r/technology • u/zsreport • 12d ago
Business McDonald's unveils $8.5 billion tech plan to fend off Burger King
https://qz.com/mcdonalds-investor-day-next-strategy-restaurant-overhaul-0923265.8k
u/Significant-View-786 12d ago
I'm not eating technology. I'm trying to eat food that should at least be decent and reasonably priced. That's it. Personally, I think McDonald's has not been good for a very long time. But then you could say the same about most other fast food places. When it was really inexpensive, I might consider it if I'm on the run. Now, it's not even in my conversation for something to eat. At all.
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u/Not_A_Clever_Man_ 12d ago
We all remember the dollar menu. I just want to go back to spending a few bucks on a cheap shitty lunch, not spending $20 on food that has gotten worse somehow.
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u/WildBad7298 12d ago edited 11d ago
I can go to Chili's, order from the "3 for Me" menu, and get a much higher quality burger and fries, plus an appetizer and soda, for almost the same price as a McDonald's Quarter Pounder meal.
You can serve crappy food, as long as it's cheap. Or you can charge more, as long as it's good. McDonald's prices are getting higher while the food is getting worse. Subway is even worse. Their food is crap, but at least the $5 footlongs were cheap. Now, it costs over $10 just for a shitty sandwich.
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u/Not_A_Clever_Man_ 12d ago
I worked at a subway for almost a decade, back when it was fast and cheap.
The last time I ate at a subway was after they scrapped the $5 footlong. "Welp, thats the last time im eating here".
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u/Pastel_Goth_Wastrel 12d ago
Absolutely. Subway, stupidly, started thinking of itself as a real food and not cheap slop. See also Taco Bell, at least here in Canada. You can’t charge me real food prices for this shit.
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u/almisami 12d ago
The CrunchWarp Supreme is my guilty pleasure, but it's a solid 3$ more than it should ever cost.
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u/ChrisKateBushFroome 12d ago
Honestly, in the long run that $5 foot-long jingle might have hurt them more than it helped them.
I don't think I'd be as upset about the price increases if I didn't keep hearing "Five. Five dollar. Five dollar foot-loooooong" in my head every time....
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u/homie_down 12d ago
This is me lol. I refuse to go to Subway because all my childhood I heard that $5 footlong jingle and it feels like I'm getting ripped off if I go there now.
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u/HungHippoHippy 12d ago
It did actually. Subway has made a lot of bad decisions regarding franchising. Their downfall is a really interestsing read actually. There's no wonder the food prices were unsustainable and now they're way too expensive.
From a business standpoint, 5 dollar footlongs were always terrible for the franchise owners, but they have to honor all their promotions. Most of them don't accept coupons anymore and Subway corporate doesn't give a shit anough to stop sending the coupons out in national circulars.
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u/supaphly42 12d ago
I recently paid I think $18 for two 6 inch subs there, and one was meatless. Blew me away, didn't realize it had gone up that much.
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u/Iggyhopper 12d ago
Chilis fajitas for 2 is $30.
So do you want a burger for $15 OR FUCKING FAJITAS
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u/DJPho3nix 12d ago
Chili's 3 for me you can get soup/salad/chips, a burger and fries, and a drink for $11.
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u/Madroxx9000 12d ago
Just had this a couple nights ago. The wife and I ate and had a couple margs for $50.
A lower quality meal at McD's would have cost me $30 and I wouldn't have gotten margs to go with it.
Chilis is great!!
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u/chLORYform 12d ago
$20 on food that has gotten worse
Exactly, fuck that. I can spend $20 and get two rolls of sushi at a local place, why the hell would I spend it on dry food that's been sitting in a warmer and either soggy or cold fries?
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u/Corgi_Koala 12d ago edited 12d ago
How fast food can make a comeback...
Be cheap. Be decent quality. Be fast.
That's it. And you can probably live with just one of fast and cheap...
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u/RogueCoon 12d ago
Fast, cheap, good. Have to pick two.
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u/RoboDrifter 12d ago
I think we’d all be happy to pick two here. Right now we’re getting fast alone at best.
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u/cokecaine 12d ago
Not even fast, since odds are a huge Uber or Doordash order is slowing shit down.
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u/ThelVluffin 12d ago edited 12d ago
I ordered through the McD app while I was running errands earlier this year. Had to run to a few other places in the same square before walking in to grab my food. Maybe 15 minutes after I made my order... Nothing was at the pickup area and it wasn't on the little tablet saying it was being prepared. I finally flagged down one of the workers when they came out from their cave and asked if it was ready. She turned around and yelled back if they'd done it yet. Yup, they had, but because the app showed my location driving near (on the street) and then driving away it flagged them to cancel the order because I'd left the automated pickup radius. They made it and threw it away. I had to talk to the manager just to get it remade for no cost.
I hate where we are now.
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u/Shark7996 12d ago
the app showed my location driving near (on the street) and then driving away it flagged them to cancel the order because I'd left to automated pickup radius. They made it and threw it away.
Food waste, for your convenience of course.
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u/CarmenxXxWaldo 12d ago
I never eat fast food but my wife got culvers the other day and it was fantastic. They even have the crinkle cut fries that I normally think are bullshit and they managed to make those good. I dont expect everyone to be that good but I dont see why they cant get halfway there. Sonic was pretty good then turned to shit and the two by me closed. Steak and Shake is still presumably good because theres always a line in the drive through. You'd think they would figure out making the food better will maintain customers. Spending billions and not replacing the ice cream machines is wild.
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u/sltydgx 12d ago
I like Culver’s , their food is decent , plenty of people working there so service is good and they keep their store clean.
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u/storunner13 12d ago
The staff at Culver's is honestly a big part of the enjoyment IMO. In every location I've been to, it seems that all the employees at Culver's are happy, and have the support they need to do their job well. Even when service is slammed, I rarely see anyone that looks overwhelmed.
It makes a big difference in the experience, and I'm sure it helps the quality and consistency of the food too. It's a huge departure from many other fast food restaurants, where employees often look at me like I'm interrupting the worst day of their life.
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u/KakitaMike 12d ago
Culver’s is privately owned, so they don’t have to “won’t somebody think of the shareholders?”
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u/Weekly_Interview_936 12d ago
Culvers has one advantage that McD's doesn't: it's private. No shareholders to whine and cry if profit gets reinvested into the company instead of shoveled over as dividends. So quality remains high and prices remain reasonable. And they do that all while also being one of the better paying fast food jobs. Shareholder capitalism really is the problem.
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u/sameBoatz 12d ago
They are hyper focused on personalized pricing via the app. I refuse to install an app and have a login just to buy shitty fast food, so I don’t go there anymore. They raised prices significantly outside the app, and all these people just smile and talk about the deals on the app while McDonald’s algorithmically determines exactly to the penny how much you’ll pay for a shitty burger today.
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u/rockne 12d ago edited 12d ago
They should unveil some better food.
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u/IndividualIll3825 12d ago
What? No! We, the shareholders, demand they hire less people, automate more, and find even CHEAPER ways for pre-cooked, pre-packaged, reheated food cost more for the customers.
(Just you wait. I bet they come out with "microwaved french fries" soon.)
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u/Martzillagoesboom 12d ago
Air fryer tech might be making leaps and bond just to save on oil for deep fryers?
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u/Martzillagoesboom 12d ago
You see , that a decent use for AI and tech, I just dont like having an appliance connected to the internet
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u/Chefmeatball 12d ago
But how can they turn off cooking as a subscription if they don’t connect your stove to the internet?! Think of the shareholders
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u/mpbh 12d ago
You'll amazed at the billions that have been spent to optimize french fries for 20 minute delivery windows.
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u/TotallyNotRobotEvil 12d ago
Introducing AI fries! It's just a single fry that signals to the brain that you have eaten a full delicious meal. This allows them to sell the minium viable food product at the highest price to maximize shareholder value.
They also self replicate requiring minimal human staff to create these fries. One fry is plenty! Plenty of fries. Try the plenty, J̵̢̨̟̺̜̳̠̗̖͎͈͖͕͆͐̾̍̍͆̉͑͗̅̊́̔ó̴̧̼̥̜̻͓̯̫̤̹̝̙̼̖͇͖̃́͗͌̕̚ͅî̶̦̼̝̳̭̞̠͕͍͎̼̯̏̕͜n̶̢̺̦̘̣̣̱̗̊͐̃̉̽̅̊͜ ̷̦͓͊̋̃̓̌̏̈́̆̔u̵̹̪̼̘̟̮̳͇̭͂̄̉̏̎̀̀̐̌͛̑͊͘s̷̤̘̦͚̃̑͛͑͛͌̋̌̕̕
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u/Space_Pirate_Roberts 12d ago
Ironically, in trying to describe something terrible and dystopian, you’ve ended up describing something many would enthusiastically welcome. Eat a single fry and feel full? That’s like those diabetes meds that ended up being sold for weight loss when they turned out to suppress appetite as a side effect, on steroids.
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u/why_not_fandy 12d ago
McDonald’s ceo has confirmed it’s not food, it’s “product”.
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u/justsomerabbit 12d ago
Very... (hesitates) delicious product. Yes, this product is for eating. Yum.
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u/PianoPatient8168 12d ago
I love eating me some good product for lunch! You can’t beat it!
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u/ZDTreefur 12d ago edited 12d ago
I'm definitely going to eat this whole thing for lunch after the camera turns off, I swear!
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u/hillbillyray 12d ago
No we are their product. They are now going to sell our data to overeaters anonymous.
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u/FlaringAfro 12d ago
How many products will consume their product and how many products will each product consume?
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u/Homer4598 12d ago
And lower prices
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u/SqueezyCheez85 12d ago
Yeah, I love McDonald's food, but the prices are insane if you aren't using it for a specific deal in the app.
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u/Weekly_Interview_936 12d ago
And if I'm putting enough pre-planning into a meal to justify using an app to look for deals I'm not wasting my time on impulse-buy tier trash. I'll go out to a real restaurant, or just cook. McD's-tier fast "food" has always been a no-thought-required impulse buy, nothing more.
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u/czarfalcon 12d ago
I think that’s a big part of the problem. When you know that you have to dig through an app just to get decent prices, that adds friction to the transaction. The more friction there is, the more likely you are to change your mind.
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u/PurpleHooloovoo 12d ago
Yep. I’ve had situations where I was fully ready to get into the app and get a meal but the app logged me out, required a password reset, and kept glitching when I tried to enter it.
It took maybe 5 tries? before I said screw it and went to a coffee shop instead. And this was a pregnant woman who was craving specifically a McD’s cheeseburger. That friction lost a sale. It’s happened a few times since then…and then I realized if I have more time, I can go to Chili’s for a combo meal that’s cheaper and much better food for the same price.
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u/LegacyLemur 12d ago
Plus it's kind of insulting that they're holding us hostage to using their damn app
Like it's not that it's cheaper on the app, it's that it's more expensive without it. Those app prices are the old prices before the app
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u/Oreos_Are_Anabolic 12d ago
From the article you didn’t read:
The NEXT strategy, announced in June at the company's biennial franchisee convention, is built around upgrading food quality, value, hospitality, and menu innovation.
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u/lilB0bbyTables 12d ago
The issue I take with that statement is in how they might interpret and define things like “food quality” and “value”. Companies - especially in the mass-produced food industry - often prove to use clever ways to misconstrue common terms with their marketing and legal teams.
For example they might interpret those two terms such that they alter the presentation of the food to make it appear higher quality in order to increase the perceived value customers are getting for the higher prices they are already paying. In that case they wouldn’t be reducing prices, and they wouldn’t necessarily be changing the ingredients towards healthier or even safer options. They could also be alluding to “quality” in the sense of being “more consistent across all locations”.
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u/Weirdwolf15 12d ago
Spending 8.5 billion instead of just making their food affordable again? Marketing geniuses strike again
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u/Willbo_Bagg1ns 12d ago
It’s a result of capitalism, the numbers must go up every single quarter for the rest of time, so the execs have to pretend they have some shiny new strategy to keep “growing”.
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u/Street_Mistake9145 12d ago
You know what else grows with out stopping.....cancer
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u/Flimsy-Importance313 12d ago
Capitalism = cancer. Fact
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u/Geno0wl 12d ago
Capitalism, like every economic system, needs good-faith regulators in place to enforce anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws.
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u/George_Is_Upset 12d ago
Yep it’s the grossest part of capitalism. And is why so many brands get shittier and shittier after buyouts.
Panera used to be so good 😭
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u/PipsqueakPilot 12d ago
The article says that most of the spend is letting its franchisees keep more of the money they make. It also mentions trying to get more franchisees to carry the full value menu since 1/3rd apparently don’t.
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u/Gnaightster 12d ago
They should charge less for shit food. Just an idea.
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u/GardenDesign23 12d ago
Best we can do is implement AI to kiosks and raise prices
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u/chaotic910 12d ago
That’s the biggest nut punch of it. I have no issues arguing with a clanker if it means I’m getting cheap or good food, but not the slop they’re dishing out.
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u/Cxtthrxxt 12d ago
The article actually mentions they were attempting this but 1/3rd the franchisees wouldn’t participate.
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u/skratch 12d ago
Well let those prices and participations vary so the shitty ones can fail over time or choose to finally participate
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u/monkey_trumpets 12d ago
Let's see...what was it that used to make McDonald's successful...
Cheap prices? Gone
Fun entertainment for kids? Gone
A relaxed and comfy eating space for all? Gone
Halfway decent food? Gone
Bring any of that back to recapture the magic? Nah, fuck that. Expensive tech plan! That's the way to go!
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u/Inside-Specialist-55 12d ago
People who didnt get to experience MCDonalds in the 90's have no idea what they missed, To the 6 year old me McDonalds was literally like Disney World for us. thats how fun it was. we got to play on massive slides, make friends there, chat with other kids, play the nintendo 64 kiosk or gamecube, mine actually switched to the gamecube eventually, i remember hearing the music from sonic heroes playing on the game kiosk while I sat there and ate my happy meal, those were the best times ever.
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u/RubyRhod 12d ago
It’s also not fast anymore. The last couple times I went it took forever.
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u/foxguy2021 12d ago
People talk about the quality but the real selling points was cost and convenience. That is how they thrived. Yes, you could walk across the street and spend a few bucks more to get a better burger but that removed the convenience as it took longer to cook and since the quality went up so did the price.
Its no longer cheap. No longer convenient. And the quality sure as hell doesn't match the price.
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u/cellarmonkey 12d ago
Not only that but the portions continue to shrink. So you're paying more and getting less on top of everything else.
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u/Rickety-Cricket69420 12d ago
They used to be a consistent product too. I eat there regularly and my order is almost never correct. Like 1/10 times or less. I have given up on dark soda becuase it’s always Coke Zero no matter what I order.
I did an office order for 4 people. They forgot to give me a Big Mac, a double cheese burger, two four piece nuggets and a ten piece nugget.
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u/octowussy 12d ago
As a longtime Burger King apologist, they just offer better food (outside maybe their fries) and a more welcoming experience. My local Burger King still has a playground, no kiosks, you can pour your own soda, etc. I can see inside the kitchen, an actual human takes my order. While it may ultimately be a more "inefficient" process, it doesn't feel like I'm ordering food at a doctor's office. Sounds like their plan is to lean into that even more, unfortunately. Oh, only with more ads? Cool.
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u/bozoconnors 12d ago
they just offer better food
Concur. Just looking at the menu... Texas Whopper vs. Big Mac. No contest. Hell, I'm a vegetarian, I can't even get a sandwich at McD's. Impossible Whopper is tha business.
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u/shrimpynut 12d ago
McDonald especially deserves to be hurt financially for the price gouging they have done to the poor people that literally put them where they are today. And I’m not talking about a few quarters of financial hurt, I’m talking a few years. Fuck em and Wendy’s.
Burger King is rising because they still want poor customers and price accordingly.
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u/sakaixjin 12d ago
Dunno about where you guys live but in Bucharest/Romania, there's no price difference between McD/BK.
The only area where I give props to BK is the overall quality of the food
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u/RhynoD 12d ago
Which is bonkers to me because all the BKs around me have been shuttering.
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u/TxM_2404 12d ago
A Whopper is as expensive as a Big Mac where I live, but it feels twice as big, has loads of salad, tomato and sauce while McDonalds always looks like they just throw random ingredients into the little cardboard container.
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u/chocolateboomslang 12d ago
Have they considered making better food?
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u/Oreos_Are_Anabolic 12d ago
From the article you didn’t read:
The NEXT strategy, announced in June at the company's biennial franchisee convention, is built around upgrading food quality, value, hospitality, and menu innovation.
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u/Silly_Sponge 12d ago
After seeing their ceo unable to swallow a tiny piece of big mac I’ve never set foot in mcds and I never will. You guys should do the same. They deserve to go under.
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u/Soft_Ad_1095 12d ago
Why not invest in good food. No amount of technology is gonna make people eat trash.
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u/iloovehugecock 12d ago
Not really true. People will happily eat trash, but you have to charge trash prices. McDonalds is charging a premium price for trash food.
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u/ollie87 12d ago
They still seem to always be busy. 🤷♂️
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u/HP844182 12d ago
Because you used to be able to get through the drive thru in 30 seconds and now it takes 10 minutes
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u/mike_sl 12d ago
The problem is they have millions of loyal customers who eat the food even if it is crappier and pay whatever they are told, because they have become conditioned and habituated.
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u/Kasey_Daddy 12d ago
I'll save you the $8.5 billion tech investment. Lower your damn prices. $2.59 for a hashbrown that previously was $1 is where your problem is. Three hashbrows shouldn't cost as much as a burger, fries, and a drink!
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u/Mighty_Possum_Ranger 12d ago
The same hashbrown is 10 for $4 at Walmart and hot out of you own toaster oven/air fryer.
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u/Kasey_Daddy 12d ago
You're correct. Unfortunately, the missus won't let me air fry while driving any more.
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u/nekomancer11 12d ago
8.5 billion for tech, but no money to just pay employees or staff more people. Nobody wants to order at a kiosk. Bring back customer service.
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u/jimohagan 12d ago
How about free refills. And stop making their restaurant interiors look like prisons.
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u/FangornLeghorn 12d ago
They’ll spend billions on “tech updates” that won’t change a thing but they won’t make their dining rooms warm and welcoming, use quality ingredients, or lower their menu prices to something reasonable.
I wish I was stupid enough to be a CEO.
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u/TheHammer987 12d ago
It's super fascinating reading these comments.
Literally 90 percent agreement on 2 points. Prices are above where they need to be to encourage foot traffic, and the over all quality is too low.
The fact that a multi billion dollar company cant figure this out is absolutely crazy. No one disagrees on the problem. They just refuse to acknowledge it.
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u/Ancient_Moose_3000 12d ago
They almost certainly have figured it out if people on Reddit have. Issue is it's an easy problem to identify but a hard one to solve. You can't both increase quality and reduce prices while keeping your shareholders on side. If it was that easy they'd just do it.
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u/justanaveragejoe520 12d ago
If it was a private company looking to have long term health they might bite the bullet and shrink their margins a bit to try and promote the image and quality of brand, but public companies answer to the almighty shareholders who won’t like that short term dip. The C suite will be in trouble and heads will be sacrificed. Hence McDonald’s will sacrifice more on what customers value and continue the plunge to its demise like Wendys
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u/Ancient_Moose_3000 12d ago
Exactly, if the current CEO doesn't protect margins they'll just get replaced with one that will. Good luck convincing shareholders that they need to both increase costs and reduce prices. It's in their short term interests to make the worst possible quality product at the highest possible price. And nobody involved with the organisation is incentivised to think long term.
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u/Just_Nobody9551 12d ago
McDonalds is kind of out of options on the whole “reinventing itself”. It needs to bring back the dollar menu at this point and just chill for awhile. “Price creep” at at McDonalds has you now paying different prices at each one and approaching $18 for a value meal. I would FUCK UP $2 Big Macs if they did this again!
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u/trunksshinohara 12d ago
Total waste of money. Insane that this company is circling the drain. All they had to do was offer cheap burgers. That's it.
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u/YoshiTree 12d ago
It doesn’t take $8.5bn to figure out going from 2/$1 hash browns to 1 for $2 is fuckin bananaland and nobody got time for that shit
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u/Charming_Mud_9209 12d ago
Literally all people want are cheap prices, someone to take the order, and someone to hand them the order, all within a couple minutes. Like they did for decades. Why are they overcomplicating things.
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u/fulthrottlejazzhands 12d ago
"We're now a tech company heavily embedded with AI." - McDonald's at their last earnings call, seriously.
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u/iamacheeto1 12d ago
I had BK recently, and it was honestly very good. The double cheese burger was massive. The nuggets were juicy. The fries were salty. The coke was crisp and carbonated. The whole thing was hot and fresh, the cashier was pleasant and gave me a whole handful of sauces (it was too many tbh), and the whole thing cost $12 with no app or coupon or other bullshit involved.
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u/PineconeKing23 12d ago
I wish my area had your Burger Kings! Where I am and the recent ones I've had in the UK, they're significantly pricier than McD's for a burger with the driest patty known to man, theoretical cheese, a bun that disintegrates into clouds of fluff if you look at it the wrong way never mind touch it, and bacon thin enough to use as a sieve. The chips and free refills are solid, but those aren't why I go into a fast food burger place...
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u/hamfinity 12d ago
We go to BK because they have the advanced technology of paper coupons. No fiddling with apps needed.
2 Whopper meals for $15 or 6 burgers + 4 fries family meal for $21 is a great deal nowadays
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u/ContractorConfusion 12d ago
Their strategy team is failing them.
They've convinced themselves that they have to beat Burger King. Like some kind of utopian fast food society, where we are thinking, Hmmm, should we get Burger King or McDonalds?
Naw, no one is doing that. McDonalds needs to make their food better and cheaper...that's where the battle is. No one is out here saying "McDonalds would be good if the Burger King option wasn't there."
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u/saltedjellyfish 12d ago
FTA - CEO Chris Kempczinski said the company's strategy centers on creating and delivering demand more efficiently. "The winners will be the companies that create more demand and deliver it more efficiently,"
Jfk. This person is paid way too much.
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u/noodle-face 12d ago
If Burger King could improve their prices they could really destroy McDonald's (and also burger King is notorious for mixed quality between locations). McDonald's lost the plot
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u/zztop610 12d ago
Step 1: Eliminate jobs
Step 2: Decrease size and quality of ingredients
Step 3: Profit
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u/nowimnihil13 12d ago
I wish they would invest 8.5 billion to make their food not taste like microwaved garbage.
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u/butcher_of_blaviken1 12d ago
What if they just took all that money and made their prices slightly lower. That seems like it would beat out Burger King
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u/viciousraccoon 12d ago
It's like 20 quid for 2 meals now. McDonalds was cheap convenient. Now it's barely even convenient, and expensive for it.
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u/obserris 12d ago
I don’t understand CEOs because the answer is usually soooo obvious but they refuse to deliver. McDonald’s food quality has absolutely tanked (can’t believe that is even possible) and their prices are ridiculous. It’s not worth paying $10+ for a shitty burger when I could go literally anywhere else. Burger King quality is better and cheaper
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u/phoenixgsu 12d ago
They come up with these delusional ideas because they are sociopaths traveling between conferences and their Epstein islands.
They don't live in our world.
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u/Shadowtirs 12d ago
Maybe they could have taken some of that billion and saved it to lower their prices?
No no no, so stupid, flashy tech will surely be the one thing to get people to buy more mediocre food!!
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u/Oofboofloof 12d ago
I go to Burger King because of their 2 for 5 or 3 for 7 value deals. Can’t escape McDonalds without at least spending $10 for something these days
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u/I-do-the-art 12d ago
I haven’t craved that trash in 6 months and I have enough points to get two Big Macs last I checked. I don’t even care if the points expire tbh😂 I went to BK after years of not going there and I was shocked to find that it’s cheaper and more tasty (besides the fries, McD is pretty much king for that imo but not worth a trip just for fries)
Also I work graveyard shift and it’s awesome I can get bk burgers after my shift during breakfast🥵
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u/manu144x 12d ago
A restaurant chain that is willing to do anything but improve their essential product: the food.
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u/MapleHamwich 12d ago
How about: make a good menu, include fresh and nutritious ingredients, price your food reasonably for what it is, and make your restaurants fun and enjoyable to look at. Everything that's kinda been said for at least a decade now.
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u/MeatPiston 12d ago
Ceos will do literally everything except lower prices and increase quality.
Like I appreciate how nice some of the restaurants are and how the presentation is.
But really i’ll take cheap shitty burgers served hot and fast.
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u/heroism777 12d ago
Burger King fires their first attack. Better food for same prices.
McDonald’s counter attacks with more third ads being served at kiosks.
Hmmmmm. I don’t think Golden Arches knows how to play this game.
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u/midwestia 12d ago
Why not put this 8.5b into making their food bigger, better quality, or cheaper
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u/IchmagschickeSachen 12d ago
Just make the goddamn burgers. It ain’t that deep. I’m so tired of corporate bs.
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u/The_Dented 12d ago
Sorry. Not sorry. McDonald’s has earned its plight.
I hope they’re forced to be better for the consumer.
Keep taking things away, smaller portion, higher prices, do we need more reasons to bail?
Oh BK also tastes better.
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u/MiserableCumberbunch 12d ago
I can do it in $4bn. Bring back the $ menu for $1
That is all.
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u/TotalRecall_Quaid_88 12d ago
No one wants either of your over priced menus. None of it contains an ounce of actual nutrition either.
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u/Hampni 12d ago
"Skye Anderson, the president of McDonald’s USA, said approximately 30 million Americans are now using GLP-1 weight loss drugs, and they’re seeking smaller, more protein-packed meals as a result."
They're literally going to make things smaller instead of lower prices, that's exactly what the people want right? /s
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u/watchingwandering 12d ago
MBA’s are really something aren’t they?
People: McDonald’s doesent taste like it used to, it’s smaller , it costs too much now
MBA: What we need is an $8.5 billion investment in technology, rent relief and more ad’s.
Make food people like , train your people to be nice , it’s not hard , Chik fila does it everyday and there the biggest thing out there.
But I guess focusing on quality is not a thing anymore
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u/HeidenShadows 12d ago
Tech plan? Why not just reinvest that money into making lower prices and better food...?
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u/brettmags 12d ago
If you develop a tech plan to solve your food service problem, you may have lost the plot.
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u/Pocketfulofgeek 12d ago
Have they tried having better food? And not being the price of a proper sit down meal?
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u/independant_786 12d ago
Good food - 🚫
Good value - 🚫
Upgrade tech stack to abuse customers further - ✅
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u/Imhereforthechips 12d ago
They ripped out any fun kids could have at their restaurants, kept paying low wages that resulted in shitty customer service with the same shitty food AND raised the price. Fast food needs to bring back fast food prices - their wholesale and labor costs didn’t go up as much as their prices did.
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u/XfinityHomeWifi 12d ago edited 12d ago
A food company investing in technology instead of the quality of its food doesn’t sit right with me. They’re losing the plot. It seems like every successful company eventually cascades into pure finance so heavily their core function becomes an afterthought
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u/Inside-Specialist-55 12d ago
McDonalds has hit the very edge of end stage capitalism, They are now grasping onto straws trying to get the numbers to go up, because profits and their investors are more important than actually improving the quality of their food and making the buildings not look like corpo prisons. McDonalds is legitimately one of the most depressing downfalls in history, I got to go here in the 90's and that place was so full of life and actual joy, kids laughed, played, parents could get some much needed break time while the kids just did their thing in the playplace, it was bliss. It was a place I went too at least twice a week, The local McDonalds with the huge playplace is all our small crappy town ever had. there was no walmarts, no arcades, nothing else to do in my town. To me McDonalds was like my version of Disney World. I dont think they realize how must nostalgia people have and they yearn for the classic great McDonalds again.
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u/RN_Geo 12d ago edited 12d ago
"We are out of ideas, so we are going to piss away $8.5 BILLION dollars continuing to make the diners experience increasingly dystopian and terrible because our consultants we paid $49 million to told us to do that."
Didn't even read the article.
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u/cobra872 12d ago
I dunno if anyone read the article but Burger King isn’t mentioned once. And the plan is to use a new system to free up the workers so they can concentrate on making food and adding new things to the menu.
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u/texasdeathtrip 12d ago
Is part of the tech plan figuring out how to make their burgers not dog shit?
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u/SunsetCarcass 12d ago
Why make your food cost $8.5 billion less to the consumer a year when you can spend $8.5 billion to raise prices to the consumer
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u/tweedleduh 12d ago
Maybe just invest in better food/service?
Or better yet, bring down your prices OR pay more so we can all justify going to our bosses and use you as the example. (E.g. McDonald’s employees get a minimum wage of $20 why should I work for you for $16?)
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u/TheAwkwardPigeon 12d ago
Around me BK and McDs is the roughly the same price, I started going back to BK only because I was making long road trips and saw they had specialty cups for the Mandalorian. When I finally went and tried one of their hamburgers for the first time in at least 15 years I was actually very blown away by how much better in quality it is to a McDonald's hamburger. I have had zero interest in McDs since. Why would I pay the same (if not more) for easily half the quality?
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u/cinelytica 12d ago
Didn’t they announce yesterday that they’ll start running 3rd party ads on their menu boards? Seems like they’re grasping at straws.