> America is the King of burgers and Beef production so would expect to see cheaper options. There are, in McDonalds, Burger King, In-n-out etc. What you are p

> America is the King of burgers and Beef production so would expect to see cheaper options. There are, in McDonalds, Burger King, In-n-out etc. What you are paying for is labor and the fast food places are optimized to reduce that specific cost. The drive thru, for example, increases demand per hour and thus lets kitchens specialize more, and invest in more machinery. Ray Kroc, a salesman, loved the 8 at a time milkshake mixer he was pitching so much he bought a burger chain to put them to use. But inflation, and labor cost increases in the low end especially, mean prices are up now versus a decade ago.