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Surprisingly there's no discussion of food quality as a factor. In the race to keep portions huge and prices low the quality of food served at most chain resta

Surprisingly there's no discussion of food quality as a factor. In the race to keep portions huge and prices low the quality of food served at most chain restaurants has declined to the point that it's unpalatable for many. But for whatever reason businesses refuse to acknowledge this fact.

colmvp 8y ago
Thing is if I'm eating at a fast-food restaurant, I'm not that bothered by food quality. In-n-Out doesn't have anywhere close to the same burger quality I could get at other joints, but it's cheap and relatively good for the cost. I can't even make the same claim with McDonald's or other major fast-food chains outside of maybe, Jolibee's which has very delicious fried chicken for a fast food chain.
w0utert 8y ago
This is something that always strikes me as very odd when visiting the US. The portions are just So.Frigging.Huge, to the point it becomes outright comical. If I order a 'small' pizza in the US, I get something way bigger than the 'normal' pizza I would get at home, which I already are barely able to finish. I'm almost never able to finish my plate, not just because I cannot eat more, but mostly because I simply don't want to eat more of the same: in most cases the food is bland, and I quickly have had enough of it. I'm not saying the food is 'bad', I also like to eat fast food now and then, just that it simply doesn't warrant eating more of it than absolutely necessary. Typical quantity over quality. At the same time, when I go out for dinner at home, the best restaurant experiences are always when I feel 'almost full' when my plate is completely empty, and still have some room left for dessert. Nothing needs to go to waste, and I don't need to take doggy-bags home so I can eat more of the same bland (and now re-heated, soggy) food the next day, as is common in the US (doggy bags are an extremely rare sight where I live). The 'dining out' experience could hardly be any more different comparing the US to the restaurants at home. To make things worse, prices are also way higher in the US, at least the more urban areas in the east and west. I remember one time staying in an AirBNB in the US, talking to the host who used to own a classic american diner. She had the exact same thoughts about food quality and portion sizes as we did, and told us she actually tried to do it different in her diner. Customers would by default get a small plate of food, but could order more for free if it wasn't enough. For some bizarre reason her customers hated it and kept complaining about the portion size. So she switched back, and almost no-one ever finished their food completely again. Very quaint obsession with quantity, if you ask me.
- spicymaki 8y ago
  Funny enough you can order half-portions at many restaurants. That will bring the portions closer to a normal size.
  - saddestcatever 8y ago
    Really? That never even occurred, since I've never seen that option on a menu.
    - ceejayoz 8y ago
      As with splitting a plate between two people, it's not something you'd typically see on a menu, but they're usually happy to do it.
    - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
      All the time around here - half a sandwich and soup for instance at lunchtime
    - jandrese 8y ago
      The branding is "right sizing". It doesn't seem to have gained a lot of traction however.
    - spicymaki 8y ago
      Yes!!! You would be surprised what things you can negotiate in stores and restaurants. You need only ask. In restaurants you can even substitute unhealthy items for healthier items in your meal in many cases. Many local restaurants I go to even have items you can order that are not listed on the menu.
  - w0utert 8y ago
    I've not seen this in many places, actually. I also don't think it would really work for me, as I would never be able to guess whether a half-portion wouldn't be less than I wanted to eat. It would be so much easier if it was just what I'm used to here: if you just order food, you'll get enough for a 'normal' eater. You can always go bigger or smaller, depending on if you are a 'big eater' or not. The default in the US seems to be that the size of the standard order needs to satisfy a giant construction worker who hasn't eaten for two days. I remember ordering blueberry pancakes for breakfast once, and got a pile a that was almost a foot high. Even though the pancakes were actually pretty good, I think I finished less then 1/4th of them. That just makes no sense.
VBprogrammer 8y ago
I noticed this much more in Canada than I did in New York. I would absent absentmindedly order a large (heck, I'm on holiday) and be faced with more food than I could possibly eat. I suspect the less cosmopolitan areas of the US are very similar though.
torgoguys 8y ago
The article was focusing on fast food. Fast food franchisers work very hard to make the product consistent from restaurant to restaurant and year to year. Fast food customers often don't want surprises or new experiences with their trips to those restaurants. If I order a Big Mac in New York it pretty much is the same as one in Omaha and is pretty much the same as it was 20 years ago. Necessary changes that are made are deliberately small and the quality is basically the same over time in my experience.
- cptskippy 8y ago
  More and more of the quality compromises are made for the sake of profits and margins, not consistency and quality.
village-idiot 8y ago
I genuinely don’t consider most of the dreck that’s sold at fast food chains to be food.
siruncledrew 8y ago
I don't think they are mutually exclusive, but I often see quality and price advertised separately. Fast food (McDonalds, Wendy's, KFC, etc) advertises heavily on price, perhaps because their demographic is more price-sensitive (or has stricter economic constraints). A fast food/fast casual restaurant that advertises more on quality (Chipotle, Cava, Panera, etc) is going after a different demographic that is probably more selective about food than immediately price sensitive. This is purely observational based on looking at fast food restaurants in the city and suburbs. It would be interesting to see how it varies across regions.
- mywittyname 8y ago
  I'd say that Wendy's is closer to Chipotle than McDonalds. They are a fair bit more expensive and heavily advertise their food quality (fresh, never frozen).
bunderbunder 8y ago
That's an interesting observation, because I've perceived the opposite trend. I eat very differently from a typical American (for one, never been big on rich, greasy food), so, 20 years ago, very few fast food chains offered anything I'd have eaten. Since then many of them have started offering fresher foods that are moving in the direction of how I like to eat. But they're just not moving as fast as my eating habits are changing. I'm not even certain if they should try to keep up. Sure, they can offer me hummus and crudites for a light lunch when I'm on the road. But grocery stores already have that covered, and at a price point that's probably much lower than McDonald's could manage. And they can offer me beans, rice and fixins, but Qdoba will already sell me two meals' worth of that for less than twice the cost of a single meal at McDonald's, so again, there just isn't a lot of gold for them in them thar hills.
- cptskippy 8y ago
  I agree with you in a way. I think the rise of the new chains you describe is a result of the gradual decline of the old guard of fast food. And if you look at those new chains today vs when they opened you see a decline in quality as well. In the late 90s everything at Subway was prepared fresh in store and the meat was single origin. Today everything comes in bags and the "meat" is lower in quality than the crappiest of hot dog. Chipotle went from fresh in 2001 to unsanitary burrito factory in 2017. They're being followed down the hole cloesly by Moe's and a bit further back by Willy's. Starbucks went from a high end coffee house in the 90s to a candy store. Dunkin Donuts in the 90s made fresh donuts nightly in store, today they have them shipped in from factory and aren't any better than grocery store bakery donuts, just more varied. Perhaps that's the natural order of most fast food as they chase margins. Death by a thousand compromises.
  - mnky9800n 8y ago
    This is why you were asking me about Chipotle?

colmvp 8y ago

Thing is if I'm eating at a fast-food restaurant, I'm not that bothered by food quality. In-n-Out doesn't have anywhere close to the same burger quality I could get at other joints, but it's cheap and relatively good for the cost. I can't even make the same claim with McDonald's or other major fast-food chains outside of maybe, Jolibee's which has very delicious fried chicken for a fast food chain.

w0utert 8y ago

This is something that always strikes me as very odd when visiting the US. The portions are just So.Frigging.Huge, to the point it becomes outright comical. If I order a 'small' pizza in the US, I get something way bigger than the 'normal' pizza I would get at home, which I already are barely able to finish. I'm almost never able to finish my plate, not just because I cannot eat more, but mostly because I simply don't want to eat more of the same: in most cases the food is bland, and I quickly have had enough of it. I'm not saying the food is 'bad', I also like to eat fast food now and then, just that it simply doesn't warrant eating more of it than absolutely necessary. Typical quantity over quality. At the same time, when I go out for dinner at home, the best restaurant experiences are always when I feel 'almost full' when my plate is completely empty, and still have some room left for dessert. Nothing needs to go to waste, and I don't need to take doggy-bags home so I can eat more of the same bland (and now re-heated, soggy) food the next day, as is common in the US (doggy bags are an extremely rare sight where I live). The 'dining out' experience could hardly be any more different comparing the US to the restaurants at home. To make things worse, prices are also way higher in the US, at least the more urban areas in the east and west. I remember one time staying in an AirBNB in the US, talking to the host who used to own a classic american diner. She had the exact same thoughts about food quality and portion sizes as we did, and told us she actually tried to do it different in her diner. Customers would by default get a small plate of food, but could order more for free if it wasn't enough. For some bizarre reason her customers hated it and kept complaining about the portion size. So she switched back, and almost no-one ever finished their food completely again. Very quaint obsession with quantity, if you ask me.

spicymaki 8y ago
Funny enough you can order half-portions at many restaurants. That will bring the portions closer to a normal size.
- saddestcatever 8y ago
  Really? That never even occurred, since I've never seen that option on a menu.
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    As with splitting a plate between two people, it's not something you'd typically see on a menu, but they're usually happy to do it.
  - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
    All the time around here - half a sandwich and soup for instance at lunchtime
  - jandrese 8y ago
    The branding is "right sizing". It doesn't seem to have gained a lot of traction however.
  - spicymaki 8y ago
    Yes!!! You would be surprised what things you can negotiate in stores and restaurants. You need only ask. In restaurants you can even substitute unhealthy items for healthier items in your meal in many cases. Many local restaurants I go to even have items you can order that are not listed on the menu.
- w0utert 8y ago
  I've not seen this in many places, actually. I also don't think it would really work for me, as I would never be able to guess whether a half-portion wouldn't be less than I wanted to eat. It would be so much easier if it was just what I'm used to here: if you just order food, you'll get enough for a 'normal' eater. You can always go bigger or smaller, depending on if you are a 'big eater' or not. The default in the US seems to be that the size of the standard order needs to satisfy a giant construction worker who hasn't eaten for two days. I remember ordering blueberry pancakes for breakfast once, and got a pile a that was almost a foot high. Even though the pancakes were actually pretty good, I think I finished less then 1/4th of them. That just makes no sense.

VBprogrammer 8y ago

I noticed this much more in Canada than I did in New York. I would absent absentmindedly order a large (heck, I'm on holiday) and be faced with more food than I could possibly eat. I suspect the less cosmopolitan areas of the US are very similar though.

torgoguys 8y ago

The article was focusing on fast food. Fast food franchisers work very hard to make the product consistent from restaurant to restaurant and year to year. Fast food customers often don't want surprises or new experiences with their trips to those restaurants. If I order a Big Mac in New York it pretty much is the same as one in Omaha and is pretty much the same as it was 20 years ago. Necessary changes that are made are deliberately small and the quality is basically the same over time in my experience.

cptskippy 8y ago
More and more of the quality compromises are made for the sake of profits and margins, not consistency and quality.

village-idiot 8y ago

I genuinely don’t consider most of the dreck that’s sold at fast food chains to be food.

siruncledrew 8y ago

I don't think they are mutually exclusive, but I often see quality and price advertised separately. Fast food (McDonalds, Wendy's, KFC, etc) advertises heavily on price, perhaps because their demographic is more price-sensitive (or has stricter economic constraints). A fast food/fast casual restaurant that advertises more on quality (Chipotle, Cava, Panera, etc) is going after a different demographic that is probably more selective about food than immediately price sensitive. This is purely observational based on looking at fast food restaurants in the city and suburbs. It would be interesting to see how it varies across regions.

mywittyname 8y ago
I'd say that Wendy's is closer to Chipotle than McDonalds. They are a fair bit more expensive and heavily advertise their food quality (fresh, never frozen).

bunderbunder 8y ago

That's an interesting observation, because I've perceived the opposite trend. I eat very differently from a typical American (for one, never been big on rich, greasy food), so, 20 years ago, very few fast food chains offered anything I'd have eaten. Since then many of them have started offering fresher foods that are moving in the direction of how I like to eat. But they're just not moving as fast as my eating habits are changing. I'm not even certain if they should try to keep up. Sure, they can offer me hummus and crudites for a light lunch when I'm on the road. But grocery stores already have that covered, and at a price point that's probably much lower than McDonald's could manage. And they can offer me beans, rice and fixins, but Qdoba will already sell me two meals' worth of that for less than twice the cost of a single meal at McDonald's, so again, there just isn't a lot of gold for them in them thar hills.

cptskippy 8y ago
I agree with you in a way. I think the rise of the new chains you describe is a result of the gradual decline of the old guard of fast food. And if you look at those new chains today vs when they opened you see a decline in quality as well. In the late 90s everything at Subway was prepared fresh in store and the meat was single origin. Today everything comes in bags and the "meat" is lower in quality than the crappiest of hot dog. Chipotle went from fresh in 2001 to unsanitary burrito factory in 2017. They're being followed down the hole cloesly by Moe's and a bit further back by Willy's. Starbucks went from a high end coffee house in the 90s to a candy store. Dunkin Donuts in the 90s made fresh donuts nightly in store, today they have them shipped in from factory and aren't any better than grocery store bakery donuts, just more varied. Perhaps that's the natural order of most fast food as they chase margins. Death by a thousand compromises.
- mnky9800n 8y ago
  This is why you were asking me about Chipotle?