really good for our shareholders."

[@studiesinflux1304]

Prices and dropping quality are only one part of it for me. Fast food in my area is out-competed by grocery stores offering pre-cooked meals. I can go in there and get a quick mediocre meal AND get some eggs, fruits, etc for later. For actually good meals, I’m dieting, so I am learning to cook to both have something good and fits my diet parameters. They also have dining areas at the other side of the cash registers, but I don’t use them, usually opting to return to my office 100 metres away.

[@c_huntermc]

As a veteran of the food management industry for the better part of my adult life, I can attest to the fact that the lack of increase in the minimum wage has caused of lot of the sudden increase in prices. Federal minimum has been $7.25 for fifteen years now, and pre-pandemic, many fast food stores still hired at that rate. But rather than gradually raising the minimum wage to match the consumer price index, congress has done nothing. Then, COVID struck and many fast food workers were laid off. However, once the pandemic subsided and restaurants needed to fill their schedules again, suddenly there was a hiring frenzy as restaurants competed to hire back workers who had used the time off to choose other career paths. Suddenly those shifts that would have been filled at $7.25 an hour couldn't be filled at $10, $12, or more. And of course, the cost has to be passed on to the customers. For all you hear about greedy CEOs, most restaurants operate on razor thin profit margins and would simply go out of business if they couldn't increase their prices. So anyway, my point is that, had minimum wage increased over the last 15 years, the cost of those burgers would gradually increased as well. Yes, you might still be paying $6 for a Whopper today, but it would have increased over the span of a decade and a half, not over the space of a year.

[@bobcharlotte8724]

Prices here in Japan haven't changed much at all. A big mac set is the equivalent of 4.50 usd... Oh and each city doesn't have different prices. I love how not united the "united" states is😂😂😂

[@niklasnystrom1415]

In Sweden it was never that inexpensive. I remember when a friend from USA came to visit around 2000, and he was baffled when he saw what a meal at McDonalds would cost here. He said something like "For half that you would get two serious meals for a couple of really fat guys".

[@VermillionRacing]

At this point I can go to Five guys and get a infinitely better burger than I can at McDonald's for the same damn price. Like $12 for a quarter pounder here. They've gotten higher purely because of corporate greed. McDonald's makes more than enough with millions of customers to not need to rise prices as they have.

[@Steelflight773]

I have eaten the exact same thing from Taco Bell for years. It was less than 11 bucks before the pandemic hit and It is 14.80 now.

[@markwilliams2620]

I lived through the 70's when a trip to McDonalds might happen once a month and it was usually a disappointment. I swore they used Styrofoam containers so they could shake Big Macs after they made them. We made food at home. Mom made a lot of tuna casseroles. I still haven't forgiven her for that. But, it did teach me to cook....and shop.

[@bruno17289]

My mexican sitting down restaurant for a high quality steak Burrito + unlimited chips and a coke is 15 dollars tip included. Chipotle: burrito + a bag of small chips and a coke, is 21.99. Taco bell: a steak burrito, minuscule chips and a drink 16.99. Insanity.

[@joshuasouders7614]

You guys aren’t paying attention, Demolition Man tried to warn us. We are nearing the beginning of the Franchise Wars…Taco Bell will be victorious……or this is Idiocracy, and we’re stuck with Carls Jr’s Extra Big-Ass Fries

[@adamk.7177]

You don't know how to use the 3 seashells?

[@jd9119]

Every restaurant with be a Butt*****rs

[@thesquad2253]

Taco bell sucks dk, not too many ppl like Taco bell where i live at its basically just food for drunk ppl leaving the club and homeless ppl with spare change trying to get quick meal, i've never seen a spanish person eat there ever

[@donchaput8278]

Upper Management Salaries are all supersized but yeah, profits are remaining similar. Too many Mcbusiness buddies making millions a year and it's still not enough for them, but who cares about the other 90% of the employees and the customers. $19.2M paid to the CEO. Salary's should cap at 10000% of the lowest paid employee

[@jd9119]

McDonald's isn't going to listen to what you think they should pay their CEO. Only way you can inflict you will on them is by eating somewhere else

[@ArcanePath360]

I remember when a hamburger was 50p in the 90s. I miss those days

[@michaelmayhem350]

8:10 lol the cost of labor is such a tiny percent of the cost of a fast food meal. Just look at the cost of a McDonald's meal in NYC and the employees wages and benefits. Then compare that to cost of the same meal in Berlin and that employees wages and benefits. In Germany they don't just get better wages they get paid vacations but the meals aren't much more expensive than in the USA lol

[@JynxBlack13]

Funny, i was out with my wife last night remarking that a 2 cheezburger meal was close to $9 and i thought- something isint right here!

[@dave5254]

didn't even answer the question in the video title.

[@DelbertStinkfester]

People just need to stop buying from fast food but every time I drive past a fast food place the drive-thru is full

[@GlobexCorporationHank]

Junk food priced as sit down restaurant prices. What can go wrong.

[@nicholasharvey1232]

Watching videos about food never fails to make me hungry.

[@hluos7uhluos7u94]

I dont want this stuff even for free; its disgusting.

[@ryeguy7941]

I wholeheartedly agree. I stopped eating out and lost 10lbs alone

[@hluos7uhluos7u94]

@@ryeguy7941 Thats true! I started more cooking at home. Ideally, I can wait to get home and make me a nice snack that tastes better and is more healthy. I also make myself a snack I carry with me if I'm on longer trips. F fastfood. its disgusting

[@ryeguy7941]

@hluos7uhluos7u94 agreed. I'm from Canada, so a lot of our fast food restaurants are mostly "international students" now and they tend not to have decent cleanliness standards, not that they weren't good to begin with but the quality has really gone down. That and my body just can't handle fast food anymore.

[@jagathon777]

We just don't eat out as much anymore. It's so much cheaper to fix meals at home, It tastes good, more relaxing and healthier too.

[@j.r.8592]

And this is why my family rarely eats fast food. Our cholesterol thanks them for their greed

[@BenMonares]

You mean calories?

[@jezebelley]

It's just corporate greed. That's always the answer. They had an excuse to raise prices because "covid" and just never stopped. People kept paying so they kept gouging.

[@EricckkMoneyy7777NGL]

I'm in a nursing home as of March 2023 where I was disabled when I got ran over by a vehicle going home from working at my Subway shift. Anyways, I can only order from delivery apps. I mostly use Doordash whereas I purchase the Doordash Pass $9.99 every month to get free delivery and the occasional promo's. I'm unable to walk since my accident. But I, like many many others, have seen the outrageous costs in fast food prices. I remember being about 6 or 7, my Mother and my Step-Dad would take my sister and I to McDonald's. They had a special on Wednesday I believe. $0.29 Hamburgers and $0.39 Cheeseburgers in 1992-1994. Something needs to change HARDCORE with these prices or one day, a Hamburger 🍔 will be $15-$25 if things don't regress on Food Prices ASAP!!!

[@richborn6700]

The worst part about fast food these days is that if you dont have an app to that particular restaurant, you're gonna pay $3-6 more if you go straight through the drive thru. They want you to come frequently to rack up points and get deals. I remember McDonald's had a daily breakfast sandwich deal for 2.00. They canned that and now its just a free hash brown with a full meal order

[@guyk768]

I really don't bother much with fast food anymore, unless rarely if it's a special cheap meal deal, like the current Hardee's $5.99 Original Bag Combo. You'd be better off going to a local place that'll be probably cheaper and taste better.

[@torablack]

I use to eat fast food whenever I had $-$3 dollars to spare but now I only eat out once maybe twice a month. It's just to expensive to eat regularly!

[@guyk768]

@@torablack Look at it as a blessing in disguise. A lot of it is not good for you and a family run place would offer something cheaper, actually tastes better, they'll care about the quality, and better for you.

[@torablack]

@@guyk768 you might be right. I have been getting better at cooking meals at home since it's too expensive to eat fast food regularly.

[@kuebby]

7:20 exactly. Why pay over $10 to buy garbage fast food when I could pay $16 to get a pad thai that'll serve me 2 meals. The only fast food I buy is Domino's because it's the same price as a frozen pizza, or maybe once every 2 months I'll go out to Chic-fil-a at work because I haven't been to the supermarket.

[@thesquad2253]

You meant Little Caesar, Dominos is still overpriced imo for dry salty pizza

[@rrsd700]

Because they know that stupid people will still pay for it!!!

[@mrtjbiga1784]

i swear the wendy's baconator has gotten smaller

[@stoundingresults]

The salad box from Jack In The Box used to be big and take up all the space in the garbage can now I can fit three salad boxes in the trash can so I know it's definitely gotten smaller

[@Schmootle]

'Super size me' ruined fast food. For two decades, fast food chains tried to rebrand as 'premium' and 'healthy' in the backlash. Pushing their menu cost up and making their menu too large, increasing their cost. Not to mention it gave them cover to reduce portion sizes. And what was his point? That you can't eat exclusively fast food? All the healthy items are gone from the menu now anyway. It didn't help anybody.

[@tylerjames-yf1ho]

Yep. Hated that documentary. Everyone in my school became a spazzy health nut. Even food habits can be woke

[@KarlTheExpert]

​@@tylerjames-yf1hoWhat nonsense. Eat healthy or die young. Is living long woke? Also don't make excuses for corporate greed. Instead eat better elsewhere.

[@KarlTheExpert]

​@@tylerjames-yf1hoLiving healthy long lifes is woke now? 😂

[@tylerjames-yf1ho]

@@KarlTheExpert woke

[@SinistralWolf]

The "documentary" was fake to begin with -- Spurlock falsified his results, and did not disclose that he was an alcoholic during the event, with his results being standard for someone who regularly overdrinks every day.

[@itowmyhome797]

I haven’t been to any fast food outlets in over 10 years, I’m old enough to have noticed that all menu items shrink, and all prices skyrocket. I’ll never be returning to fast food

[@spaghettiman600]

COVID fried everyone’s brains, and in the age of subscriptions, if they can’t make you subscribe, they just charge you more.

[@arlofs]

I just got back from a business trip to the US. I live in Brazil where a medium-sized Big Mac meal (burger, fries, drink) costs $5 USD, tax included. I was paying almost twice as much for the same meal in Illinois. It’s insane.

[@Jeremyho439]

I heard it is even worse in Venezuela.

[@arlofs]

@@Jeremyho439 Yes, but Venezuela is under a pseudo-dictatorship. The US isn't. It doesn't make sense for a McDonald's meal in the US to cost twice as much as in Brazil.

[@Jeremyho439]

@@arlofs USA will be under Hitler after Jan 20.

[@crystalace22]

I ordered taco bell it came to $70.00. 1 cravings box, 3 bean and rice burritos add tomatoes and lettuce., 2 dinks and two fries .. no way should that be close to 100$

[@WastedTalent-]

I'm in Upstate NY and the TB in Norwich charges $3.89 for a regular taco. Meanwhile, in Binghamton, it's $1.89. A BK in Binghamton charges $3.89 for a regular hamburger and in Norwich, it's $1.89. What was told te me from the stores that charge more is that they're franchises and are charged more for the food. I think it's BS because the TB is the only one in over 50 miles and they take advantage of it.

[@AdvancedAIchatbot]

How many damn mouths you feeding

[@eli-bt4he]

Sure you did. I used the app to add up everything you listed and it was less than $30. I know prices can vary greatly around the country, but not that drastically (and I live in an area with a fairly high cost of living)

[@crystalace22]

@@eli-bt4he 3 bean and rice burritos $13.83 2 large nacho fries$10.22 1 taco and burrito craving box$25.30 1 strawberry lemonade freeze $4.50 1 root beer $3.64 Total $57.49 Plus tax $68.85 * Chicago Illinois

[@TheGravygun]

They have fries at Taco Bell?

[@Wolfy39565]

i dont have to worry about it. i hardly eat any of this

[@kibble-net]

It's refreshing to see the top comments correctly blaming corporate greed and not a political party. That being said, there has been a recent resurgence of $5-$7 combo deals that are decent if you're OK sharing your data on the app.

[@jeependous]

Noting to do with corporate greed. 90% of McDonald’s are franchisee- owned and operated by small business. It has everything to do with min wage increase and the Federal Reserve issuing debt like it’s Monopoly money.

[@justayoutuber1906]

Because its price inelastic - you can raise prices and since people are addicted, they will still buy. I haven't had McDonald for probably 6 years and have no desire for it.

[@michaelwomack6833]

It’s not complicated. The cost of energy has increased, thus everything. This is the common denominator in everything. This is what increase the price of transportation. This is what increases the price of goods, everything cost more people demand more pay. More pay equals higher overhead so they raise the prices. Amazing how the inflation reduction act did everything but. The new deal is a lie.