4 ms·

There is definitely something going on with fast food these days. I love Taco Bell mostly for cheap college nostalgia reasons, but the mom-and-pop taco joints,

by bane 3y ago

There is definitely something going on with fast food these days. I love Taco Bell mostly for cheap college nostalgia reasons, but the mom-and-pop taco joints, run by retired chefs with the requisite ingredient quality and taste, cost about the same at point of sale these days as your average run to the Bell. I used to get in and out of TB for <$7 and be so stuffed afterwards I'd basically go into a food coma. Even including inflation the past few years I should still be in and out for <$10. I think I hit $13 one time. The local taco bowl place is $12. It's insane. McDonald's costs more than my local gourmet burger place, but with half the flavor. I can get a beautifully crafted, made to order, custom blended burger, hand cut fries, and drink for $12.50. My local McDonald's equivalent is around $11. What the hell is going on? And to their lost sales, I say no duh.

wombat-man 3y ago
In some cases, the food is also getting worse. I really liked chalupas, but the last few times I tried them, something changed about the shell. Their amazing plan to both cut costs and raise prices is starting to get real noticeable.
add-sub-mul-div 3y ago
I lived in Southern California in the 90s/00s and Taco Bell was a good cheap complement to the real Mexican food culture. It had its place and I liked it. I moved away and stopped eating there for a long time. Now when I try, it's horrible. Inappropriately expensive, like you said, but also just carelessly put together and gross tasting. What I can't figure out is if it's due to the geography, maybe Southern California had and still has a better Taco Bell experience. Or if it's gone downhill everywhere as part of the general enshittification of everything.
- bane 3y ago
  I'm East Coast, maybe 2nd tier HCOL...since COVID, it went from basically free change in the drink holder in my car to... I'll give you an anecdote, right before COVID I made a big group order for maybe 10 people at TB once and it was over $50, they made me sign the receipt, but it was clear from the chaos at the counter that this was not a normal thing and the had to make a phone call to figure out what to do.
vineyardmike 3y ago
> McDonald's costs more than my local gourmet burger place, but with half the flavor. I really wonder what the economics of this is. A lot of people mention the app being cheaper (I don’t know, I don’t eat fast food). Are walk-ins just paying a premium for convenience? Is it actually more expensive or did they raise prices beyond the necessary point under the guise of inflation so they’d have headroom for later? Does your local place actually pay and treat workers worse? In my HCOL city, I’ve seen ads for McD workers with a $30+/hr salary. I don’t know if they’re overpaying compared to mom-and-pop stores to get workers, but it seems like a good thing to see even more incentives to eat at local restaurants instead of chains.
- ants_everywhere 3y ago
  > I really wonder what the economics of this is. It could be largely that they're socializing their customer base to the app because that's how customers will need to order in a few years when robots make the food and AIs run the drive-throughs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxBySZwBAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxBySZwBAI Also walk-ins force the use of the human-based service model that they're presumably trying to phase out over some time period.
- 15457345234 3y ago
  > I really wonder what the economics of this is. They _really really really_ want you to have the app. It's coming from very high up; make the phones as indispensable as possible. Really glue people to them. Absolutely rinsing people who refuse to engage in the app economy is one of the ways of achieving compliance with that goal.
  - soupfordummies 3y ago
    I'm interested in more of your thoughts on this. Who is they/very high up? I've started unplugging/disconnecting more and more this year but the pressure is increasing on many levels to STAY glued to the phone. Gets really discouraging to try and get others to do the same (friends, family, etc)
illusive4080 3y ago
Wish I could find a burger joint for $12.50. My favorite is Five Guys but you can’t get out of there for under $20.
- huytersd 3y ago
  I mean you can get an In-N-Out hamburger for $2 or a cheese burger for $2.50 Get 2 cheeseburgers and make your own fries at home for $0.50/potato. It’s what I do and you have a pretty big meal for ~$5
  - iancmceachern 3y ago
    And their consistently very very good
- coffeebeqn 3y ago
  Smaller (unpretentious ) joints seem to be the sweet spot now. If there’s truffle-something on the menu it’s the wrong place. Five guys is absurdly pricy for what it is. McDonald’s is way overpriced for what’s still the same factory burgers that used to cost a pittance 5 years ago
  - cjohnson318 3y ago
    > Five guys is absurdly pricy for what it is. Yes and no. I haven't been impressed by many gourmet burger places, and McDonalds et al are awful, but I can count on Five Guys to have a decent burger at a relatively sane price, considering my options and the general state of things.
- bane 3y ago
  In my experience, Five Guys provides $7 burgers at $20 prices. They're fine, but very overpriced for what they are.
- moltar 3y ago
  Five Guys is just expensive and in a category of its own.
whateveracct 3y ago
I can often buy a 5.5lb free range, locally grown while chicken for under $9 at my local $KROGER when there's a sale. Fast food is just a gigantic rip off at these new prices. And the quality has gone down the toilet to boot.
cjohnson318 3y ago
In 2014 I could get 3 tacos and a can of Diet Coke for $5 in East Palo Alto. These were real tacos made with real meat. I think Taco Bell in the same zip code and time frame would probably charge ~$3 for a fountain drink, and the tacos would be... barely edible. I think tacos and a coke will set you back ~$12 in most taquerias these days, but yeah, it's way better quality than any fast food chain.
iancmceachern 3y ago
Totally, we can get dinner from Chipotle or any of the local real food places for less than we can get a meal from taco bell.
DougN7 3y ago
I might get laughed out of the room for asking, but has Taco Bell had to start paying employees more?

by bane 3y ago

wombat-man 3y ago

In some cases, the food is also getting worse. I really liked chalupas, but the last few times I tried them, something changed about the shell. Their amazing plan to both cut costs and raise prices is starting to get real noticeable.

add-sub-mul-div 3y ago

I lived in Southern California in the 90s/00s and Taco Bell was a good cheap complement to the real Mexican food culture. It had its place and I liked it. I moved away and stopped eating there for a long time. Now when I try, it's horrible. Inappropriately expensive, like you said, but also just carelessly put together and gross tasting. What I can't figure out is if it's due to the geography, maybe Southern California had and still has a better Taco Bell experience. Or if it's gone downhill everywhere as part of the general enshittification of everything.

bane 3y ago
I'm East Coast, maybe 2nd tier HCOL...since COVID, it went from basically free change in the drink holder in my car to... I'll give you an anecdote, right before COVID I made a big group order for maybe 10 people at TB once and it was over $50, they made me sign the receipt, but it was clear from the chaos at the counter that this was not a normal thing and the had to make a phone call to figure out what to do.

vineyardmike 3y ago

> McDonald's costs more than my local gourmet burger place, but with half the flavor. I really wonder what the economics of this is. A lot of people mention the app being cheaper (I don’t know, I don’t eat fast food). Are walk-ins just paying a premium for convenience? Is it actually more expensive or did they raise prices beyond the necessary point under the guise of inflation so they’d have headroom for later? Does your local place actually pay and treat workers worse? In my HCOL city, I’ve seen ads for McD workers with a $30+/hr salary. I don’t know if they’re overpaying compared to mom-and-pop stores to get workers, but it seems like a good thing to see even more incentives to eat at local restaurants instead of chains.

ants_everywhere 3y ago
> I really wonder what the economics of this is. It could be largely that they're socializing their customer base to the app because that's how customers will need to order in a few years when robots make the food and AIs run the drive-throughs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxBySZwBAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxBySZwBAI Also walk-ins force the use of the human-based service model that they're presumably trying to phase out over some time period.
15457345234 3y ago
> I really wonder what the economics of this is. They _really really really_ want you to have the app. It's coming from very high up; make the phones as indispensable as possible. Really glue people to them. Absolutely rinsing people who refuse to engage in the app economy is one of the ways of achieving compliance with that goal.
- soupfordummies 3y ago
  I'm interested in more of your thoughts on this. Who is they/very high up? I've started unplugging/disconnecting more and more this year but the pressure is increasing on many levels to STAY glued to the phone. Gets really discouraging to try and get others to do the same (friends, family, etc)

illusive4080 3y ago

Wish I could find a burger joint for $12.50. My favorite is Five Guys but you can’t get out of there for under $20.

huytersd 3y ago
I mean you can get an In-N-Out hamburger for $2 or a cheese burger for $2.50 Get 2 cheeseburgers and make your own fries at home for $0.50/potato. It’s what I do and you have a pretty big meal for ~$5
- iancmceachern 3y ago
  And their consistently very very good
coffeebeqn 3y ago
Smaller (unpretentious ) joints seem to be the sweet spot now. If there’s truffle-something on the menu it’s the wrong place. Five guys is absurdly pricy for what it is. McDonald’s is way overpriced for what’s still the same factory burgers that used to cost a pittance 5 years ago
- cjohnson318 3y ago
  > Five guys is absurdly pricy for what it is. Yes and no. I haven't been impressed by many gourmet burger places, and McDonalds et al are awful, but I can count on Five Guys to have a decent burger at a relatively sane price, considering my options and the general state of things.
bane 3y ago
In my experience, Five Guys provides $7 burgers at $20 prices. They're fine, but very overpriced for what they are.
moltar 3y ago
Five Guys is just expensive and in a category of its own.

whateveracct 3y ago

I can often buy a 5.5lb free range, locally grown while chicken for under $9 at my local $KROGER when there's a sale. Fast food is just a gigantic rip off at these new prices. And the quality has gone down the toilet to boot.

cjohnson318 3y ago

In 2014 I could get 3 tacos and a can of Diet Coke for $5 in East Palo Alto. These were real tacos made with real meat. I think Taco Bell in the same zip code and time frame would probably charge ~$3 for a fountain drink, and the tacos would be... barely edible. I think tacos and a coke will set you back ~$12 in most taquerias these days, but yeah, it's way better quality than any fast food chain.

iancmceachern 3y ago

Totally, we can get dinner from Chipotle or any of the local real food places for less than we can get a meal from taco bell.

DougN7 3y ago

I might get laughed out of the room for asking, but has Taco Bell had to start paying employees more?