McDonalds

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3362
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3362 [history]

It has been a long time since I’ve looked closely at the McDonald’s menu. When I was a boy, the the menu was pretty simple. They had hamburgers, cheeseburgers and the fish sandwich. On the rare occasion when I eat there, I still get a cheeseburger and a fish sandwich. Maybe I’ll do the one dollar chicken sandwich. Otherwise, I could not name five things on their menu. I suppose they still sell the Big Mac and fries, but the rest is a mystery I’m happy to ignore.

This story on Yahoo tells me they have 121 items on their menu. I’m not sure how that’s possible, but maybe they are counting things like ketchup packs. Still, how in the world did they let that happen? The whole point of fast food is it is simple, cheap, fast and consistent. The fish sandwich in Boston as in Minneapolis. It generally costs the same and is delivered the same. Given the general stupidity of the American people, 121 offerings just means it will undermine the whole effort.

In California, there is a chain called In ‘N Out Burger. They offer a cheeseburger, a hamburger, a double burger and fries. The food is good, the service is quick and the experience is consistent from restaurant to restaurant. It is what McDonald’s used to be fifty years ago. Chick-fil-A is the same concept, except they do not permit homosexuals in their stores.  Anytime I see one of these restaurants, they are packed. It turns out that McDonald’s was right the first time. People don’t like diversity.

It is the great lie of modern times that people like options. That’s nonsense. People are social animals. We like belonging to a group. That’s our nature. It’s why there are Pepsi drinkers and Coke drinkers. We have two types of cola. Then we have the oddball stuff for the weirdos, but it is a tiny market. When was the last time you heard someone order an RC Cola or a Moxie? No, people like a few choices so we can divide ourselves up into simple groups. Otherwise, diversity is always a bad thing.

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Comments (Historical)

The comments below were originally posted to thezman.com.

9 Comments

Dain #3419 December 14, 2014 8:31 am 0
People don’t like being repeatedly confronted by confusing choices, but that’s a hump you have to get over just once in many cases. The McDonald’s menu is large, but after parsing it the first time you see it you can just come back and order the same thing you had before, with minor variations. It’s what I do and I suspect many others.“It is the great lie of modern times that people like options. That’s nonsense”No, options ARE good, because even though people are creatures of habit, they’re all very different creatures. It’s everything on the Mickey D’s menu you don’t want that makes it annoying. But you don’t want what other people want.
Dan Kurt #3412 December 12, 2014 7:40 pm 0
re: McDonaldsRarely have had their fare over the years. However, on Thanksgiving day fate struck and I visited one.My wife and I were invited to a friend’s home for Thanksgiving dinner. They live on an island that one has to get there by ferry and the wait for the ferry usually is more than an hour at best as it is so popular on holidays. Well I picked my wife up from church along with a relative of the family we would be visiting. Since both of the passengers were traditional Catholics they were still fasting as they had Holy Communion when I picked them up. We had to get to the ferry ASAP but they were hungry. Well instead of taking the interstate I drove the state route with all of the strip malls, restaurants, car dealers, etc. hoping to find a fast food joint for breakfast. After miles of driving past closed eating establishments including a few McDonalds I spotted a McDonalds that was open and its lot filled with cars. I pulled in and we went inside for a fast breakfast. Each of us ordered a breakfast sandwich and a hot drink. No one got a “meal” and I payed. The bill came to just south of $25.00–WTF!!! My two guests had one egg McMuffin each and I had some thing called a bacon biscuit, I think. The two passengers had Lattes and I had White Chocolate Cocoa.As we were in such a hurry, I did not want to waste time finding out where all the money went so I just paid. We ate and I showed the receipt to my wife and she checked the costs which he considered to be insane and said that we should have waited to eat on the Ferry but was glad to have eaten before the long wait at the terminal. Our wait was well over an hour and when we finally got on we were among the last few cars let on the large vessel. i can’t imagine the delay had we not rushed.Perhaps McDonalds is pricing themselves out of range for most people. If I am about to spend $25.00 for breakfast I would not consider McDonalds at the price it just cost me considering what abysmal food that they sold.Dan Kurtp.s The Thanksgiving Turkey was a bust. A son-in-law volunteered to cook the two turkeys by deep frying. To avoid a family spat the hostess said yes. Want to eat RUBBER turkey? Deep fry it. Want to ruin a grass lawn? Fry a turkey (or Two) on it and one stands a good chance to wreck a ten foot in diameter radius from spilled peanut oil at 350° F. For Christmas I am planning to SLOW COOK at 190° F for 8 hours a turkey breast. That method is fool proof and one gets wonderful drippings for gravy.
Mike Martin #3411 December 12, 2014 6:37 pm 0
Campesino – you are right. In-N-Out’s food is never frozen because they will not open a restaurant more than one day’s drive from their headquarters in LA. If they can’t get it there in one day, they won’t do it.
Pile of Pooh #3409 December 12, 2014 4:29 pm 0
Diversity analogy aside, you must admit that the McRib is a little piece of accounting genius. Limit supply, let demand get pent up, then when you need a quick cash injection — say, when approaching time to announce a weaker-than-expected quarterly — you drop a McRib bomb to your bottom line. Personally, I find the things disgusting. My wife, however, gobbles them by the bagful. Or at least she does when not riding on one of the periodic diet fadwagons, as she is currently. Double Quarter Pounders, though… I’ll put a dent in their population.
Campesino #3408 December 12, 2014 4:13 pm 0
In N Out has a good product. Their other selling point is that nothing is ever frozen, all ingredients are fresh. You can watch them cutting the potatoes for french fries in their kitchen.
ganderson #3407 December 12, 2014 1:50 pm 0
It’s been my experience that when restaurants’ menus get too big the quality declines- I also thing it applies to more outlets. I’m old enough to remember when going to McDonald’s was a treat! Not anymore!
greyenlightenment #3405 December 12, 2014 11:55 am 0
the reason is simple: mcdonals couldn’t get the revenue they have now just selling a dozen items . If they can sell a salad for $3 and it costs then $.1 to make it, free money
UKer #3404 December 12, 2014 11:48 am 0
Lots of choice is confusing, however exciting it seems at first. Even more depressing when you realise that a double grizzle burger is actually just a bit more grizzle than plain grizzle burger and nothing else, whatever the menu says (and accompanied by a picture of a grinning family like they have never eaten before.)
Therequiredname #3403 December 12, 2014 11:47 am 0
Perhaps the multitude of options can be blamed for their less than stellar numbers lately. Lord Nose.


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