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The first and second times I visited KFC in the US I was shocked there were no vegetables in their sandwiches. Other than the corn, and coleslaw, no lettuce or
by dzink 2y ago
The first and second times I visited KFC in the US I was shocked there were no vegetables in their sandwiches. Other than the corn, and coleslaw, no lettuce or other ingredients in the sandwiches. In europe, and China and any other country I’ve seen KFC they have amazing Zinger sandwiches with lattice and sauces and grea flavor. We make it a point to never go to KFC in the US.
- infotainment 2y agoOne thing I find utterly depressing is how literally every American fast food chain has infinitely better quality and taste in their overseas locations. Evidently they save their absolute worst products for their home market.
- brookst 2y agoI’d say they’re responding to different market demands.
- TehCorwiz 2y agoYeah, the rest of the world has laws that demand minimum product quality.
- daseiner1 2y agoI’d love to hear the inside baseball on how a committee determines “minimum product quality” for a fried chicken sandwich.
- ricardobayes 2y agoDefinitely. Dining out regularly, even at fast food places, is not necessarily a usual, or normal thing for lots of Europeans. Most "middle-class" people I know, like teachers or so, dine out probably a few times a year to celebrate an event. Groceries are cheap and fresh and people have less disposable income in Europe, generally. Fast food's biggest competitor is home cooking. It's also the reason why we prefer (or preferred) diesel vehicles here.
- opo 2y agoThis likely varies by country in Europe and even what part of the country (rural vs urban). For example, a survey done in Germany found the following distribution of how often people went to a restaurant: Once a month: 44% A few times a month: 34% Once a week: 13% Several times a week: 7% https://www.statista.com/statistics/1085317/dining-out-habits-in-germany/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1085317/dining-out-habit...
- wkat4242 2y agoDepends very highly on region. Here in Spain it's very very common to eat out for our lunch break at work. We don't even have a full canteen at the office because everyone just goes to the local restaurants anyway. For around 12€ you get a daily rotating menu with a few choices for starter, main, dessert or coffee and a drink. And it's a nice relaxed experience rather than a quick canteen sandwich while everyone looks at their watch. Eating out at lunch time is so common almost all restaurants do these cheap menus and are pretty full. During the night it's more for special occasions and a la carte with higher pricing. Many restaurants around the office don't even open at night as they don't get the volume.
- albrewer 2y ago> Groceries are cheap and fresh I took my kids to the Netherlands a few years ago; in the week we stayed there, they wiped out almost every berry the local (very small) grocery store had in stock. My kids couldn't believe how much tastier they were compared to what we could buy back home.
- Der_Einzige 2y agoAmericans current market demands are bad for society and bad for the Americans that purport to demand the food slop they call fast food that we are served. Americans would be infinitely happier with the overseas model of our fast food, no matter what suits or pencil pushers claim.
- brookst 2y agoSounds like you can make a fortune by hitting this untapped market.
- spywaregorilla 2y agowell the flip side take is that other countries put a premium on the american brands we consider trashy
- CrazyStat 2y agoIn Managua, Nicaragua ca. 2000 McDonalds was a sit down restaurant with waiters.
- JackMorgan 2y agoIt was the same growing up in San Jose, CR. My friends would always meet up on Saturday nights at the Burger King next to the San Pedro mall. It was so fancy! American fast food wasn't cheap either, probably 2-3x more expensive than most other places you could eat in town.
- CoastalCoder 2y agoWas it the same food as we get in the US, just with better service/setting?
- SoftTalker 2y agoIn my experience, yes. A Big Mac is a Big Mac pretty much everywhere. The non-US stores do often have some menu items that are targeted to local tastes, that you would not see in a mainland US store.
- podunkPDX 2y agoThe McDonalds in Rome near Termini had an amazing desert bar!
- SoftTalker 2y agoI wonder if the international franchises have more freedom to vary the menu? I'd guess the standard signature items like the Big Mac and fries are pretty much mandatory though.
- flenserboy 2y agoThat's because the US is a profit farm for US corporations (& a tax farm for those making bank on US foreign policy) so they can subsidize the rest of the world. Food, medicine, you name it — bottom-of-the-barrel service & quality for the average person & below in the US at top-dollar prices, & the people in the middle & below classes think they're doing well because it's all they know.
- Ylpertnodi 2y ago>That's because the US is a profit farm for US corporations....so they can subsidize the rest of the world. Do you mean the corporations subsidise the rest of their corporations (ie cheap usa kfc supports mmm-lovely jpn kfc etc), or the subsidies extend to 'the rest of the world' in general?
- ryandrake 2y agoI think what OP is saying is that corporations can charge USA people absurdly high prices for terrible quality stuff (reaping huge profits) because we allow it, whereas overseas, the same corporations have to accept lower margins and provide better product/service because non-Americans wont accept it. Not sure I 100% buy that, but it does sound kind of truthy.
- readthenotes1 2y agoThe McDonald's I went to in Vienna Austria was horribler on every level.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dzink 2y agoIn the US they aim to become a local monopoly through rock bottom prices, while abroad they are an upscale location with premium prices where people go to treat mostly their kids. McDonalds abroad I’ve seen had Hollywood theme or Elvis theme, etc. It’s a piece of US culture with the same big macs but broader menu.
- m463 2y agoI think in-n-out is pretty good. It seems when the founders died, the formula wasn't changed afaict. That said, they haven't spread far from their original locations. I also remember going to five guys and there was something on the wall about the ingredients never frozen. Five guys is lots more expensive though.
- infotainment 2y agoIIRC In-N-Out doesn't have overseas locations, but I agree that it is delicious.
- bsder 2y agoOther countries often have much stronger regulations about what is considered to be "food". For example, McDonalds often has to use actual beef in their overseas hamburgers as opposed to the "beef sludge" that they use in the ones in the US. McDonalds in Italy served a hamburger like I remember from back when I was a child. This is not universal, however. Hamburgers in the UK seem to be uniquely terrible, for example.
- dreamcompiler 2y ago> McDonalds in Italy served a hamburger like I remember from back when I was a child. Also they sometimes have really good espresso bars right there in the restaurant.
- numpad0 2y agoUS is way less densely populated than most countries[1]. That might add more pressure on stability over taste for industrialized fast foods in the US. By the way, I feel like American fresh meat is superb, if that makes up for it. It could be just that you can't have literal everything. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependen...
- Log_out_ 2y agoI blame the beds to heightOverSeaLevel ratio. Manifest destiny to be of with worser food on a larger scale.
- alexjplant 2y agoI live in the US and am constantly disappointed by the fact that I have to pay extra to add onions to my Taco Bell burrito or lettuce and tomato to a McDouble (typically when on a road trip with friends). As it turns out this might be attributable to companies optimizing for consumers' dollars instead of flavor preferences [1]: > “They liked flavorful foods like turkey tetrazzini, but only at first; they quickly grew tired of them. On the other hand, mundane foods like white bread would never get them too excited, but they could eat lots and lots of it without feeling they’d had enough.” > This contradiction is known as “sensory-specific satiety.” In lay terms, it is the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm the brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more. It probably also has something to do with the fact that people often equate "vegetables" with unseasoned, boiled slop like spinach and broccoli instead of more delicious preparations like grilling, broiling, roasting, or sauteeing with a liberal amount of seasoning. Brussels sprouts, for instance, are incredible when broiled and tossed with olive oil (or, even better, bacon fat!) and carmelized onions but are nigh-inedible if scooped out of a stock pot full of hot tap water. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinar...
- strken 2y agoBroccoli is perfectly fine boiled. It's just that it takes literally 2 minutes to get brilliant green and slightly crunchy broccoli, while some home cooks put it on for 20 minutes. It's nice lightly salted with a bit of fresh lemon juice and sprinkled with sliced almonds. I will admit that any vegetable probably tastes better if you add bacon but I'm not sure that's a slight against the cooking method itself.
- shiroiushi 2y ago>Broccoli is perfectly fine boiled. It's just that it takes literally 2 minutes to get brilliant green and slightly crunchy broccoli, while some home cooks put it on for 20 minutes. Yep, it wasn't until long after I had moved out of home that I figured out broccoli can actually be pretty tasty, and not nasty slop, for exactly this reason.
- qingcharles 2y agoThe sad thing is, whenever I would land back in the UK for a visit I would always go straight to a KFC and grab a British Zinger because they were so much better than anything sold at the American restaurants.
- WorldMaker 2y agoYeah, vegetable prices vary a lot seasonally and US fast food companies have decided steady profit margins are "better" than a varied menu with good vegetable options. It's maybe the biggest shame for KFC itself to have fallen to the same rough cost minimizing as the rest of its industry: there was a time in the US where KFC was almost synonymous with a full meal of chicken (obviously), mashed potatoes (technically a vegetable, though with all that dairy and gravy not the healthiest one), and green beans. It's the green beans I miss the most from today's KFC. Also, for many decades some KFC franchises did lunch buffets that were incredible vegetable buffets: lima beans, collard/mustard greens, green beans, and salads. (Plenty of non-vegetables, too, and pies and such to make up for any attempt at healthy eating.) I think COVID killed the US KFC Buffet for good, and many of the franchises that used to run them have even switched brands to something more "exciting". (Often KFCs are getting replaced by that pickle brine dipped chicken brand that even more doesn't bother with any vegetables that aren't pickles or potatoes, and is doing very good business in this country right now despite how bland their food is, in part due to strange political alignments.)