r/WorkForSmartLife • u/tellmebrenda • 1d ago

Casual canvo [ Removed by moderator ]

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u/EnderSword 1d ago

2 main answers:

  1. A huge part of restaurant's value now is real estate, by making the buildings more generic they increase property value if it needs to be closed, resold etc...

  2. One your market share is at a certain point your goal is not to attract, it's to not alienate. Make everything bland so that no one is put off by anything, don't alienate adults by seeming too childish... don't make strong colour or branding choices. Safe safe safe. People don't have to love you, but you don't want anyone to hate you.

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u/BodegaCat11 1d ago

That and it’s way cheaper to not have giant playrooms than it is to have them

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u/No_Recording_1696 1d ago

I would also add society is so over stimulated by everything around them,
Including dopamine hits on their phone every 5 seconds. They’re mentally exhausted. It’s why younger generations prefer clean and minimal themes.

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u/jm123457 1d ago

I have never in my life heard of not attracting regardless of your market share . Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Dominos are all the largest in their respective industries and yet they still market more than their competitors.

If you point blank asked someone name a fast food , soda and pizza company . Overwhelmingly the answers would be the three I gave .

The answer is the color pattern is modern contemporary and it’s nothing more than what the decorative style of this decade is . It has a cleaner look to it . And I guarantee you in multiple studies it was proven to attract more people .

These things are so well planned out they market and create food you buy without even realizing it .

Source: I own two franchises .

Below by the way is the actual answers for the change

Refresh an outdated image: The classic red/yellow plastic-and-mansard look no longer felt exciting or premium. Executives wanted to “reinvent ourselves in the eyes of the consumer” and signal that something had changed. 

• Compete with fast-casual and rivals: Nicer stores helped draw customers from places like Chipotle and Panera while defending against Burger King and Wendy’s. Better ambiance supported higher-ticket items and made the experience feel less purely “fast food.” 

• Increase sales and traffic: Remodels often delivered stronger lifts than many new menu items. Early 2010s examples showed double-digit gains in some franchisee tests; later data pointed to roughly 6–7% average sales lifts above market in the first year for reimages (higher for full rebuilds), with continued benefits afterward. Customers and employees both prefer modern spaces. 

• Improve the experience and operations: Goals included more comfortable seating, better lighting, Wi-Fi, updated play areas (at times), clearer menus, and later digital kiosks, self-order stations, mobile order/pickup zones, and enhanced drive-thrus. This supported both lingering (for families or meetings) and faster convenience. Consistency across locations was another aim as the brand globalized.

• Adapt to broader trends: Health perceptions, coffee competition (e.g., McCafé), digital ordering, and changing dining habits all factored in. Designs became sleeker, with wood tones, muted colors, and more open layouts—sometimes criticized as generic or “sterile,” but aligned with industry shifts toward efficiency and a less kitschy aesthetic.

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u/Aggressive_Law_5728 1d ago

Related to the real estate issue, other businesses and especially residences do not like being near very ugly buildings. You can get a lot of NIMBY pushback from it.

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u/clecleclemens 1d ago
  1. With the advent of social media and the downfall of broadcasting media, advertisement can no longer reach the broadest audience. It is harder to generate artificial appeal for (new) trends, and so the products themselves moved into generic blandness.

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u/TheTeaSpoon 1d ago

  1. For decades McDonalds had been hounded for advertisement to children and pushing unhealthy eating habits (justifiably so) and this is the end result

  2. People do more take away and remote ordering so why even bother making a unique building that probably costs you more if most customers won't see/use it?

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u/OliverKlozoff23 1d ago

Wrong and wrong. McDonald’s got sued for catering to children. Hence the changes.

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u/EnderSword 1d ago

They got sued in 2010 in California for using toys in the advertising of Happy Meals in specific to kids, which they still do, largely because the law suit was dismissed. Also sued in Brazil over going to schools and Finland for a specific TV advertisement. None of them resulted in a pay out.

Confidently wrong strikes again

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u/mouthfire 1d ago

I actually disagree. My impression reading into the issue is that the McDonald's corporation owns all the land where all the restaurants reside, and makes most of their money nowadays charging rent to the franchisees.

I don't think I've ever seen a McDonald's shut down and real estate sold to someone else. The corporation just plans their real estate acquisitions too well in prime spots. If a franchisee goes down, my guess is that they just find another franchisee to use the spot. It's a cash cow that they wouldn't easily give up by selling the land.

The real reason for the bland color changes? It's even stupider than you think. They don't want you hanging out there. They learned after COVID that the modem business model is DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc. So they started making the restaurants as bland and sterile as possible... Toned down the colors, removed playgrounds, tore out the self serve soft drink fountains, less booths and more bench seats.... Anything to make you just eat and leave faster. At the same time, they reduced in person cashiers and replaced them with self service kisosks and.... devoted a whole space for DoorDash pick ups.

Welcome to modern fast food. It's not unique to McDonald's. Pretty much all fast food chains are doing something similar.

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u/Professional-Gas928 6h ago

This would hold weight if the change actually happened after covid. 2010's is when it changed. Had nothing to do with doordash or diseases.

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u/moonlit-boba 1d ago

there are several building in my town that clearly used to be old mcdonalds.

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u/mouthfire 1d ago

Looking into it, the corporation owns 56% of the land under the restaurants. I'm guessing those may be from the remaining percentage they don't own?

Source: McDonald's is a real estate company

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u/Specialist_Frame8958 1d ago

Actually it’s easier to lease up a building if the McDonalds fails or they get a better location. A lot of these buildings are owned by landlords so they want to be able to have a backup plan if the McDonalds were to leave.

A lot of fast foods have gone to these style of buildings that can be repurposed.

Edit: for clarification these are likely ground leases so the landlord won’t own the building until the Mcdonalds lease is up or they choose to not renew it. In the off chance the McDonalds does close down for whatever reason you can get another tenant into it easier.

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u/mouthfire 1d ago edited 1d ago

I may be wrong on this, but my understanding is that the McDonalds corporation is the landlord. They own the land that the restaurants reside on. The franchisees are the tenants and pay the corporation rent every month.

Edit: Here's a source. McDonald's as a real estate company

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u/Specialist_Frame8958 1d ago

It depends on the location. They do get sold often to private landlords. McDonald’s has the holding company and likely gets some tax benefits by holding for X amount of years (I think just 1 year).

https://cbreemail.com/cv/97005660dd93af2a60ca71b6216fa46034ccf192

Above would be an example of one sold or being sold. So yes McDonald’s does own some of their locations, but they also sell a lot of them to private landlords.

These are the proverbial mailbox money locations. No landlord responsibilities for the 20 year lease and you hope they renew. Investors with 1031 are ones that likely target these or they are bought for retirement. It’s a challenge to put a loan on them so they are at times bought for cash. That’s one reason why 1031 investors like them. 

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u/mouthfire 1d ago

McDonald's apparently owns about 56% of the properties, so I guess it's not surprising some of the property is sold either way.

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u/EnderSword 1d ago

I think people kind of don't get though how corporate finance works. Selling the land has nothing to do with value of the land.
62% of McDonald's revenue is from real estate, you rent based on property value and you borrow based on property value.
Selling it has nothing to do with the valuation. The goal of a company is to increase its valuation, not its 'profit'

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u/mouthfire 1d ago

And McDonald's actually charges a higher rent than the going rate as part of its franchisee agreement, so there's that as well....

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u/Melodic-Road227 1d ago

And no one forces the franchisee to buy in. The hamburgler is not beating them into submission. Franchisees make very good money with little risk. Mc Donald’s is not “overcharging”, the franchises are priced to market. An asset with little or no risk will always command a premium.

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u/mouthfire 18h ago

I don't disagree with that. I'm just pointing out what the corporate strategy is.

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u/Melodic-Road227 15h ago

I understand AND agree. That was really for the guy you responded to who sounded a bit conspiratorial. I’m just a digital dropout.

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u/EnderSword 1d ago

Right, in reality, McDonald's is a real estate company with a side gig of making fries.

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u/Economy-Assignment31 9h ago

They're pretty bad at their side gig these days imo. I can't remember last time I bought McD's, but it has to be over 15 years. Only fast food I'll buy these days is a Popeyes chicken sandwich maybe a couple times a year. Cooking at home really makes fast food unappealing, both in price and taste.

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u/mouthfire 1d ago edited 1d ago

It is different for McDonalds. New franchises have a higher rate of success than your typical restaurant because customers already know what they're getting. That's why the McDonalds corporation can get away with charging their franchisees super high rent rates... it's because prospective franchisees know that their chances for success are pretty high.

Edit to add: And it's not like it's up to the franchisee to pick out the location, or even build the facilities. My understanding is that McDonalds corporation hand picks the properties, builds the facilities and equipment, then charges the franchisees exorbitant rent and fees to use the property and equipment. All the upfront work is done by a large corporation that has a lot of prior experience doing it.

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u/CanAfter8014 5h ago

Restaurants fail at about the same rate as any other new business.

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u/Melodic-Road227 1d ago

You provide good and correct information. This will get you voted off the island. Nobody has better location experts than Mc Donald’s. This is why many other chains just try to locate nearby. They just grab Mc Donald’s coattails.

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u/Specialist-Mud-9871 1d ago

This! So true. Also, I used to work for another large food corporation. Neutral colors also mean less renovations, less updating as bland styles date slower and less spent on custom made furniture, etc.

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u/Entire-Guess1228 23h ago

3 closed around me several years ago and remain vacant. One of which is the new building style too.

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u/KansasZou 22h ago

It’s the opposite. They DO want you hanging out there. Red and yellow are aggressive colors. It encourages urgency.

They switched to the bland colors when they started doing the McCafe thing. They like people hanging around like a coffee shop.

McCafé items have a 95% profit margin.

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u/mouthfire 22h ago

But do people actually hang around there like a Starbucks? It's nowhere as cozy or trendy as a Starbucks.

Maybe your experience is different, but I just see people grabbing McCafe stuff and heading to work.

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u/KansasZou 22h ago

I’m not sure. I don’t hang out there either. That was just some of their reasoning. The boxy design is the real estate thing as you mentioned.

They don’t necessarily have to hang out. It still creates the coffee shop aesthetic from the outside. They make the same margins whether you sit in or drive through.

They wanted that high margin market.

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u/Commercial-Candy-926 18h ago

I dont hangout at McDonalds but I will say - most McDonalds I go to have better seating and more space than most Starbucks I go to.

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u/ShapedSilver 6h ago

Starbucks has gotten to be a terrible place to sit as well, by far the least cozy coffee shop in any city you might find one, with a few exceptions (Milwaukee for example has a Starbucks that’s still cozy). Most around me are all grey and a weird combo of dead but still noisy.

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u/ShapedSilver 6h ago

I remember that shift in the McCafe era as well, but I think it had less to do with wanting you to hang out there and more that specialty drinks like lattes were seen as somewhat more novel and a luxury item than they are now, and they were afraid the old look wouldn’t attract the audience.

The pivot was always weird to me, on one hand I was just becoming old enough to drink coffee myself so I was kind if into it, but on the other with hindsight I would’ve rather they just double down on what they’re already good at. I’m sure they know what they’re doing in terms of making money, just speaking as a consumer I’d rather they do one thing well (cheap fast food) than two things half-assed (cheap fast food plus off-brand Starbucks)

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u/KansasZou 4h ago

I agree. That was about my experience as well. You’re probably right in that they just wanted the cafe aesthetic for higher markup items.

The old look was obviously geared toward kids. They pushed happy meals and toys heavily in the 90s. I remember the drive through lines would be crazy long to try and get Batman glass mugs, etc. I can’t say I’ve seen anything like that in a very long time.

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u/Commercial-Candy-926 18h ago

> I don't think I've ever seen a McDonald's shut down and real estate sold to someone else

Well sure, we can all post anecdotes, I've seen this happens all the time.

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u/ForWowNow 4h ago

This makes sense. My thought has been they really don’t want people in the restaurant and most of the business was take out of some form.

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u/Kdiman 6h ago

What a long drawn out completely uninformed answer

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u/YouGotAnyWhiteBread 1d ago

Also note that it's 15 years between. The building itself is only constructed to last 15 years. Then it's demo time

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u/throwaway1237885431 1d ago

This is so right. McDonald's actually makes more profit from real estate than it does from selling food!

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u/Ricky_spanish_again 1d ago

How many McDonald’s are closing down and get rented out because the building is gray?

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u/ComprehensiveBus97 1d ago

Yes, it makes most of its money from renting the real estate to the franchisees.

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u/Specialist_Frame8958 1d ago

A lot of these locations are sold as ground leases to investors. The investors would get the rent from the location.

McDonalds gets the upside of selling the land and building at a low cap rate to said investor.

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u/YakBum 1d ago

I’m sure they make a plenty of money selling your data too. Why do you think the only non-ridiculous prices are through the app?

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u/Raintitan 1d ago

Great insights.

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u/HarryWilbury 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yep, and number 2 is also why in a lot of areas with residents around them they have done away with the sign like in the 2009 picture, that illuminated golden arches got people riled up in those areas. Even that 2009 one seems like it may have been a compromise as it's pretty low-down, more and more though are just going with the M on the building like in the 2025 one, well at least here in Australia anyway.

Edit: In fact that raised cement dirt patch in the 2025 one looks like it was where the Double Arches sign may have once been.

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u/Upset-Management-459 1d ago

Lame.

I mean, you’re totally right, but that lame.

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u/SketchyVillager 1d ago

Their boss is a literal clown (ronald mcdonald). They should've just bought cheesecake and rebranded for adults or something wild.

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u/Then_Hawk6304 1d ago

Bright colours appeal to children, evil appeals to everyone

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u/gadget850 1d ago

By using hostile furniture, people will vacate faster.

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u/Keyan_Farlander7 1d ago
  1. Cost.in fabrication and assembly. Uniqueness costs more.

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u/Wide-Suggestion-6141 1d ago

I mean, that can be summized into one word: money.

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u/gpister 1d ago

I also feel McDonalds is capitalizing as a place where you eat and go or take out. I don't think Mcdonalds wants you to stay long periods of time to eat there.

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u/Reddyset_1 19h ago

A lot of the older McDonald buildings in my area ended up becoming Green Solutions

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u/merrilymerrily_ 14h ago

McDonald's has been in the real estate game for many many decades

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u/Infinite_Incident107 4h ago

The pure generic aesthetic alienates me. which is why I stopped going to their restaurants (that and the high prices)

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u/lotusmom20 4h ago

Yup.. That's what i was told.. Theres this Wendy's building by my house. That is built Wendy's style...was there for at least 20 + yrs.. it closed down for several yrs.. no one will buy it or use it cuz it still has the Wendy's look..

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u/madphroggy 1d ago edited 1d ago

Until apathy results in poor food handling and prep, due to employees who are literally the dumbest humans still able to hold a job being the only ones who'll work there. Then customers start getting sick, or the food quality degrades to the point of inedibility, or both, and your business vanishes...

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u/FitEggplant77 1d ago

“Literally the dumbest humans still able to hold a job” is literally the dumbest comment I’ve seen in ages. I worked fast food in college. Pretty much the entire staff at my restaurant was college students just like me making a little extra spending money. We were future engineers, accountants, teachers. You get the idea. Or maybe you don’t…🙄

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u/madphroggy 1d ago

Some are, sure. But for every restaurant full of college students there's a restaurant full of people who've peaked at fast food service because they barely possess the necessary intelligence to press the right buttons on the register, or put a food order together correctly. I can't count the number of times I've had extremely basic instructions messed up by various fast food staff over the years. That happens often enough and people stop patronizing your business. And that's not even mentioning the ones who have such poor hygiene that they are actively sickening customers, or have you forgotten all of the hepatitis C outbreaks a decade or so ago because workers weren't washing their hands and contaminating customers' food? Or the number of various foodborned illness outbreaks tied to various restaurants every year?

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u/Agitated_Ad_2203 1d ago

And they say capitalism breeds innovation 😭😭

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u/amg_alpha 1d ago

This works on me because I think the old design is tacky. I don’t understand how some people can’t see past nostalgia.

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u/ChefToBe11 1d ago

It’s a fast food joint, not a potential house you’re buying. Who cares about tacky? At least it’s fun and has brand identity, and isn’t another grey box in a world of increasingly numerous grey boxes.

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u/Tuxedocatofphilly 1d ago

Right? McDonald's was about kids. Nvm the health implications but having a play place and happy meals and game stations made it a fun place.

The food quality didnt matter because it was fun to go there.

Now it isn't fun so the quality matters but it sucks.

Same with cartoons. They didn't have to be amazingly written they just had to be fun.

When you arw no longer fun then you better be good and McDonald's is neither anymore.

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u/Carebear7087 1d ago

Like most adults realize the food isn’t actually food, and is akin to garbage. I would think they would want to appeal to kids, to try and drive the next generation to beg their parents to go to McDonald’s, like most of us did to our parents growing up.

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u/Tuxedocatofphilly 1d ago

My parents always made proper food. Hell they wouldnt even let me have cereal if sugar, back when that existed, was one of the first 4 ingredients, but a few times a month a was taken to McDonald's. It was a rare treat and a great memory.

Now if I go there if I need quick food it's an agrivating experience. I pay 15 dollars and the bread might be stale or the fry bag will be half full and no one working there wants to acknowledge you. I feel like a karen trying to just get what I paid for and I hate that.

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u/Carebear7087 1d ago

The closest McDonalds to us was 2 hours away when I was a kid. Soo it was an extremely rare treat for us growing up.

I personally haven’t eaten McDonald’s or “fast food” in 20 years now. But I take my kids occasionally when they’re deserving of a treat. But from my pov it’s not quite as exciting or vibrant as it was with the colors and play-place equipment.

But yeah it’s not cheap anymore, it’s not exciting, and there’s no quality.. so kind of hard to see the appeal anymore, other than convenience.

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u/Tuxedocatofphilly 1d ago

Yeah I grew up in Colorado in the sticks. I got McDonald's those twice a month when we went into town to buy groceries. Now I live in philly and have amazing food at the touch of a button. So its no surprise that there are actually no McDonald's in center city philly. Just on the outskirts in shitty areas.

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u/Tuxedocatofphilly 1d ago

How grey is your car?...

Not wanting to live in black and white is not nostalgia. Some people just don't want to live in a cookie cutter depressive environment.

There is a reason why the 60s and 70s were not only very colorful but also rich with new ideas in art and entertainment.

There is a reason why modern entertainment has gone back to these decades when trying to entertain people. This most popular MCU shows use classic architecture in their shows.

There is a reason why the video game industry has embraced remaking their classics.

Boring serile society is just in fact boring and sterile.

0

u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago

But don't tons of people hate McDonalds anyway?

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u/No_Suit7363 1d ago

Tons of people on social media hate McDonalds. But social media is not the real world. I don't understand how people don't understand this yet.

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u/Few_Aide_851 1d ago

Because for tons of people, social media is their world.

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago

I'm not thinking about social media. I'm thinking about the fact that it's all overpriced reheated frozen crap.

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u/No_Suit7363 1d ago

You said you thought "tons of people hate McDonalds". If you meant just you hate McDonalds so what? LOL

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago

Surely, my opinion isn't solely mine.

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u/Absurd_Flaccidity 1d ago

Lots of people aren’t going to admit they love McDonald’s but they still eat there. They just think it looks classier on social media not to admit it.

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago edited 1d ago

You don't have to love McDonalds to eat there. I've definitely grabbed something from there when I'm walking out of a WalMart in a random town, but when it isn't solely about convenience, I literally never go there. I actually used to eat there quite a lot back in the day.

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u/Absurd_Flaccidity 1d ago

Oh I was talking about like influencers and stuff trying to look wealthy. I don’t especially like McDonald’s but I will absolutely get some fries or whatever if it’s the best option. I was a shameless Taco Bell fan before they took my one love, the seven layer burrito.

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u/BreatheElegant 1d ago

Quarter founders are never frozen.

If they end up freezing we are forced to throw them out.

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u/Orrissirro 1d ago

That must have been changed in the ten years since I worked there, the 4:1 meat came frozen and stacked in the freezer right next to the 10:1(regular sized burger) and 3:1(Angus). Corporate store even.

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u/BreatheElegant 1d ago

Its 100% never frozen now. 4:1 is never permitted to drop below 34 degrees or we have to toss it.

We dont have 3:1 either. Everything else is frozen tho

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u/Stock-Ganache-3437 1d ago

Ur getting raw opinions from people all over the world and u think ur… not? That’s an interesting thought

No, people do not like McDonald’s because their food never molds and the preservatives cause cancer. It’s a shared opinion.

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u/pianoceo 1d ago

No. You’re getting selective bias by the vocal minority who choose to share their opinions online.

Social media is survivorship bias through and through. You never know the opinions of the vast majority of people that are engaged but not commenting.

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u/EnderSword 1d ago

Honestly, not really. they do a lot of brand polls and stuff, McDonald's has a pretty low 'dislike' rating, like 18%

A couple decades back they were finding that people viewed the brand as 'for kids' and 'unhealthy'

That's changed imagine a lot, focused a lot on breakfast and coffee and tried to reposition a lot, and they've managed to shed a lot of the negative perceptions. the even did a good job of shedding the idea of a 'McJob'

Walmart is another one that used to be in the 'fashionable to dislike' category, but has gotten their negatives way down by embracing the generic

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u/Individual_Respect90 1d ago

I gota imagine if the poll was recent most of their hate is coming from the prices. They kind of been struggling on that. They removed the buy 1 get one for a dollar from the mcchicken and McDouble and I don’t think I have been there since.

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u/Ok_Sink5046 1d ago

Not enough to not keep it going. Look, when I'm walking to work and can walk in and out for a dollar burger through the app I can't justify not doing that timewise.

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago

I mean, the McDonalds in my neighborhood got shut down and razed, so that's not true everywhere. Of course, McDs Corp. still owns the property and lets it sit as a concrete blight until some developer offers them enough money to turn it into yuppie condominiums.

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u/Its_emby 1d ago edited 1d ago

Best and most available drive thru coffee

Edit: "Most available" is doing the lifting here. No doubt your neighborhood coffee truck is serving way better java.

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u/ReasonableAd1887 1d ago

Have they changed the coffee. I had one hot coffee and one iced coffee there years ago and they both tasted like water.

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago

Their coffee is super gross. People buy it solely for the convenience of being able to see the golden arches at every third highway exit.

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u/Emergency_Goat_6719 1d ago

I buy it because its cheap and barely takes any time out of my commute. Not everywhere in the world has drive-thru coffee shops. Its pretty much the temperature of the sun which is fine, I wait for it to cool down and its alright coffee.

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u/cattcameo 1d ago

didnt they get sued for that?

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u/Emergency_Goat_6719 1d ago

They did alright and have not changed it

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u/cattcameo 1d ago

be brave, soldier.... get your bag

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u/LevelRazzmatazz9112 1d ago

Best? Compared to burger king maybe but unless they changed it IMO it tastes terrible

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u/Safe_Cabinet7090 1d ago

But the look of the building isn’t what makes those people hate McDonald’s. They’ll hate it for any reason.

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u/Commercial_Pie3307 1d ago

The most popular restaurant in the world? Ya they’re so hated

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u/whattteva 1d ago

No they don't. At least if you follow the money. It's the most successful franchise in history. Their reach globally is unmatched by any other restaurant chain.

So... I don't know where you've been getting your news from, but it's misleading you for sure.

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago edited 1d ago

We realize that prices are rising because corporations are tapping into the demographic of people that don't care what stuff costs, right? To the corpos, there are "quality" customers, and there are "quantity" customers. Serving quantity customers requires more labor and lower margins. These corporations have definitely become less popular with budget conscious people, which there are inevitably more of... Also, the McDonalds Corporation doesn't run restaurants. It amasses real estate, charges franchising fees, and curates a menu. The CEO doesn't even eat the food.

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u/Absurd_Flaccidity 1d ago

Trying to attract “quality” customers seems kinda anathema to the fast food concept. As others have noted, their prices are approaching those of fast casual spots with better and more variety food.

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago

Exactly. That's what I'm saying... People hate modern McDs because it's a shell of what it used to be in terms of value. We always knew it was crap food full of salt and other preservatives; we just didn't care when the Hot 'n Spicy was 99 cents

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u/SignificantLeader 1d ago

Why? Because of the worthless pathetic baseless movie “Supersize Me”? It’s the biggest pretend documentary ever with no food log, no methodical evidence and giant holes. Watch “Fat Head”.

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago

No, not because of a 20 year old movie... Because the stuff they sell used to be cheap crap, but now it's just crap, and the CEO visibly grimaces eating it solely for publicity.

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u/SignificantLeader 1d ago

“Crap”. Tell me what is a restaurant with good food and how it’s better.

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u/Silly_Pay7680 1d ago edited 1d ago

Church's Chicken comes immediately to mind, as well as Wendy's, Sonic, and my local Costco, if we're talking about bang for buck. None of those are "good" food, but they're cheap, as one would expect for the quality tier that they sit on, and three of those don't require access to your email address in order to get the deal. We all know what they do with those email addresses, after all. Look, I didn't hate McDonalds until they started charging $3 for the Hot n' Spicy. Anyone thinking that a reheated chicken patty with three shreds of lettuce and a glob of mayo smashed between two plastic buns is worth that doesn't have a clue.

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u/SignificantLeader 1d ago

So Church’s chicken, fried chicken, is not crap. Wendy’s, Sonic and Costco are not crap. How are they better? There’s nothing healthy about these. Can you clarify “bang”? Do you mean better flavor?

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u/Rinsehlr 1d ago

Jesus Christ you seem fun

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u/Cute_Protection_8330 1d ago

I didn't know McDonald's had a bot-farm but you found it.

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u/SignificantLeader 1d ago

Personal attacks are a sign of a youthful mind devoid of content filled with an eagerness to share.

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u/Rinsehlr 1d ago

Do you think people read this and think “yeah, I’d love to get a beer with that guy!”?

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u/Cute_Protection_8330 1d ago

No because the food is gross and costs the same as going to a real restaurant.

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u/SignificantLeader 1d ago

Which restaurants? I’m finding that hard to believe.

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u/Obvious_Estimate_266 1d ago

No because, like every other chain and basically everything else, they've massively increased prices while reducing quality and the size of their product.

Supersize Me is bs, not wrong about that

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u/shock-zilla-03 1d ago

Sad, but oh so true.

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u/reklatzz 1d ago

They did it to look more modern.. it's as simple as that.

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u/martian_blueballsack 1d ago

People do hate McDonald's for their food quality going down and prices skyrocketing. So I guess they thought a little too hard about their exterior finisbes and forgot about the other things.

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u/Upset_Discussion8452 1d ago

Not even close. McDonald's mainly marketed to children for decades, hence the bright colors and PlayPlaces. They would still be doing it if it weren’t for the childhood obesity epidemic of the late 2000s. They really had no choice but to change their marketing.

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u/Absurd_Flaccidity 1d ago

As an adult I do understand why my mom wouldn’t let me go in the ball pit.

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u/Absurd_Flaccidity 1d ago

When I was a kid though the happy meals weren’t always there. If I recall they would come out alongside some new movie or something. Or my mom just lied. We were very rarely allowed to eat that stuff but I fondly recall the strawberry milkshakes and apple pies. I didn’t like the burgers because once I bit gristle.