4 ms·

You're being charitable. It's downright bad, even compared with various other franchises on an item by item basis. The last time I ate in one back in 2008 becau

You're being charitable. It's downright bad, even compared with various other franchises on an item by item basis. The last time I ate in one back in 2008 because nothing else was open that early, I had a breakfast that consisted of scrambled eggs, hash browns, pancakes, and sausage. Everything tasted almost identical - an oily salty mound - with only different chew textures. (Okay, maybe the sausage had a little extra zing from the spice mix, but that was definitely the only tip off). But McDs always was dirt cheap, and their calorie to dollar ratio for (reasonably freshly) prepared food has been tough to beat. If they can't hold the line on prices, I don't see what's left to keep them from losing market share. And I wouldn't miss it one bit.

Eyght 9y ago
It's the old one-size-fits-all-(but-badly) problem. If you want to maximize your target customer base, the taste of the food becomes very bland. So they try to compensate by adding more items to the menu - and subsequently run into the problems described in the article.
resf 9y ago
No doubt, the food in McDonalds is bad. But it's very distinctive. You can buy a burger and fries at any number of joints, but you can only buy a McDonalds Big Mac and McDonalds fries at McDonalds. You could call it Hershey Syndrome. Hershey's chocolate is not very good. In fact, it tastes like vomit. Yet the entire US has grown up eating Hershey bars. Hershey don't compete on quality, they compete on "Hersheyness". Likewise, McDonalds can't simply improve quality, because they would be losing their very essence in the process.
- tr1ck5t3r 9y ago
  The vomit taste is the butyric acid also found in human vomit which is used to make hersheys using cheaper milk products. Surprising what people will eat.
dionidium 9y ago
You definitely bought the wrong thing. You tried to order a normal diner breakfast at McDonald's. They don't do that well. You wanted to get one of their sandwiches -- Egg McMuffin, etc -- which, while not really like any other normal breakfast, certainly has that distinctive taste everyone here is talking about.

Eyght 9y ago

It's the old one-size-fits-all-(but-badly) problem. If you want to maximize your target customer base, the taste of the food becomes very bland. So they try to compensate by adding more items to the menu - and subsequently run into the problems described in the article.

resf 9y ago

No doubt, the food in McDonalds is bad. But it's very distinctive. You can buy a burger and fries at any number of joints, but you can only buy a McDonalds Big Mac and McDonalds fries at McDonalds. You could call it Hershey Syndrome. Hershey's chocolate is not very good. In fact, it tastes like vomit. Yet the entire US has grown up eating Hershey bars. Hershey don't compete on quality, they compete on "Hersheyness". Likewise, McDonalds can't simply improve quality, because they would be losing their very essence in the process.

tr1ck5t3r 9y ago
The vomit taste is the butyric acid also found in human vomit which is used to make hersheys using cheaper milk products. Surprising what people will eat.

dionidium 9y ago

You definitely bought the wrong thing. You tried to order a normal diner breakfast at McDonald's. They don't do that well. You wanted to get one of their sandwiches -- Egg McMuffin, etc -- which, while not really like any other normal breakfast, certainly has that distinctive taste everyone here is talking about.