Food Theory: Why Did McDonald's Get SO Expensive?

*Hate Paying HIGH Prices for Fast Food?*

Loyal Theorists, did you know that there was a McDonald's Big Mac priced at $18! Yes, $18! And we thought the $5 meal deal was a high price... But why has the franchise, who has always been seen as inexpensive, suddenly raised prices? Is it inflation? Or is there something deeper happening with their McNuggets, fries, and burgers?
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#McDonalds #FastFood #BigMac #Burger #Cheeseburger #Inflation #Theory #FoodTheory

[PaleGhost]

My mom always told me that we didn't have McDonald's money. Now, as an adult who's making twice what she was at the time, I still don't have McDonald's money.

[isaiahperez]

I go to a restaurant now instead of fast food places for the most part, the price is practically the same and the quality is a thousand times better

[lukario]

Something that boggled my mind is that here in Belgium, 4 chicken nuggets cost €2 (€0.50 per nugget), while 20 chicken nuggets cost €11.30 (€0.565 per nugget). I thought the whole point of the big box of nuggets would be to get a better deal than buying 5 separate boxes.

[elauktan]

So that they can cover the costs of fixing the ice cream machine.

[Initiallyleo]

My theory is that they raised the prices so much to force people to download the app for the offers and discounts

[theresaanndiaz]

For $18usd I can go to a regular sit down restaurant with a waitress. Though tipping is another cost.

[elfofcourage]

1984: Spend $5 like its $20
2024: Spend $20 like its $5

[justoniascool]

A lot of people I know have been learning to cook on their own because of the recent spike in price of fast food, they're all sabotaging themselves for short-term profit

[ErnestJay]

I can't believe I had to say this :

"We live in the time when McDonald is consider A LUXURY FOOD"

[rwwqlrz]

The dollar menu? More like the 17 dollar menu.

[nerdlingeeksly]

$18 for a McDonald's burger or 15.00 for some delicious lamb curry or beautiful tasty Ramen?
I'm gonna go with the Ramen and curry.

[bittermelonleaf]

I went to Switzerland in 2019. A Big Mac meal was about $27 USD. It's probably $32 or something now. I'm going back to Switzerland in a few days, so I'll report back how much it costs now.

[darrensmith]

In Australia we are complaining about a Big Mac meal costing $13 ($8usd) here. $18 USD is ridiculous especially considering how low the wages are in America

[YTInsertNameHere]

Him: How much does a Big Mac cost

Me : too much my man, too much.

[ydrib]

food theory whenever im on a diet: *allow us to introduce ourselves*

[Joeseph_Mamamoa]

If you look at commercials for McDonalds now, they're pushing heavy against shopping for groceries and makimg your own meal. Real noticeable shift

[TheoFizylkl]

I work at McDonald's and a big mac meal is like $13. Which is still crazy and infuriating when people say I make alot of money now. When you are paying that much for one person to eat, you are NOT making much money!!

[hallaloth]

This is why we do fast food maybe once or twice a month at maximum. For one, with home cooking (and decent restaurants in the same price range) it just doesn't taste as good. And for two. . . $18, I can make a full meal at home that will also include leftovers for at LEAST the next day, if not several more meals. That's with present cost of meat factored in. Buy meat in bulk when possible and portion it out. Yes, fresh veggies are little more expensive, but you don't usually need a full bag of carrots or potatoes for a single recipe either.

Learning how to cook and THEN learning how to buy FOR home cooking while yes, is a little time consuming, will save you money in the long run. Take the time to learn a few basic recipes (and then learning how to change them up) actually does make the cooking process faster. A LOT of dishes can be in the time it takes to cook rice in a rice cooker. . .and if you clean as you go. . .you're talking 15-20 minute meals. If you can't cut out that much time in your day. . .you may want to look at your priorities.

[sirpharsys]

It's way worse that here in Europe the "Big" Mac is getting smaller.
They even had the audacity to have a run of limited edition "classic" version of it that was actually the same size as in the 90s.

[emmabedlam]

I used to work at a Wendy's franchise location that was, according to my manager at the time, owned by Arby's. They basically owned every fast food joint in the county, but because all the locations had a different name over the door, they never had to worry about getting in trouble for having a total monopoly in the area, and could set prices to whatever they wanted- because if anyone wanted cheaper, there was really nowhere they could go.

So... yeah. It's not even just that the owner of one franchise might see another franchise raising their prices and raise theirs to match; it's that oftentimes every location in an area is owned by the same corporation, and they raise the prices to whatever they think they can get away with, because they know that we'd have to travel a long ways to reach one they don't own, and that we don't even have any way of telling, as customers, whether we've reached one that isn't owned by the same company.

Add to that the fact that a big part of the appeal of places like McDonalds has always been that they're one of the only ways poor folks, and homeless folks in particular, can get a hot meal, and... well... suffice it to say, a lot more people are gonna starve now, entirely because... we don't really have a lot of checks on corporate greed right now, and what checks we do have are so easily sidestepped.