Fast Food chains focusing on apps while menu prices skyrocket

[storewanderer]

That BK did not accept coupons or app offers for most of last year. it’s also developed a habit of swelling its prices then brining them back down. For example, an 8pc nugget went from $1.99 to $3.49 overnight and dropped to $2.89 after a couple weeks.

I’m surprised they haven’t renovated the interior - probably one of the last early 1990s interiors still around. I’m also surprised it’s still in business. Beyond the lunch crowd, there’s rarely anyone there. It’s suppose to be open to 12AM but is frequently closed at 9PM for lack of business.

I encountered this with Firehouse Subs which uses the same RBI app as BK/Popeyes. The "Celebration Cookie" is 1.69 in store but on the app it was 1.09.

I have a lot of issues with the Popeyes app "sticking" discounts. I will go through with an order and it looks like a discount/offer applied but then it doesn't apply to the total (total is too high and doesn't match the prices on the items). I am very fortunate lately a Popeyes unit I go to, there are a few employees including the general manager who will just manually put the transaction through the register and get me the offers. Also if you save a credit card in the app, if you pay with that card at the cash register, it still gets you the loyalty points. They have some kind of a look up function on the register and can look up any app offer and apply it on their register. Sometimes it takes a minute or two for them to find the offer but they do. It is the SICOR POS register at this location.

[ClownLoach]

I've been talking about this for quite some time now. The situation is fluid but I have found locally both McDonald's and Burger King have lower prices on their apps versus in restaurant, and also offer massive discount deals not available without the app.

Basically these restaurants have decided that if you order at your own expense on your phone then you're going to pay less. If you order in person you will be paying for the privilege of being assisted.

When I used to live in Irvine there was a lousy Burger King a couple blocks away that I would go to as a last resort and they were charging $8.99 for a Whopper. No cheese. Not a combo. Just a plain Whopper like they would sell for 99¢ for many, many years. But if you ordered on the app there was a Whopper combo for around $6, a Whopper junior combo around $5. They regularly had 2 for $6 Whopper deals on the app as well. I felt sorry for anyone who didn't know that they charge double at the restaurant what they have on the app.

I think it's crap, and that is why I seldom go to any of these fast food burger places except for the model of price and consistency, In-N-Out.

That BK did not accept coupons or app offers for most of last year. it’s also developed a habit of swelling its prices then brining them back down. For example, an 8pc nugget went from $1.99 to $3.49 overnight and dropped to $2.89 after a couple weeks.

I’m surprised they haven’t renovated the interior - probably one of the last early 1990s interiors still around. I’m also surprised it’s still in business. Beyond the lunch crowd, there’s rarely anyone there. It’s suppose to be open to 12AM but is frequently closed at 9PM for lack of business.

If they're not honoring app offers that should be the last nail in its coffin. The last time I was there a couple of years ago I was starving while packing up my old apartment and ordered some kind of special double whopper they were offering at the time. If I hadn't ordered on the app I would have paid something preposterous like $15 for the order, which would have probably been enough for me to say forget about it and drive to In-N-Out. The BK seems to be there to pray upon those desperate for a fast food order as there isn't anything in the immediate area. They need a In-N-Out location closer to the Spectrum if they haven't built one already since I left...

[babs]

My issue is that app orders are often screwed up. And the restaurant staff is either unable or unwilling to fix it. I've challenged many app charges on my credit card successfully so at least we have that recourse.

[veteran+]

All this chatter begs the question:

Why do people still go to these fast food places?

[ClownLoach]

All this chatter begs the question:

Why do people still go to these fast food places?

They don't. They go to In-N-Out instead. Look at the lines there.

Have you seen the Chili's commercials? They say "have you seen the fast food prices? It's like they want you to eat at Chili's instead."

McDonald's is going to build 10,000 more restaurants. I was thinking they probably need to close 10,000 restaurants. There is a big gap there.

I understand In-N-Out isn't perfect, but they have been able to balance price, service, and quality when nobody else seems to be able to. Their prices have increased maybe 30% in the same time span when other fast food has increased 300% (and quality severely declined, while In-N-Out is the exact same).

[veteran+]

All this chatter begs the question:

Why do people still go to these fast food places?

They don't. They go to In-N-Out instead. Look at the lines there.

Have you seen the Chili's commercials? They say "have you seen the fast food prices? It's like they want you to eat at Chili's instead."

McDonald's is going to build 10,000 more restaurants. I was thinking they probably need to close 10,000 restaurants. There is a big gap there.

I understand In-N-Out isn't perfect, but they have been able to balance price, service, and quality when nobody else seems to be able to. Their prices have increased maybe 30% in the same time span when other fast food has increased 300% (and quality severely declined, while In-N-Out is the exact same).

I guess that is correct and if one does not mind the circus environment while eating food at I&O, I guess all is well.

[pseudo3d]

All this chatter begs the question:

Why do people still go to these fast food places?

They don't. They go to In-N-Out instead. Look at the lines there.

Have you seen the Chili's commercials? They say "have you seen the fast food prices? It's like they want you to eat at Chili's instead."

McDonald's is going to build 10,000 more restaurants. I was thinking they probably need to close 10,000 restaurants. There is a big gap there.

I understand In-N-Out isn't perfect, but they have been able to balance price, service, and quality when nobody else seems to be able to. Their prices have increased maybe 30% in the same time span when other fast food has increased 300% (and quality severely declined, while In-N-Out is the exact same).

10,000 restaurants worldwide...but even then that's a big goal. I'm sure CosMc's will be a big part of that, but with one prototype and about half a dozen on the drawing board in Texas, who knows if that's a long-term winner. McDonald's has unfortunately NEVER been good with other concepts outside of its core restaurant group...and with their straying away from the in-fill areas they once desired (office buildings, malls, stores, etc.), the large metropolitan areas already saturated, that seems like a big goal, even accounting for domestic growth. I wouldn't be surprised if they quietly buy back Vkusno i tochka (the Russian stores that they sold off in early 2022 as a response to the war in Ukraine).

[SamSpade]

All this chatter begs the question:

Why do people still go to these fast food places?

They don't. They go to In-N-Out instead. Look at the lines there.

Have you seen the Chili's commercials? They say "have you seen the fast food prices? It's like they want you to eat at Chili's instead."
. . .

I understand In-N-Out isn't perfect, but they have been able to balance price, service, and quality when nobody else seems to be able to. Their prices have increased maybe 30% in the same time span when other fast food has increased 300% (and quality severely declined, while In-N-Out is the exact same).

I guess that is correct and if one does not mind the circus environment while eating food at I&O, I guess all is well.

When the weather is right, the outdoor seating at most In-n-Out locations is pretty relaxed and easy going. If you're in an established market (not somewhere like Keizer, Oregon or the LINQ Las Vegas) it's not always a "mad house."

[veteran+]

That's not what I have witnessed in Denver or Los Angeles and San Diego.

Great weather with outdoor seating still has that commotion factor. Just too much for me though I know that most really like it. Feels rushed and noisy and not what I want when eating. Not into diners with loud music and screaming orders to the kitchen either. All that for food that is really not that healthful.

I'm weird

[ClownLoach]

That's not what I have witnessed in Denver or Los Angeles and San Diego.

Great weather with outdoor seating still has that commotion factor. Just too much for me though I know that most really like it. Feels rushed and noisy and not what I want when eating. Not into diners with loud music and screaming orders to the kitchen either. All that for food that is really not that healthful.

I'm weird

Well, In-N-Out is doing so well that they're starting to build restaurants practically across the freeway from each other like Starbucks. That will relax the noise factor. And In-N-Out does not play any music.