They called an "emergency meeting" this week to solve the mystery
1y 9mon ago by lemmy.world/u/The_Picard_Maneuver in memes
Saw an article recently, can't remember where, that basically said that the sole reason fast food was doing so poorly was pricing. That McDonald's was charging Texas Roadhouse prices, so people were choosing to skip McDonald's and go to Texas Roadhouse.
I believe it. The whole appeal of fast food is that it's fast and cheap.
As a european, fast food is just like a category of food, and more of an occasional treat for me. Normally, I just eat my own homemade food, which is even cheaper. So I guess I see it a little differently, and fast food is allowed to be not cheap if it's "good".
Hell yeah, gimme that cancer patty and those artery clogging fries, baby! But make the obesity water size "for kids".
"Fast and cheap" as in cheaper than buying precooked food somewhere else. Of course stuff you make at home will be cheaper.
The thing is that at least in my corner of Europe, fast food costs about the same as a filling meal in a sit down restaurant that doesn't deep fry or microwave everything.
There is an exception but they only have 3 locations in one single town. They've barely raised their prices in the last decade, they're actually pretty fast, and there's nearly always a bunch of people queued up.
EUn ‘n’ Out?
True, McDonald's is so expensive now that for 15€ I can go to Mc or I can go to a bib Gourmand restaurant for lunch (dinner is more expensive)
Was not my experience in the US. $1 fast food meals were a thing in 2016. A disgusting one.
For many Americans it's just lunch. If McD's costs $5 they're buying. If it costs $15 they're packing.
Unless you get the promoted deals it's starting to be like that everywhere. Near me if im getting two burgers and two fries, I spend less at five guys than I do at burger king. Why would I ever go to BK?
Even FG is unreasonable.
My wife and 6YO kid went to FG last week and spent $27 on a meal for two and they split the fries.
A few ounces of meat, 50 cents of soda, a couple potatoes and an arguably 2 nice quality rolls. That meal cost them $5. Even with inflated labor it should be more like $15.
Five guys has been expensive for a long time. The rest just caught up more recently.
I would kill for an in-and-out burger on the East Coast. You can get a burger, fries, and drink for less than an Five Guys cheeseburger.
Five Guys at least has better food than most fast food and the portions are so massive you basically have to share
Five guys is at the very bottom of my "list of things that are so needlessly expensive that now I actively hate".
Cause they're so fucking good, and they use better stuff than most.
The moment that changes... will be the day I either go no-beef, or start rioting.
They’ve barely raised their prices in the last decade, they’re actually pretty fast, and there’s nearly always a bunch of people queued up.
Depends on the location too. For my location everything on the menu is $2 more than it is in the nearby, similarly-sized city. And there's a high quality Wendy's right next door.
I'll take good Wendy's at half the price of Five Guys.
Of course everyone is doing tiered pricing. You either use their apps or pay double. I think half of it is to get the app on your phone, and the other half is simply to make you jump through hoops for lower pricing. They all want to charge obscene prices, and then if you object, give you an option other than not going there. "Just install our app" could just as easily be "pat your head while standing on one leg and rubbing your stomach, and we'll give you 40% off."
I'm sorry, but fuck Wendy's. Yes, capitalism is in decline around us all, but fuck Wendy's for deciding they're gonna be the first in fast food to push that envelope to full-blown-shit mode. And their burgers are just eh.
(Hey, pssst... so, quoting etiquette typically means you're not using the quoting carrot on something not in the the comment you are replying to without noting it in the comment somehow. I was staring very confused at my replies inbox for, like, 4-5 read throughs of your reply, because its an opinion I could have typed, and couldn't remember at all lol. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️)
Pretty sure it was around after Dave Thomas passed that the quality took a dive at many franchise locations, similar poor business decisions looking for short term profits over long term customers affecting many businesses these days.
The data is delicious for ‘em. Assists in world domination plans. Not really but they’ll eventually fine tune who gets deals real good IMO.
Connect to LinkedIn to see pricing
Income based fast food prices
Culver's destroys fg for quality and price
Sometimes I go there just for an order of fries because they're just that good. I can't bring myself to pay $14 for a burger though.
Five guys has been bad for a while. Super expensive for a really greasy burger. I had to stop eating there several years ago.
The recent Disney lawsuit reminded me of this. In order to get those deals, McDonald's makes you use their app, and part of signing up for the app is agreeing to their ToS which has an arbitration clause
Selling your rights to Disney so you can get a cheaper burger is a uniquely American flavor of dystopia
Yeah but there’s no way a judge will follow that reasoning. The response to the arbitration argument was that the argument was “unconscionable” and “no reasonable person” would think signing up for Disney Plus means they can’t file a wrongful death suit for a restaurant that has nothing to do with Disney Plus.
Also the lawyer who made the arbitration argument just got his client so much bad PR that i’m sure Disney Plus will take a hit over it.
I was with you until
Disney Plus will take a hit over it.
The average consumer is just so damn apathetic that nothing will happen
That happens when you just think of a bigger number and forget the customer somewhere down the line.
Also publicly traded companies and shareholder value. Everything could be much cheaper if not for shareholders draining every penny from companies. Edit: and CEOs/ managers of course.
This is exactly what subway is doing.
"A regular deli charges $16 for a sub/hero/grinder/hoagie/pickafuckingnameforalongsandwitch so we're charging $14! It's less they'll still come the econ 101 book says they will! I'll take my multimillion dollar bonus now tyvm."
Yeah, but a regular deli makes a decent fucking sandwich and isn’t using the cheapest institutional ingredients imaginable.
Except a regular deli actually puts meat on their subs instead of lightly rubbing the sub with a piece of turkey then filling it with lettuce.
found this, they all outpace the inflation rate so it's just greed as always.
It's sad that Taco Bell thinks it is gourmet Mexican Food now. Any local taco shop with Mexicans working in the kitchens will give you huge burritos for cheap. Without adding tofu to the ground beef.
I very rarely eat out but if I am going to end up blowing on 30 on two meals I may as well blow 45 on a local spot with a seat and a hefty tip to the waiter.
and a hefty tip to the waiter.
And I detest tipping culture, though I of course don't fault the wait staff. I'd rather go to a local joint that pays its people appropriately...which are hard to find, admittedly.
There are a couple floating around out there, CNN/investopedia/Eat This Not That. The most scathing one I saw was from CNN, oddly enough: https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/business/consumer-spending-travel-value-nightcap
Might as well, I've only eaten at two Roadhouses, but they were damn good for a chain steakhouse
I just stopped eating fast food altogether and started using our company cafe, prices at the drive-thru got absolutely ridiculous and the service got worse. I just eat a small salad and a drink, still costs around $6–7/day, but it's way better than fast food prices. I could probably get it down cheaper if I prepped at home, but fruit and vegetables go bad so frequently and our cafe's rates are ok-ish, so I just make due with that.
prices at the drive-thru got absolutely ridiculous and the service got worse
And in the case of McDonald's, the burgers and fries both taste like compressed napkins now. Idk WTF they've done to their burgers, but that's not beef.
They added some food-grade sawdust filler and cut out the majority of beef with their latest round of shrinkflation. Their regular patties are so small and thin that they're impossible to stay moist in th burger. There's no more fat left.
I haven't even considered McDonald's because their pricing skyrocketed post pandemic when inflation was high. They saw other businesses justifying large price increases by blaming inflation and the idiot consumers accepting the lie, and just ignored the niche their product is in, cheap shit.
Before the pandemic to be able to get a McDouble, Spicy McChicken and Fries for $4 with tax. Granted, the fries were only $1 with a digital coupon, but that coupon was always there. It was like the 2 tacos for 99¢ deal at Jack in the Box, you just gotta use the app.
Now that same group of food is $9 and the coupons available are dogshit. 15% off my $10 meal is not a good deal when sales tax is $12%. I'm not really saving much compared to things like BOGO offers and $1 items like it used to be constantly.
they brought the quality down to match the 5$... did they bring it back up to be worth 14?! i kinda doubt it
Not only that, they lowered the quality at the same time. I remember when a subway sandwich was still kinda gross, but at least it was filling and you could have a decently healthy calorie dollar if you ordered right. Now, half the weight of your sandwich is in that super sweetened bread and the meat portions are tiny
super sweetened bread
Fun fact: it's so sweetened that the Supreme Court of Ireland (SCOI is a fun acronym) reclassified it as cake.
Also, Subway chicken is only 50% chicken.
To find out what the other 50% is, listen to the latest episode of my podcast Subway Exposure!
Just kidding, I don't have a podcast. It's soybeans.
It’s soybeans.
If that's true I really wish they'd just start offering a tofu option at Subway so I don't just have to get vegetables in bread lol
Was it Taco Bell people were complaining that the meat filling isn’t ground all ground beef? I was like sweet I’d rather it be seasoned veggie delight anyway. Meat quality is not the draw of Taco Bell.
Yea. Taco Bell Seasoned meat has been a seasoned freeze-dried tofu and beef blend for decades now.
Taco Bell claims 88% beef with water and seasoning composing the rest.
All I know is they probably add a lot of textured vegetable protein to the mix to save money, since it comes in bags and isn't made in-store.
I don't trust their labels all too much because it's all too even to be natural.
Probably them too but my memory is that Jack in the box tacos were soy, not sure if that’s true, but it sounded right for the two tacos / $1 back in the day.
They used to have a veggie patty. It was so bad, I regretted not just getting vegetables in bread.
Lol. Yeah some veggie patties can be horrendous. Like some of the ones from Aldi.
the tuna was also found to not be tuna.
That was just a rumor. Not that it isnt disgusting. I used to like it until i got a double meat version ans wondered wtf this pasty garbage was in my mouth. Disgusting!
They ruled that, for tax purposes, it counts as a confectionary because of the high sugar content. They did not rule that it is literally cake.
But what is cake if not bread plus sugar? 🤔
To me, it's mainly gluten content. Cake is fluffy while bread is more chewy. You can have sweet breads and savoury breads. I imagine you can have savoury cakes too, but I've never had so I don't know how good that would be.
I really don’t like subway, but they do have new chicken. Their old stuff was clearly not chicken. Their new stuff actually looks like chicken so I’m pretty sure the figure you are quoting is their old shit chicken
All of the above is concerning.
Subway Exposure
I'm hoping that's a different entity than the Subway Exposer
I WAS going for that double entendre in order to make my imaginary podcast as badly named as possible, yes 😁
Last time ive seen a subway sandwich that wasn't gross looking was in the 90s
I don’t get it anymore because I can make it way cheaper and better at home, but a flatbread turkey and pepperjack sammich with olives, cucumbers, spinach, onions, peppers, and their chipotle sauce is actually pretty dope looking. And it tastes wonderful. But not for 15USD.
I've been to Subway twice in the last twenty years. Both times the shop was understaffed and it took more than half an hour to get our meals, and they weren't even good compared to other sub chains that cost less, let alone the local non-franchise sub shops.
The last attempt was a few years before COVID. I can't imagine how bad it is now.
My wife and I walked into a Subway recently to use the restrooms. Not an employee in sight. Did our business and walked out without seeing a single person. I would have thought they were closed had the lights not been on and the door unlocked. Don’t know how they stay in business.
I ordered a flatbread sandwich recently and the bread was extremely crusty and smelled old and bad. Subway is 100% in the gutter right now
I used to get a roasted chicken breast sub from Subway every day. The chicken slab was pre-cooked and literally sitting in a bucket of warm water, from which they would pull it and microwave it for a few seconds. How in the living fuck did I ever think it was OK for chicken to be sitting in a bucket of warm water all day?
This was around the time they stopped baking their own rolls in-store every day, and somehow I was also OK with the stale rolls that replaced it. I guess I was distracted by their pedophile spokesman.
The best local sandwich shop in my town sells really good ones for $8-11. If Subway were still $5 they might be competitive. At $14 it sounds like the company no longer understands its product.
The best sandwich shop in my town is the deli at the grocery store. They are less concerned about skimping on ingredients because it's more important to entice you in and get you spending money in the aisles.
For $8 or $9 they will stuff a footlong sub so full they can barely fold it over. And it's generally fresher ingredients than you'd find in a Subway
Publix?
Harris Teeter where I live. We do have Publix locations around now though. I still need to check them out and see if they live up to the hype.
HARRIS TEETER GANG HARRIS TEETER GANG Better than Publix, Harris Teeter gang for life. When Sheron is on shift you know you're in for a delicious fully loaded sub
Nah don't let Publix consume your town.
Trust me it's not as good as wanting that monopoly.
There’s a Jewish deli near me that gives me a full meal for ~15USD and the sandwich they give you is PACKED with meat and incredible bread. It’s glorious. There’s no chance I’d go to Subway over that.
Local options are always better. The Mexican joint sells you a massive breakfast burrito for $6. Nepalese takeout will feed you for days for $16. Hot dog truck will fill you up with delicious processed meat for $4.
Subway? Subpar lunch made out of cardboard and ground up yoga mats for almost $20.
Also, subways business model is predatory to their franchisees and employees.
Fast food is losing the plot. If it isn't cheap, then there is really no point.
Why is it that fast food thinks it can charge for sit-down restaurant prices nowadays?
Cool, I don't have one of those. I have subway, mcdonalds, burger king, and a bunch of local restaurants that charge just as much for food because they can.
At least your rent is cheap compared to actual cities worth living in.
A lot of smaller places only have like two options for going out to eat and one is a subway attached to a gas station
Food deserts are real, and they show you real fast how exploitable you can be.
Food deserts are real, and they show how onerous overregulation is.
All of the identical “I live in a food desert” comments here should be opportunities for entrepreneurship, but the costs of legally operating a food business are too damned high.
I don't think that's regulation bud that's monopolies
How is a monopoly gonna make it more expensive to start a business? That doesn’t make any sense?
Agreed! The Person you Responded to is NONSENSE. It's ABSURD that the ONE Company that owns everything you need to get Started would make it Expensive for you to Start!
Oh you’re talking about an upstream monopoly.
Is there a monopoly in food prep equipment?
You are right to a degree.
I actually think it's insane that to get started with a business these days you have to jump through so many hoops you need your own legal department or to do it illegally and hope the slap on the wrist is gentle.
Its in line with the monopolies using regulation and the idea that society will just be better with the restrictions to protect everyone that misses the point.
Advanced food storage and practices and tools will do a lot of making things better and OSHA should absolutely exist and be staffed but walls need to be shorter to inspire new entries into the marketplace without them being rich enough to jump it but without inspiration or hope to be competitive. Its why post war rebuilda are so popular for startups in the worst way.
But food deserts won't just be fixed by a new sandwich shop if there still isn't cheap ingredients.
Popeyes and Taco John’s at the Love’s.
Well, good for you. The town I live in has a Sonic, a McDonald's, a Mazzio's pizza, two local Tex Mex restaurants, and... a Subway.
Only works when you have local joints. That being said, I'm from Jersey, and I think we kinda pride ourselves on all things bread: pizza, bagels, and sandwiches. So when I hear motherfuckers getting Dunkin Donuts in the morning, Subway for lunch, and Dominos for dinner, it disturbs me.
Now, is there a time for Dominos? Absolutely. Is there a time for Subway? I guess you can be drunk on the afternoon, sure.
From jersey too and it blows my mind how anyone around here will choose to go to jersey Mike's or subway over their local deli
We don't have a local deli here in small town mid America unless you count the deli counter at the supermarket.
Honestly, I think grocery store subs are really the best bang for your buck. Makes sense, they want to get you in the door and buy groceries there.
I'll actually use ShopRite in a pinch. I just know they're slicing up fresh ingredients there. Anywhere that opens up a container and pulls out meat is a no go for me. But we are spoiled here in the greatest goddamn state on the world, our taxes getting us fresh meats and soft breads with flaky crusts, and a peach iced tea.
Not sure if this is a local thing or not, but Dominoes has been consistently giving me a free medium pizza coupon after every pizza I've got from them for the last 12 months or so. So that's like 3 or 4 times they've done that
Sometimes I pronounced Dominos Doe-ME-Noes, to make it sound Italian.
Milk tea where I am is 6 usd by itself (not incl tax)
Please bring me back to the 3 dollar milk tea timeline
I can get an entree and a Thai tea for under $10 as a lunch special at a small restaurant within walking distance. I live in the second largest city in my state which happens to be one giant sprawling suburb.
And if you don't have any local places nearby you can either break yourself financially by moving somewhere else or just go fuck yourself. I never realized how much shit was jacked up in the small country town I lived in until I moved somewhere with a ton of competition. Suddenly the prices were way better, it was surreal. Food was cheaper and tastes better. Hell my Internet was twice as fast for half the price!
My apartment, however, is twice the price for a third of the space.
It still took me a decade before I could move without fucking myself.
This comment was written in the early wee hours of the AM and I'm not entirely sure what I'm rambling about.
Nah I get it. Competition for our dollars creates a marketplace that's actually thriving and competitive costs.
Its actually why I shop in rich neighborhoods. Seriously the prices are never better.
But housing isn't a competitive marketplace it's still mostly owned by a few rich who all agree to raise their price lest they lose out.
Sigh.... This backwards shit hole.
Yeah but why would you want real meat? That's gross.
That and they fucked up the menu so they’re pushing premade sandwiches over the “build your own” model they’ve had for years. I used to go to subway because I knew exactly what I wanted and asked for it, now their menu is unrecognizable.
Which is hilarious, because its not as if they pay enough people to be on shift at the same time so that they could make their menu items efficiently. The last 2 dozen times I've had to pick up someone's order from one of 5 or so local Subway's, they have had 1 single person running the entire joint. I've made it a point to ask every time I go:
- -how many people are supposed to be working today?
1, and about half of them opened alone, and all were closing alone! (Even young women!!!!!)
- -Is it always this busy? (Every time its a 12-30min wait for them to even begin the order)
Always gets met with some form of "Yes, or even busier, with the occasional half hour where nobody comes in"
- -Are you the manager?
Nope.
Its at that point I tell them to take all the time they need. And that they are dramatically underpaid and should riot.....
So not defending them, but the franchise owners were royally fucked by subway corporate. Lead on with a cheap buy in, be your own boss, make money, etc. subway takes advantage of it's franchises more than almost anyone else around. Things like requiring all food comes from corporate, no changes, even allowing rivaling franchises to open up next to you.
John Oliver does a good bit on it https://youtu.be/jDdYFhzVCDM?si=AMkHeXR5yIpZCu3l
Sounds a lot like the management fuckery that caused Quiznos to collapse
I know, I saw it, and I don't envy franchisers who've fallen victim to it. But passing along the fuckery to an employee is so. not. ok.
At this point better to disregard the menu and just start ordering, but only if you're ok with those prices.
Most fast food places I go I'm able to "just order" without a menu. They haven't changed their core items in decades - I don't know why people treat menus as if something special is on it. Even people who rarely go - guess what McDonald's the Burger Joint still got "cheeseburger no onions" and Popeyes The Chicken Place still has popcorn Chicken (extra breading hold the chicken)
Plus they keep the staffing low as hell and pay dogshit, so if there's 4 people in line it means you have two employees (if one didn't call in sick that day) that look like meth addicts doing what most would consider an extremely mind-numbing job for low pay and you'll be in line for 25 minutes waiting to get your sandwiches.
I went to a BBQ joint here in Texas a week ago. Got 3/4 lb of brisket and some potato salad for the missus and me.
To my surprise... It costed the same thing as 2 menu items at McDonald's. Like seriously?....
What's the point of going to subway and McDonald's if I can just get some BBQ at a restaurant.
(Didn't name the restaurant since I'm concerned this will make them realize they can charge more)
IMO, no sandwich on Earth is worth $14. Especially not one from SooubWay.
I disagree, there's a sub place near me with a 16" sandwich with like 5 meats, 3 cheeses, and lots of toppings that costs about $14. The heft is noticable, even when I'm hungry I can only eat about half.
There are some high quality places out there, Subway has always been the McDs of subs. I feel they started to go downhill when they stopped cutting the v notch in the bread to stuff it full and just went with boring halves.
I will say to those thinking $5 should remain the price - we were okay with $5 subs a decade or more ago, but now asking more is too much? Inflation is a thing. $5 purchasing power in 1990 is now $12 in 2024. The argument shouldn't be about the price increase, as it should have crept up this whole time. But the quality should have at least remained the same, and the workers fairly paid. The price of the sub is the least of the problems.
But the price increase kinda is a symptom of the underlying issue. For reference, the reason that subway subs were $5 for a long time was that the company was trying an advertising campaign to grow the brand, which it did amazingly well (honestly, far too well). However, those were not sold at a sustainable price, but whenever the company tried to raise the price it was perceived very poorly by the market. So they kept the price low for a long time, and eventually had to raise it but due to inflation (and decreasing the sub size to compensate for the low price before that), but the price increase was pretty drastic to most of the customers who often stopped going there.
In other words, the company kept the price down artificially to keep their stock price high, and foisted a lot of the actual costs onto the franchisees, of which they had tons. Which is obviously not a sustainable business model, and it's why less people go to subway anymore.
They also allowed overcrowding. You could basically put a Subway right next to another Subway if you wanted. 3-4 in a single neighborhood. Corporate does not care if the franchisees make any money.
A footlong NY Italian at my local sub shop with like 4 kinds of meat and a ton of veggies on it costs $9. It's better than subway in literally every way. The people who work there are chill and seem to like it too
Oh man, you've never had a good Rueben then. Good corned beef, a pile of kraut, swiss, fresh rye bread (or sourdough), and that thousand island and/or spicy mustard. Grilled up and served with a pickle spear and some fresh chips.
Making one is not cheap, though not a lot more than your typical burger. But, a 14 usd price is reasonable when you factor in labor. I've paid more than that for a truly great Rueben where the corned beef was made in house, and the bread came from an attached bakery. Completely, totally worth twenty bucks.
Our closest deli that's like the kind of deli in bigger cities charges 15 and some change for their Rueben that comes with a pickle, potato chips, and a drink. I ain't mad at that price even though it makes it a rare treat.
Which, I get you, you led off with IMO which means you're speaking only for yourself, so I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, or trying to change your opinion! Just giving my opinion on the matter of expensive sandwiches for my own tastes.
I had an amazing buffalo chicken sub from a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in NYC that cost $16, and it was worth every penny. It was like 2 pounds of food, and they cut the chicken and grilled it right there in front of me. But that place and Subway aren't even on the same planet as quality goes.
I'm willing to pay a decent amount for Schlotzkys tbh. But they'd have to exist in my area first.
I can either: A. Drive to fuckin' Toledo Or B. Drive to Kentucky.
If I could have the best burger I've ever had right in front of me right now, I'd pay ~$25 for it. The cost we pay for top-notch sandwiches is typically a search cost.
That's a common price for any entree at most restaurants in my state. Indian, Thai, American (burgers), Italian, etc. Fast casual and casual dining all have many items in that price range. Most want tips on top as well. There are many sandwiches I'm willing to spend $15 or more on.
Says someone who's never had a shooter sandwich.
THEY WHAT?
I don't even eat at Subway, but nearly tripling the price in one go? My gawd.
It hasn’t actually been $5 in a long time. It was like $7 last time I went (a few years ago).
I go to Subway with an upsetting degree of regularity, but it's the only place where I can get fresh vegetables as part of my meal in under 30 minutes. The cheapest footlong on the menu is the Spicy Italian (or whatrver their latest menu refresh is calling it) for $10.99. Any other sub is $11.99 and up.
Lmao I unknowingly liked their cheapest sandwich best
Five years ago I could get a foot long spicy italian combo with chips and a drink for less than $10.
You can get more reasonable prices per sandwich with coupon codes. For the ones near me, they almost always have a "FLBOGO" or "BOGOFTL" or "FTL1299" or similar variation to get two for the price of one. But YMMV and you have to be ok with leftovers if you're eating alone.
You also have to order from the app to use these.
about 10 years ago subway replaced the ice cream shop at the local amusement park. the prices they had there were insane, and they didnt even have all the regular menu options. 20 something dollars for HALF a footlong. what a joke
No, it's been incremental for a while now.
That, and slapping a fixed price on a staple product the business sells. Even with normal two percent inflation eventually there's going to be disappointment when the price has to be raised.
59, 79, 99!
No gimmicks!
No tricks!
You don’t pay till 1996!
I miss that taco bell menu
It was McDonalds wasn’t it?
I'm not sure if McD's did it (we didn't have one in town when I was a kid) but taco bell lists it we a promo they launched in 1990.
https://www.tacobell.com/history
Talk about seeing my own mortality slip away before my very eyes. Ha!
“Guys this is really gonna bite us in the ass in thirty years”
Do these companies not realize their whole business model is cheap food for broke people? I lived off of $5 footlongs when I was a student. There's no way I could have afforded that with the prices they're charging now. And now that I do have disposable income and could afford their food I wouldn't go there anyway because there are way better options for the same price.
Taco Bell used to be a goto, then they tried to get too creative and half their stuff became a sloppy greasy mess. Now you can't go and simply get 3 soft tacos and a drink for under $10 and they seem to change the menu every other week.
BRING BACK THE 2 MENUS AT THE DRIVE THRU SO I CAN DECIDE ON MY ORDER WHILE THE DOLT IN THE MINIVAN IN FRONT OF ME IS ORDERING FOR 12 PEOPLE!
I really really want to be on your side, Taco bell has gone crazy on the prices and I hate it.
But, on the other hand, it sounds like you haven't even had the crispy cantina taco meal and that's not a life I'd wish on anybody.
Start looking at the … “Welcome to Taco Bell will you be using the app?”
And holy hell is their app a piece of shit.
Yep. Tried to add points with my receipt the other day, and it refused to access the camera to scan the barcode, and refused to give me a keyboard so I could manually input the code.
The only saving grace they have right now is that they brought back a $7 cravings box meal. Filling and only $7.54 with tax.
Yep. Tried to add points with my receipt the other day, and it refused to access the camera to scan the barcode, and refused to give me a keyboard so I could manually input the code.
But at least it ignores your preferences and makes the stupid "bong" sound when you tell it not to.
Where are you? I just got on the app and 3 soft shell tacos and a large drink is $9.13 after tax. That's still more than I would pay for that especially seeing as the build your own cravings box is only $6.48 after tax and comes with much better options. I seriously am flabbergasted when I read the prices people are saying they pay.
Where I'm at, the price for the boxes are minimum $8 or $9, most of the combos are $11-$15 before tax, and they change their menu so often that I can't be bothered going there. 3 years ago the prices were a lot closer to what you're seeing.
I used to go there pretty often, but with the prices going up particularly in the last few years and with the additional inconvenience of having to learn what their new gimmick of the week item is and what box or combo items they've removed to make space for it, I just can't be bothered. Also because eventually I realized that there's a local Mexican restaurant that sells bigger, better burritos for cheaper in a gas station closer to my work than Taco Bell is. Only downside is them not having a drive through.
I guess I'm thinking more of fast food places: After they got cheap food market, they had to keep growing so they tried to be semi fancy to convince people to go there instead of restaurants. It was back when people had more money / lower cost of living. They got too optimistic. Now we're back to wanting cheap cheap cheap.
Back in high school, which coincidentally were my weed days, the state tax in NJ allowed us to do the 4.20 meal: JBC, small nuggets, small fries, small frostee. They were all off the dollar menu (which I understand isn't a thing anymore), and came to 3.96, with 24¢ tax. It was a beautiful thing and honestly sold itself. If Wendy's, or any fast burger joint, were to bring back a 4.20 meal, I have to imagine some young stoners having a giggle and ordering it. And then, the ingredients and their ability to tug on people's addiction centers, do the rest of the work.
Back in highschool, actually before my stoner days but I still hung out with that crowd, Dairy Queen had burgers, 2 for $4; with a 5% GST and no PST, I giggled a bit every time I ordered them, which was 3 or 4 days a week
I think they've realized that they've successfully trained poor people to not know how to cook and then there aren't any options left if they all band together.
I wonder if there’s software that makes pricing cartels easier to form now.
Banding together is supposed to be economically unstable because anyone who undercuts on price is supposed to capture the market.
Drug cartels can punish defectors with violence. Is there some new mechanism legal businesses are using to punish pricing cartel defectors? Maybe it’s lawsuits?
I tried to actually go to one about 2 weeks ago. 5 workers, and they said - "oh he'll help you" and pointed to another worker. While the 4 of them stood next to the till gossiping about home life, and the poor dude just kept making Sandwichs for the online orders coming in. Only said hi to me once, after the 5th sandwich, I just told them I'm out of time and I'll go. They thanked me for coming in. They're just awful top to bottom. Bad corporate culture
They thought they could charge the same money as real sandwich places. Lol.
I'm not gonna look it up, but who recently bought Subway and is now cashing in on tanking it so they can sell the corpse?
If you ever watch CompanyMan on youtube, it's like 90% of all "The Fall of [Company]" involves either going public and then rapidly expanding, or "acquired by private equity firm then died in 5 years"
Its like the saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
By far the worst one is always the private equity/leveraged buyout. It always ends in failure for the company.
What happens to the company doesn't matter. What matters is what happens to the people making the buyout decision. If they can pad their wallets then who cares about what happens to the company?
It's supposed to end in failure due to having all the money squeezed and sucked out of the company.
I hate that cliche'd, untrue, glurgey phrase with a passion. But your point is good.
The bread bought it. It’s not an in-bread operation.
I quit going to Subway when they changed their whole menu. I went and asked for a spicy italian, blank stare from the employee, "uh, that's not on the menu". I said "Okay" and left. The menu wasn't structured to "make your own" thing not on the menu. Subway was never spectacular food but serviceable, quick, and fairly inexpensive. Not the case anymore, and the weird shit they've advertised lately looks awful. FFS, ad are supposed to make things look better than they are, so if these ads look better than the real thing, it must be dreadful irl.
I still get Italian BMT and the spicy... I think the guy you ran into was just new
No, they were (presumably instructed to be) really weird about orders, after they changed the menu.
There's a subway at work, I go 1-2/week, had been the same staff for long over a year when it happened. I asked for some chicken sub with a different cheese than the one on the menu, or something to that effect; was told I needed to get the 'build your own' to substitute.
After that silly nonsense, I realized you could do whatever customizations you want when ordering in the app +use coupon codes repeatedly.
Yeah no, still never had that happen to me. They always ask what kind of cheese I want, any veggies, however I want it. I go to subway frequently, and many different locations. Try a different one.
Classic Zoot n Zorg moment
You beat me to the joke!
"Why are our sales plummeting?"
Because you didn't spend any part of that price hike on improving the quality of your food.
Why are fast food places charging premium prices for slowed down food with cheaper ingredients? If I'm gonna spend over $10 or over 10 minutes at a place you bet your ass it isn't gonna be a fast food joint. It's gonna be a place with real ingredients and an atmosphere that isn't overflowing toilets.
Or at the very least it's going to be an upscale fast food place. Church's Chicken, not KFC
While I like Church's Chicken better than KFC I definitely wouldn't call them more upscale. In fact I've never seen a Church's that wasn't in the hood.
Yeah, I read that and thought "If this person thinks Church's is 'upscale fast food', where do they normally go, soup kitchens?"
McDicks, so even lower than soup kitchens :P
But I have been informed that my local Church's is unusually nice, they aren't all like that
Heh. The only Church's I know is pretty fancy; must depend on the area
Is that a nationwide thing? It feels weird over here, but yeah, it seems like a lot of the midrange/sit down restaurant small chains just never changed their prices.
The smaller restaurants kept their prices tracking actual inflation to maintain their customer base. Lately they have been enjoying increased business because of the nationals screwups.
The local Greek place $65.
The best taco truck in town is $55.
For $75 I can get my local family owned Thai place with leftovers for the next day.
DQ, McD, Subway, KFC, all run between $60-75.
For $70 I can even get my family chipotle and enjoy the guaranteed food poisoning a few hours later.
For those who haven't seen it, John Oliver has a good bit on subway. https://youtu.be/jDdYFhzVCDM?si=AMkHeXR5yIpZCu3l
There is zero reason to go to Subway sandwiches over Jersey Mike's now that the prices are the same. Subway made sense when it was cheap. A decent sandwich, at a decent price, in a decent amount of time. Now it's an overpriced bad sandwich. Bye!
Jersey Mike's sucks though. Like, abysmal. I've been to their stores against my preferences often enough that it isn't even a single store problem, the food is just unpleasant.
Which is a matter of opinion, obviously, but all food opinions are subjective to begin with.
I like it, the ones by me are awesome. Subway sandwiches on the other hand are terrible.
Jersey Mike's no longer does meatball subs :(
Okay, the meatball marinara sub at Subway, with provolone, olives, and pepperchinis, is pretty good. It's not great, but it satisfies a craving. You've got me there.
It's not a great meatball, but so few sandwich shops even have them these days. Jersey Mike's used to have a great one. Quiznos had a decent one too.
Firehouse has one, but it's not amazing either.
Whatever happened to Quiznos?
Quiznos operated on super-low margins, and had a really tough combination of events in the late noughties that killed it.
First off, their big advantage over Subway was toasted sandwiches, and then Subway added toasters, started the "$5 Footlong" campaign to under cut on price, Quiznos corporate got taken over in a leveraged buyout that transferred massive debt to the company, and then they tried getting customers back by sending out millions of "Free Sandwich" coupons they expected the franchisees to honor at their own expense, which they overwhelmingly refused to do, resulting in a massive consumer backlash and boycott. And then the 2008/2009 financial meltdown hit.
That was all in like 18 months. It was brutal. Over 90% of locations closed in just a few years, and a quick Google search shows only 153 left in the country as of June out of nearly 5000.
There's a gas station on I-35 north of Austin I know of that has one still, but the menu looks like it's pretty different.
It's a shame because they were decent sandwiches. I knew a guy who opened a bunch of them in Houston in the late 90s jslust before they really picked up steam nationally. He was doing pretty well for the first couple years. He died before the collapse, but I think he'd gotten out of Quiznos by then and was doing Buffalo Wild Wings locations.
Damn, that sucks. They did have a pretty decent menu. Their sock monkey "any coupon works" commercial in the 00's was hilarious.
I do have to give it to Quiznos for pioneering guacomole on a sandwich. I don't think any other nationwide chain had done that. Oh yeah and they made the worst / most addictive commerciala ever with the Rats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZrks-BPeLQ
The only Quiznos that I have eaten at in the last 3-4 years is in the Spokane Airport, and it is TERRIBLE. Like the worst microwaved rubber chicken you've ever had. Thankfully, Spokane Airport is finally getting a renovation with local restaurants in the terminal, so I think Quiznos will be down another location.
Yeah when I go in for work there’s a Subway just in a plaza near where I work like 2 minutes away. I’d rather go to the Jersey Mike’s 15min away for maybe a buck or two more. Used to like JK’s but I think Jersey’s a better value. Also I really lime that pepper relish lol.
But yeah bring back the $5 and I’d probably partake every so often. Cuz then the price would better reflect the quality and expectations.
Isn't jersey Mike's a right wing douche restaurant?
You might be thinking of Jimmy John's.
No idea.
When your local chain restaurant/fast food joint starts going off-menu to entice people to come in, you know a business is struggling. Seeing Churros on the menu in a Mexican establishment is perfectly normal. Seeing Churros on the Subway menu is a bit alarming.
I think it's pretty clear the Subway execs (or the executives of their parent/holding company) foresee a recession and are doing as much profit-taking as possible while there's still time before the big crash hits and everybody tightens up their budgets.
Nah I think it’s far more that they’ve developed a reputation as cheap, everywhere, and mediocre then they raised the prices massively. I don’t know anyone who thinks “you know what I’m craving? Subway”. They used to have other niches but sub shops are common and I can get a better vegetarian option elsewhere and for cheaper.
I don’t think they can pull out of this tailspin unless they slash prices to the bone
Subway spent a long time and a lot of marketing money training their customers that a sandwich should cost $5 and taste fine. Not great, but fine. But then the doubled the cost and halved the quality. They spent years teaching customers to avoid the sandwich they now serve.
Little Caesars had a similar problem, but instead of doubling the price, they raised it $1. Cheap pizza for $5 is fine, and cheap pizza for $6 still feels fine.
My local Little Caesars sells the basic pizzas for $9.97 now. Crazy Bread went from $1.99 to $4.99.
Dang, really? Hot n ready's are $6.50 here
Absolutely.
Look all around you and what you see in pretty much all domains is large corporations wringing every drop of brand value they can from accumulated customer brand awareness and loyalty, from enshittification of pretty much everything Internet and of electronics from brands which were previously seen as a good quality-price balance, to forced subscriptions (hi, Adobe) and even as in this case, store chains with well known brands in everything from consumer goods to fast food pushing prices up and/or quantity and quality low.
Sure, for many if not most this will trash those companies' brands, but as the C-suite at those places have been taught in their MBAs, "by the time it blows up, I'll be long gone and laughing all the way to the bank to visit all that money I made from bonuses and a golden umbrella"
Yeah they seem to think of “brand value” as loyalty akin to what people feel for a local sports team, and some brands do have that “hometown favorite” value. I know my hometown brand of potato chips definitely does taste like home. But also, they need to be thinking of it in a term that business ghouls can understand: professional reputation.
The organization of subway has a bad professional reputation. Its customers are unimpressed by its services in their transactions with it, they feel it offers a bad value proposition.
Businesses have gotten accustomed to the brand treadmill rather than just doing something well and being ok with the margins that provides. And if it isn’t an investment in growth a business should be able to reach that point where it finds stability and maintains it, providing stable profits.
I don't know anyone that has ever eaten at Subway and said "damn, that was really good". It's more of "eh, I'm not hungry anymore".
I absolutely love subway (not my favorite subs but definitely up there) the prices are just too high. They got greedy and it bit them in the ass
I sometimes crave subway, but I'm autistic and weird with food.
Seeing Churros on the menu in a Mexican establishment is perfectly normal. Seeing Churros on the Subway menu is a bit alarming.
Some of that is just regional. Seeing churros on the menu at a Houston Subway isn't particularly alarming.
They have churros on my local subway menu, as well as a pizza, and a footlong pretzel stick.
We're in New England...
Subway has churros because the parent company owns auntie anne's
For me it isn't that churros are on the menu at Subway.
It's that RIDICULOUSLY FUCKING HUGE churros are on the menuy at Subway.
If you are eating a foot's worth of churro, you've eaten too much churro.
Meh it's a stick that's about a foot long and the diameter of a nickel.
Which is basically one big bar of sugar and carbs.
This is a fast food restaurant that serves sandwiches made out of entire loaves of bread.
I'm not saying Subway doesn't also offer way too much of everything else too, but churros were what we were talking about.
Subway offers too much of everything.
But I will say the veggie patties are pretty tasty. They don't attempt to replicate meat.
If I want to spend that much on a sandwich I'll go to Jersey Mike's.
Jersey Mike's was recently purchased by the same company that owns Subway. Give it time and they'll be the same shit quality.
It was Subway that was recently purchased by the investment firm that owns Jimmy Johns. Jersey Mike's didn't sell.
Oh Jimmy John's already sucks, I'm fine then.
And then they'll raise the prices even higher.
That's unfortunate.
And get a much better sandwich too.
That’s kind of implied
I'd rather got to Penn Station, but Jersey Mike's is still pretty good.
Lee's or a Primos for me.
But Jersey mikes is not bad if it's all there is.
Love me my Ike's
Good to know this is a global thing, Subway's Brazil operation has been on decline since they used the pandemic to raise their prices to absurd levels, all the ones near me closed down that weren't inside a shopping mall. Never ordered there again after they started charging premium burguer prices for their shit.
since they used the pandemic to raise their prices to absurd levels
That seems to be the modus operandi for the last 2 years. blame the pandemic, preparing for a recession, something something. Or what the dolts use as an excuse "this is what the prices are when you kids want the minimum wages raised to $15/yr $15/hr" (damn my Hobbit thumbs on this phone keyboard)
Lol I think you meant $15/hr not $15/yr
They changed out their bread too, didn't they? Not in a good way like you'd expect because of the price change, but like, dough mixed with cardboard.
I think their bread always sucked personally. Like they bake their own bread and it always smells like ass in their restaurants. How is that even possible? Freshly baked bread usually smells good.
Go smell a bottle of vitamin B-12 tablets. They smell like a commercial bakery. When you concentrate that much B-12 into the air, it smells bad. The upside here is that if you take between 1000-2000 mg of B-12 a day, you'll sweat it out, masking the smell of your blood, and mosquitoes, chiggers, and ticks will ignore you.
Honey oat was the shiz for me.. Gone now
From where I live calling that «bread» would get me diswoned, disspossesd and awaiting for summary execution. By my own parents.
Can't imagine how half of the western world survives with the aberration they call bread.
It's technically NOT bread in Ireland. The courts say it's not bread, because of the amount of sugar it must be classified as confectionary.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/01/irish-court-rules-subway-bread-is-not-bread
What you described is exactly what I'd expect, sadly. Gotta vote with your dollar which means being choosy as fuck
Subway.... Selling sandwiches that don't contain actual bread,. Does not contain actual cheese. And does not contain actual meat. But DOES contain more odd chemicals than DOW Chemacals makes
There's a great last week tonight segment on subway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDdYFhzVCDM
Covers a lot of the insane shit they do / have done.
With Subway and it's franchise system, it makes me wonder if they aren't trying to intentionally tank 90% of the stores and rejig the whole operation, or potentially get rid of the franchises altogether. I have nothing to base this on, no education, no recent reading, nothing. I haven't stepped foot in a subway since the oughts, and I had a chicken bacon ranch and the chicken was chewy to the point it brought back the memory of my brother telling me to get pata tacos in Mexico City.
That, I recall, was corporate Subway's strategy with franchises: they'd open a corporate store next to any successful franchise and run them out if they didn't incorporate the franchisee into a store manager.
They almost doubled the price of their stuff. No fucking way I am paying that. I'll pack my own sandwiches...
Five. Five dollar foot longs. Any, any, any!
I went to a subway exactly once. Their bread felt like a sad sponge. I never set foot in one since.
I think that's because legally it can't be called bread because of the sugar.
I went to a Subway in the Netherlands last year. Luckily I was near my hotel, I had to rush to the toilet.
Congratulations?
You could probably say that to the majority of social media comments, right?
Congratulations!
I also had one of these the other day. I posted a comment about a place selling exotic, tropical fruit. I get a response from a user about how it's too expensive but they live near the farm so they'd just drive there.
What's their point? What are we supposed to do with this?
Exclusive transcriptions from the meeting room:
CEO: Why are those peasant stop buying? It can't be the price. It's just $9 raised, it's not even a whole $10, which is by the way, should be a coin by now.
That's like, what, a banana maybe?
LOL where did I heard this one before? I think it was in a TV show?
Does the rest of the show as good?
If you found this funny, you'll absolutely love the entire show.
Just watched the pilot, I don't think this is a fun comedy show, didn't find one joke the entire episode. And tbh I just feel bad for Michael, the rest of the family is insufferable. If there's one thing I hate more than ungratefully spoiled entitled rich kids, it's seeing them taken advantage of good people, and they're both of these.
In all honesty, it gets better as it progresses. The humor definitely isn't for everyone. Much of the humor plays on itself, with references and throwbacks to past episodes.
And tbh I just feel bad for Michael, the rest of the family is insufferable.
That's also part of the charm of the show ... the entire family is terrible and Michael tries to do good by his son while also attempting to be a caring family member. I'd recommend to give it a bit more time before you give up entirely. There are lots of cameos from other actors (Henry Winkler, Liza Minelli, Charlize Theron) and you have the great Ron Howard as the narrator. If not, no biggie.
While I loved her in Archer, I just couldn't get into Arrested Development. Weird thing is that she's literally playing the same character, but I can't stand Lucille Bluth, yet I adore Mallory Archer.
Yes and no. There's some dated topical humor, and some of the seasons are not as good.
Overall a pretty good show though.
The rest of the show is that good or better. It's one of the best TV shows ever made.
(Heads up: S4 onward was a continuation years later by Netflix and feels a little different. Most people just remember the first 3 seasons.)
I have no clue how they don't get it. The selling point of fast food was always the speed, convenience and a price. They've been degrading all 3 of those selling points and now it's just not fucking worth it anymore.
But like it's nothing new, I don't belive I'm the only one, that for the last few years, every price hike just started picking less and less form the menu. And I'm not poor, far from it, I can definitely afford the price hikes, it's just, once it's 8x times more expensive than home cooking, the convenience no longer outweighs the shit ass quality. I hate paying as if I was at a fancy place and getting pure shit, might as well just go to a fancy place for fucks sake!
Exactly how I feel for with Subway specifically. Half their coupons don't even work for any of the chains we try in our city lol.
Considering the coupons are 3 footings for $18 and they're practically charging that for a single sandwich now, I can see why.
How their overhead is that unprofitable considering their food is mostly cold and ready to eat I'll never know.
My issue is whether or not that nine extra went to employee pay.
If they didn't bump their workers' pay, fuck their price increase.
The CEO is an employee, right?
If we're talking about employees, then yes.
If we're talking about workers, then no, not a worker.
I mean, that depends on the company to some degree.. CEOs of small companies often do a lot of work. But yeah, contribution to pay ratio is usually way lower than most other workers.
If only there were some context clues here to figure out which specific company I was talking about.
Yeah, technically. Sadly enough, that makes my comment an unintentional joke lol.
But, I personally divide executives out of employee without thinking about . Then technically being employees since their job is purely to serve corporate interests first, and they exist outside of the actual work done. Didn't even think about the word choice being funny :)
My hardcore conservative uncles: This is what prices are when you pay this moron behind the counter $15 an hour!
I quit them about 10 years ago when I asked for spinach on my sandwich and they gave me 3 small leaves of spinach for an upcharge. That and their instantly stale tasting bread made me done with the particular store and all Subway stores. Was a shame, because they were convenient to where I worked.
That and the ingredients are awful! Why would anyone go to subway when you could go to Jersey Mike's or the numerous other sandwich shops.
This is probably a good thing. I packed on a ton of weight when I was in college because fast food was really cheap. Things like dollar menu sandwiches, 5 for $5 at Arbys, $0.29 hamburgers on Sundays at McD, etc. I remember strategically buying bags full of fast food and putting them in the freezer because I couldn't make food that cheap. Reheated from the freezer tasted HORRIBLE, but it was cheap and I was broke. At these prices I would have made better decisions for my health.
Three hundred percent inflation isn't a good thing ever.
Nobody's making you overeat garbage food no matter what it costs lol. If it was free would you be 900 pounds? Come on man.
That's all the corpos and shareholders doing one last big squeeze before recession hits and the stock market crashes.
As sacrilegious as it sounds pub subs are very mid-tier to me. Perfectly acceptable sandwich just too much bread and always kinda dry unless I drown it in mayo/mustard after the fact. I'd rather go with their tenders and potato wedges honestly
i moved from FL to MA, i have few regrets, i do miss pubsubs though. and corn nuggets.
That's the same price as a succulent Chinese meal.
Way back when they introduced the world's most earwormy jingle, I knew it would backfire on them. You can't always sell a product for one price, eventually the price has to go up.
What's crazy is that it's still one of the cheapest fast food options
You're supposed to use the coupons they mail to you every month. I never pay more than $6 for a footlong.
That’s a hassle. I hate coupons and mail-in rebates, prefer to avoid such businesses.
I don't know if it's everywhere, but they got rid of the tortilla wraps and now you get a flat bread rolled up. I used to go all the time for wraps when I was traveling through small towns. At least at Subway you know what you're getting in a town of 500 people. Now that they got rid of the wraps, my business is done.
Do you want to read paywalled news but want to bypass the paywall? It's similar. Only difference is depending on who you ask, they like one and dislike the other—or it's like punching up or down.
Was that price change overnight? Like its $14 today, and last week it was only $5?
I'd find it very hard to believe that a change of $9 at a shit sandwich shop would happen overnight. But lets call it $2 per year, that means it was from 2020 and that doesn't make sense either.
Lets call it $1 a year, with a covid bump in 2019. That would be from ~2016, with a bump in 2019, and assuming that this year is not included since you have not completed you fiscal year yet in the US. So that is a change over 8 years.
It is called inflation
It's called corporate greed.
I doubt it as there is plenty of competition. Inflation means there overhead cost goes up so at some point they need to raise the price. There are industries that lack competition but food often isn't one of them.
It takes a lot of under-rock living to think that what we see currently isn't corporate greed. There is not nearly as much competition as there used to be, in any industry, including food. We have a word for it -- collusion -- but no enforcement against it for at least 50 years.
You could make your comment even more irritating by putting a question mark at the end of it.
You got me to legit laugh, thank you.
???????
Idk. Maybe paying people 14 bucks a hour just to make sandwiches cause they complain that they can't make money. Because they have no skills. Because they would rather make sandwiches and complain than get a job that pays better.