Americans Don't Love McDonald's as Much as They Used To

Comments

How are other fast food chains doing? If they're leaving McDonalds for Jack or Burger King, I'm seeing much to love there.

Fnarf on July 22, 2014 at 12:52 PM

Why go to McDonald's when you can get a great burger and fries at In and Out, Five Guys, Whataburger, Shake Shack, etc. The game has changed.

stephanie says on July 22, 2014 at 12:59 PM

People who could only afford to eat at McDonald's are leaving McDonald's to forage in the dumpsters behind McDonald's; people who could afford to eat elsewhere are still doing so.

Banna on July 22, 2014 at 1:02 PM

…So, the actual franchisees will no doubt immediately begin concentrating their energies on renegotiating downward the franchise and marketing fees (as well as costs of required equipment and supplies) with the corporate parent in the light of this faltering business model, rather than ganging up to further damage their minimum-wage workers.

Right?

rob! on July 22, 2014 at 1:15 PM

I'm sure the constant flow of nightmare ingredient stories in the press have an impact. Those black threads in the chicken nuggets were the last straw for me. I had given up the pink slime burgers, and when the chicken turned out to be gross too there was nothing left.

DanFan503 on July 22, 2014 at 1:25 PM

@2, not from around here, are you?

Also, I don't think McDonalds is after the same market as the ten-dollar burger joints.

Fnarf on July 22, 2014 at 1:26 PM

@6 Might it'd've been the case that these fancier burger joints lopped off some market share from mcdonalds though? Maybe that might explain the downturn?

bradl on July 22, 2014 at 1:35 PM

When your employees can't afford to eat there, yeah your market share will drop.

judybrowni on July 22, 2014 at 1:37 PM

Ya know, I wouldn't mind the calories if Mcdonalds food actually tasted good. It doesn't even taste good by stoner standards anymore.

brandon on July 22, 2014 at 1:40 PM

I have sensed a growing skepticism and concern about food in general - more and more people want to know what they're eating. I also agree that the economically disenfranchised can't just walk in and order whatever they, and their kids, used to get just a few years ago - no more automatic "fries with that". I'd feel better if they were getting healthier food from home instead, but food stamps have also been cut, so there you go...

Jaymz on July 22, 2014 at 1:50 PM

Which excites you more, Paul ... "intensifying competition", i.e., franchised fast food everywhere in sight? Or " the persistent financial struggles of its lower-income customers"?

RonK, Seattle on July 22, 2014 at 1:54 PM

I'm excited that several McDonalds have closed in Seattle, including one right in the middle of the U District.

blackhook on July 22, 2014 at 1:57 PM

@7, I think it's more likely that the market share was siphoned off by people in the same market, like BK and Jack, or other low-cost fast food (KFC, Taco Bell, etc.).

It's also possible, in light of the economic situation for the past six or seven years, that the customers aren't going anywhere, they're just ordering cheaper food off the dollar menu. All segments of the economy that cater to poor people are suffering; even Wal-Mart is losing sales. Those people sure as hell haven't taken their business to Neiman-Marcus instead.

Fnarf on July 22, 2014 at 2:09 PM

@12 I've been surprised by that, but it's actually just a part of the lifecycle of these franchises. They tend to sign thirty year leases so a fast food joint that went in in the early eighties will be closing around now.

Commercial lease owners make it near impossible to extend a lease. They use the fact that a successful franchise was there to argue into a much higher lease rate for the new tenant. Plus, after thirty years most restaurants are in need of a complete tear down and rebuild.

It's also why the countryside is littered with the husks of old Safeways and big box stores while new iterations of those stores are open just a mile away.

And, why storefronts will often sit empty for a decade or more after a business unexpectedly closes. The lease is still due and no national business will sublet. It's either a nail salon or nothing.

fletc3her on July 22, 2014 at 2:13 PM

@12

wait, where in the world was the mcdonalds in the u district? do you mean the one way off on 25th by ravenna?

bradl on July 22, 2014 at 2:17 PM

@14, the great thing about it, on the other hand, is that a lot of those crappy Taco Bells or Wendys have been, not torn down, but turned into low-rent but delicious immigrant restaurants. In fact, I have a rule that whenever we pass a former Taco Bell, with its distinctive styling, that's been painted over and turned into a taqueria, we have to stop, because they're almost always great.

Examples: La Estación in Burien, El Sabor in Shoreline, El Antojo in Lynnwood. All excellent, BTW.

They're all over California, too. Seriously, there must be a hundred in the US: a brief search gives El Mezcal in San Lorenzo; El Sancho Loco in Newbury Park; La Mordida in Pacifica; San Jose in Roseville; La Pasadita in St. Louis, MO; El Gallito in Lakewood, CO....

And this one in Denver was even turned into a marijuana dispensary!

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit…

Fnarf on July 22, 2014 at 2:28 PM

Coke appears to be having its issues with the US consumer too...

Fairhaven on July 22, 2014 at 2:30 PM

I had my once a year indulgence at McD's. Ordered four cheese burgers. Got them home. added my usual mustard. And ate them down quite happily. Tasted good. Not five minutes I ralphed them all up. Every bit. Like a hose.

Pope Peabrain on July 22, 2014 at 2:50 PM

@15,
There was one on the Ave (I believe where the Mongolian grill is now, if it's still there, just N of 45th), it closed at least 10 years ago. There also used to be one at 45th & Stone Way.

Pierrot Lunaire on July 22, 2014 at 3:01 PM

RIP McDonalds in the Westlake Center food court, one block away from the McDonalds at 3rd and Pine.

JPDarche on July 22, 2014 at 3:07 PM

That McDonalds at 3rd and Pine is the finest retail establishment of any kind in the entire state. And it's always been that way; it was terrifying when I first went there back in 1978.

Fnarf on July 22, 2014 at 3:13 PM

@ 16, the closest former Taco Bell to my house is a payday lender. :(

Matt from Denver on July 22, 2014 at 3:33 PM

@16 - There is something poetic about eating Mexican in an old IHOP. I pray for the day the Coolest Taco Bell in America (Pacifica, CA) becomes somewhere I wish to eat.

I have only witnessed one McDonald's closure in my entire life, in San Francisco's financial district. I realize there are others, but it's a strange thing to see in that your can't remember ever seeing it before.

Dougsf on July 22, 2014 at 3:39 PM

@22 - A somewhat lateral move. At least the lender probably smells better.

Dougsf on July 22, 2014 at 3:40 PM

Yeah, but the new Taco Bell is only a 1/4 mile away.

Now, the former Burger King, OTOH, had turned into on of the very best BBQ joints in the entire city, but they only lasted a couple of years because Denverites tend to be highly uninformed when it comes to knowing good BBQ. It sits empty today.

Matt from Denver on July 22, 2014 at 3:49 PM

This is partly (but only partly) the inevitable fate for any low-cost, low margin, high volume business with those in the lower income brackets so close to the tipping point of poverty. Or past it.

nullbull on July 22, 2014 at 4:07 PM

@23,
I'm surprised how many McDonald's have closed in Seattle -- at least two others (Greenwood just N of 85th, and 3rd & Columbia) besides the three already mentioned upthread.

Pierrot Lunaire on July 22, 2014 at 4:18 PM

@27, the people moving to Seattle in colossal waves are not McDonalds eaters. Those people were displaced, and now live in Auburn and Everett and South Tacoma.

Fnarf on July 22, 2014 at 4:25 PM

@7: The sort of people going to good burger chains never went to McDonalds. Burker King maybe, but McDonalds?

Hanoumatoi on July 22, 2014 at 4:38 PM

@29, say what you will about these fancy new joints, Burka King is still the best place for a good cheap burka, chador, hijab, or niqab.

Fnarf on July 22, 2014 at 5:00 PM

If McDonald's would like to re-acquire some of its customer base, they should stop frying their French fries in carcinogenic vegetable oils and go back to using beef tallow. Back when they used beef tallow, their fries were the best in the country. Now they're lousy. They could do a real "back to basics" campaign and use all that beef tallow they have. When people order French fries, they're looking for flavor and taste, not "healthy eating." The Food Nazis forced them to abandon beef tallow and the fries haven't been any good since then.

abel1 on July 22, 2014 at 8:36 PM

@19 I thought that spot used to be a Taco Bell? I remember there was a Taco Bell somewhere around there anyway.

Calico Cat on July 22, 2014 at 9:18 PM

Oh man, I used to go to the one on 45th and Stone all the time as a kid. I go to McD's about once a year now, if that. I kind of miss the Hamburglar and all those guys!

Calico Cat on July 22, 2014 at 9:19 PM

Haven't been to McDonald's since the late 90s. Thank goodness for Panera Bread.

Patricia Kayden on July 23, 2014 at 8:29 AM

Agree with #31--McD's beef tallow fries were the best.

Everyone has the relationship between the economy and McDonald's exactly backward. When the economy sours, more people eat at McDonald's. When the economy does better, people eat elsewhere. The economy is currently doing better. This relationship is well known among stock analysts and applies to many other companies as well.

transitwonk on July 23, 2014 at 11:11 AM

McDonalds is still good for breakfast, and that's about it. All the other chains are trying to nudge their way into the breakfast market, but nothing beats the delicious simplicity of an egg mcmuffin or egg white delight (or that once a year super hung over guilty pleasure mcgriddle).

dave1976 on July 23, 2014 at 5:38 PM

They raised the price of the double cheeseburger too much, and all at once. Had been a dollar for around a decade then went up 30%. That big of an increase, even on something so cheap, will have an effect.

ryanmm on July 23, 2014 at 6:53 PM

I guess when it's widely known that your employees are forced to exist on welfare and your core target consumers are obese children with hypertension and impoverished adults with Type II Diabetes it would tend to cost you future market share. Your customers and employees are literally dying.

tkc on July 24, 2014 at 1:40 PM

"the people moving to Seattle in colossal waves are not McDonalds eaters. Those people were displaced, and now live in Auburn and Everett and South Tacoma."

No doubt. Just follow the sound of gunfire. All we need to do is close the one at 3rd and Pike and downtown might be fit for taxpayers again.

on July 24, 2014 at 6:16 PM

There's much better food for similar prices (at least for a family not eating off the dollar menu) at other restaurants (Stacks, Frugals, Dicks, etc.). And all of their food tastes so much better. McD's issue is the breadth of the menu. Most of the best places have fairly simple menus (burgers, cheeseburgers, some specialty burgers, fries, drinks, and shacks)...no chicken sandwichs, no salads, no wraps, etc. They employ the KISS mentality (keep it simple, stupid).

slamnfreak on July 24, 2014 at 9:21 PM

I used to really enjoy the fries, but the last time I ate there (a couple of years ago now), even they weren't as good. I completely gave up on them long before the true depth of their personnel issues came out, and I've weaned my kids off them as well. Bad food, bad working conditions, bad politics... not a place I want to spend my money.

Jenkitty on July 25, 2014 at 12:52 PM

Americans Don't Love McDonald's as Much as They Used To

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