Sadly, the idea of fast food restaurants is quickly fading (or failing) across America. The ability to walk into a restaurant, order from an affordable menu, and get your food within minutes has become a broken system that isn’t as self-sustainable as it used to be. In some cases, it is far from it. This is leading to a potential collapse of multiple fast-food brands as they pull from certain cities or simply go under.
Everything from poor customer service to trying too hard to satisfy shareholders or greedy owners has led to this. Then there is the push for higher wages in these jobs because people seem to have forgotten that these positions aren’t meant to be a “career” (unless you go into higher management, such as GM or regional). These jobs are supposed to be a stepping stone for those looking to simply gain work experience. Usually, these positions are filled by students who stick around for 6mo to a year before they move on to something more challenging to begin what will eventually become their actual career.
The push for higher wages is pushing these companies out of locations like California because they can’t afford to pay their workers so much, while also being bombarded by the expenses related to operating in overly expensive states. It gets in the way of a company’s ability to sustain happiness with its shareholders and it no longer wants to stick around.
Meanwhile, cities where they do attempt to stay, prices rise to the point that nobody wants to eat there anymore. Getting to the point that normal restaurants become more appealing as they are either the same price or more affordable. I recently covered the fact that breakfast costs have grown out of control. I detailed a trip to “Farmer Boys” for a simple breakfast and soda, which cost more than $20. I can get the same amount of food from a normal restaurant for around the same or even less.
So a recent trip to Carl’s Jr. yielded the same result. I hadn’t eaten there in awhile because they have always been a little expensive compared what they are worth. But I was in the mood for something different, so I figured I’d give it a try. However, I find that the prices have gone up even more, but not just by a little. I bought into a combo as-is (no “up-size” or any other upgrades involved) and the total bill came up to $17 even. For a burger combo at a fast-food restaurant? My pride wouldn’t let me do it, so I left and went across the street to Denny’s. I got a delicious non-fast-food burger and fries for $8.99.
It’s bad enough that the prices have gotten so bad. But everything else about fast food hasn’t changed for the better to make any of it worth it either. Like the whole “this doesn’t look anything like the picture” issue. The above image is a perfect example. You get a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwich from Burger King and the image they show you makes it look chock-full of ingredients. A nice layer of thick egg, crispy bacon pieces, and cheese. Instead, you get a tiny little biscuit that is smaller than the ones you buy in-store, with barely any egg, barely any bacon, and some cheese. You can see another view of it in the header image at the top as well.
It’s all about how little they can give you for as much as they can charge you for. Mixed with charging you even more so they can excite their shareholders more and more each year. Then charging you more since everyone wants to be paid as though flipping burgers is some kind of fancy life-long career. Where it eventually gets to the point that places like Denny’s, Black Bear Diner, Applebees, Chilis, and many other names, are more worth the cash being spent on things. You spend as much or less for more, better quality, and usually much better service. If you can’t spend the extra time to sit down and be waited on, most of these restaurants have an app where you can order ahead and pick it up and run just like you would fast-food. So why torture your body with fast-food and your wallet with higher prices without reward?
This seems to be the end of fast food as brands slowly die out, move away, and customers find new and better places to spend their money.
