McDonalds- no menu board. Use kiosk or app.

[pseudo3d]

The McDonald's menu is so bland these days. They haven't come out with anything really new in years. It is all the same menu as always, and yet people flock to the restaurant and the drive thru lines are long. Why innovate when people keep lining up for the same stuff?

It is frustrating. Half the menu was killed for COVID and never brought back, and they're stifling the franchisees, which once gave the chain unique locations and items.

Some of the franchisees have messed pricing up so bad I question if the brand is broken beyond repair in the US. Need a major corporate takeover of thousands of units to fix operations, fix pricing, and then refranchise stores with much tighter standards.

They need to check out McBroken and ID the "bad" franchisees that way.

I'm dead serious--the milkshake machine's current operations is an excellent indicator of the restaurant as a whole.

[ClownLoach]

It took me a while to realize the real reason behind this. By not posting the pricing at all, they are allowing for variable pricing on their app and for loyalty members. This is really not even new to McDonald's, for example there is always an offer for 99¢ hash browns each morning if you're a registered user in the app, but menu board price for one has become crazy, like $2.79. Basically the current McDonald's model already is charging the customer more if they aren't a registered user and don't order on the app. This just makes it less transparent so that the full price customer in restaurant who isn't tech savvy doesn't realize they're effectively being surcharged to order even at a kiosk, or at the register, if they're not a registered user.

They're not the only one doing this, I've mentioned before the price on the menu for a BK Whopper is an insane $8.09, but it's cheaper if you order on the app.

[storewanderer]

It took me a while to realize the real reason behind this. By not posting the pricing at all, they are allowing for variable pricing on their app and for loyalty members. This is really not even new to McDonald's, for example there is always an offer for 99¢ hash browns each morning if you're a registered user in the app, but menu board price for one has become crazy, like $2.79. Basically the current McDonald's model already is charging the customer more if they aren't a registered user and don't order on the app. This just makes it less transparent so that the full price customer in restaurant who isn't tech savvy doesn't realize they're effectively being surcharged to order even at a kiosk, or at the register, if they're not a registered user.

They're not the only one doing this, I've mentioned before the price on the menu for a BK Whopper is an insane $8.09, but it's cheaper if you order on the app.

But to get the 99 cent Hash Browns, you have to navigate to "Deals" then add that deal to your order. If you go to the app, navigate to breakfast sides, then Hash Browns, you get charged the 2.79 in the app too. If you go to the kiosk and just "enter app code" to earn rewards, you will pay 2.79. Those hash browns are sickening grease tasting- I do not remember them always being this bad. I cannot eat them. I tried in the airport twice last year and then once off airport, and won't do it again.

There is something with Burger King and the app/web pricing not being the same as in store in all cases. In my area the app has drink/fry prices about .20 more on the app than on the menu board.

Popeyes increased prices in my area last week- in store/menu board showed the new prices but the app was still charging the old prices. Today the app was updated and shows the new higher prices.

Boston Market also used to have higher app pricing than in-store pricing for years, despite that the app orders fed straight into their POS and printed out a receipt that looked just like you had paid/ordered in the store (same POS In N Out uses; KFC uses that POS too and its online orders come through a completely separate system). That changed in the months before they closed the local unit when they installed the PAR BRINK POS and prices in-store and on app were the same.

[BillyGr]

But to get the 99 cent Hash Browns, you have to navigate to "Deals" then add that deal to your order. If you go to the app, navigate to breakfast sides, then Hash Browns, you get charged the 2.79 in the app too. If you go to the kiosk and just "enter app code" to earn rewards, you will pay 2.79. Those hash browns are sickening grease tasting- I do not remember them always being this bad. I cannot eat them. I tried in the airport twice last year and then once off airport, and won't do it again.

Did you actually complete that order and pay the full price (or was the hash browns being sickening from another time)?

Only because (having used the kiosk setup), when they have something like the 2 for $3.50, if you choose those items separately (rather than going to the deals tab first), they will show up at the normal price, but then when you go to finalize the order (choose for to go or dine in and how to pay) it will pop up that you get the deal and the total will drop to reflect that.

I think it did the same with the Buy 1 Get 1 for $1 sandwiches as well, though that was only once, it may have just come up the correct price right away (as I was getting two of the same, thus picked the sandwich and entered quantity two).

Never tried it with the $5 meals, just went to the deals tab and that takes you through choosing all you need to (the burger or McChicken choice, the sauce for the nuggets and what type of drink, fries have no choice). So, I don't know if it would default to the $5 point if you entered all four items separately.

[mbz321]

They need to check out McBroken and ID the "bad" franchisees that way.

I'm dead serious--the milkshake machine's current operations is an excellent indicator of the restaurant as a whole.

To be fair, the ice cream machines McDonald's uses (Taylor) are horribly unreliable and require a painstaking cleaning process, so I don't necessarily fault the staff for turning off the machines early if that is the situation.

I worked in the Costco Food Court which uses the same machines (although apparently a new machine by a different manufacturer is finally being tested). The thing was always breaking down, overfreezing, not freezing enough, etc. Every night (Pennsylvania law mandated it at the time, other locations were on a 3x a week cleaning schedule) it, and the dozens and dozens of tiny components would have to be 'broken down' for cleaning. Reassembly was another tedious process. Replacement parts and service calls were $$$$.

[storewanderer]

They need to check out McBroken and ID the "bad" franchisees that way.

I'm dead serious--the milkshake machine's current operations is an excellent indicator of the restaurant as a whole.

To be fair, the ice cream machines McDonald's uses (Taylor) are horribly unreliable and require a painstaking cleaning process, so I don't necessarily fault the staff for turning off the machines early if that is the situation.

I worked in the Costco Food Court which uses the same machines (although apparently a new machine by a different manufacturer is finally being tested). The thing was always breaking down, overfreezing, not freezing enough, etc. Every night (Pennsylvania law mandated it at the time, other locations were on a 3x a week cleaning schedule) it, and the dozens and dozens of tiny components would have to be 'broken down' for cleaning. Reassembly was another tedious process. Replacement parts and service calls were $$$$.

This is exactly why Carls Jr. switched to those "hand scooped" shakes. The issues with maintaining the machines were so significant (and their units low enough volume) that they determined it made more economic sense to move to a more labor intensive "hand scooped" program.