Fast Food chains focusing on apps while menu prices skyrocket

[Super S]

A trend I am noticing in my area, is that various major chains are heavily pushing people to use apps for pretty much all specials, while the pricing of menu items continues to climb, in some cases, to a point where prices are more than an item is worth. Several are also discontinuing mailing coupons.

Not everybody wants to have apps for multiple chains on their phones, and it seems like these practices are turning off some customers. I don't see ridiculously long drive-thru lines as often these days. And I rarely see more than a few customers in dining rooms at any given time. I wonder if things have become even more complicated as some are pushing kiosk ordering.

It kinda reminds me of how some retailers are ignoring physical locations to focus on online ordering, but visiting a fast food establishment should not be complicated and expensive. Unfortunately, this is the direction many seem to be heading now.

[Alpha8472]

The lines at fast food drive thru lanes are much shorter these days. In the San Francisco Bay Area, I only get Wendy's, Jack In The Box, and Burger King coupons in the mail. The offers are not very good. The offers on the apps are not very good either.

Wendy's seems to have the most free food offers with a purchase on the app. Jack In The Box has either 1 offer or no offers on the app.

Burger King has some buy one get one deals on the app, but they seem to have an ongoing free fry on the app.

Mcdonald's has a small number of app deals, but the only interesting one is the free fry on Friday.

Wendy's has an app that often malfunctions and shows no offers. If I restart my phone, it usually fixes it. However, I am thinking that maybe Wendy's hopes that people have trouble on the app and just pay full price.

It is a lot of work to add offers on the app and make them work.

The worst app is Pieology, where you use a gift card and then later the app charges your credit card for the full amount. I lost 2 gift cards after the fact. I threw them away and then Pieology claimed it was a computer glitch. The app clearly showed that it accepted the gift cards for $50 and then it would charge my card for the remaining amount.

Pieology only responds by email and they eventually stopped trying to help me when I told them I didn't have the gift cards.

Now I keep photos of any gift cards that I use online in case a company decides to charge my credit cards for the full price and not accept gift cards after the fact.

[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.

[Super S]

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.

Where this gets interesting is when traveling and encountering different franchise operators, not to mention differences in wages etc. In the past year I have noticed big differences in other states.

[babs]

If restaurants are going to push the app so hard, they need a separate line for it. I shouldn't have to wait in the drive thru line behind everyone else. And most of the time, the designated pick up spots aren't much better since you are waiting for an employee to get free to deliver your order to your car. They need to close the loop and make experience better.

[storewanderer]

If restaurants are going to push the app so hard, they need a separate line for it. I shouldn't have to wait in the drive thru line behind everyone else. And most of the time, the designated pick up spots aren't much better since you are waiting for an employee to get free to deliver your order to your car. They need to close the loop and make experience better.

You can go inside to pick it up. I always go inside.

What I am running into lately is chains that installed self pick up racks, but are not using them. The other night I went to Raising Canes who has a self pick up rack and religiously uses it. Also if you order in their app it literally "cuts you in front of all the other orders" and you will get your order in like 2 minutes. Well this time 5 minutes passed and nothing showed up on the rack. Finally I went to the counter. My order was sitting there in a bag behind the counter. They said they aren't putting it on the rack anymore due to people stealing orders. They had no sign on the rack to indicate this.

I had a similar experience at a Chipotle in a bad neighborhood last year; that one is built with elaborate pick up shelves, very nice (like Panera) but they too don't use them and had no sign up indicating that they do not use them. It wasn't until I saw another pick up customer approach the counter and ask for their order, that I saw that is the process there.

Chickfila also took the pick up racks away due to food theft quite some time ago at one of the locations but that location does a good job having 2 employees dedicated to pick ups. But they **physically took the racks away**- they are gone- so you know to go ask for your order...

[pseudo3d]

If restaurants are going to push the app so hard, they need a separate line for it. I shouldn't have to wait in the drive thru line behind everyone else. And most of the time, the designated pick up spots aren't much better since you are waiting for an employee to get free to deliver your order to your car. They need to close the loop and make experience better.

You can go inside to pick it up. I always go inside.

What I am running into lately is chains that installed self pick up racks, but are not using them. The other night I went to Raising Canes who has a self pick up rack and religiously uses it. Also if you order in their app it literally "cuts you in front of all the other orders" and you will get your order in like 2 minutes. Well this time 5 minutes passed and nothing showed up on the rack. Finally I went to the counter. My order was sitting there in a bag behind the counter. They said they aren't putting it on the rack anymore due to people stealing orders. They had no sign on the rack to indicate this.

I had a similar experience at a Chipotle in a bad neighborhood last year; that one is built with elaborate pick up shelves, very nice (like Panera) but they too don't use them and had no sign up indicating that they do not use them. It wasn't until I saw another pick up customer approach the counter and ask for their order, that I saw that is the process there.

Chickfila also took the pick up racks away due to food theft quite some time ago at one of the locations but that location does a good job having 2 employees dedicated to pick ups. But they **physically took the racks away**- they are gone- so you know to go ask for your order...

Going inside usually gets the worst service. Not only is customer parking more and more restricted, but at Whataburger last time they didn't call my order until they got two other in-store customers queued up. This is a fast food chain that used to bring your food to the table with ketchup.

[Alpha8472]

This is why Taco Bell is building restaurants with multiple drive thru lanes. Some will be mobile order only lines for fast service.

Some restaurants have terrible parking, so I rarely go inside to pick up my mobile orders.

Taco Bell is the worst. They gave my order to another person with the same name yesterday. I had to wait while they remade the entire order. The other customer just took the extra food and didn't even say anything. It was obviously a huge order that he didn't pay for.

They just give orders out to anyone with the same first name.

[storewanderer]

Going inside usually gets the worst service. Not only is customer parking more and more restricted, but at Whataburger last time they didn't call my order until they got two other in-store customers queued up. This is a fast food chain that used to bring your food to the table with ketchup.

This really varies by chain but some chains yes I do feel going inside I am getting awful service and they do not want me or anyone else inside. I especially feel this way with some Wendy's units and some McDonalds units.

I had an opposite experience to you with Whataburger last year. I placed an order on the app for something they gave me a free offer for, before going inside, from the parking lot. That order consisted of a burger, fry, and shake. Then I wanted to order an additional Justaburger which is not available in the app and must be ordered at the counter. So I went in and said I was there for the mobile order, then also placed the additional order for the Justaburger and paid. I received the Justaburger within 2-3 minutes but then it was another 5+ minutes after that before the mobile order came out. Everything was hot and fresh. Since their shake is straight out of a soft serve machine that should not have been a hold up. Also they had no napkins available anywhere to freely take.

[Bagels]

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.