
American Eating Habits Are Changing Faster than Fast Food Can Keep Up - petethomas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-11/fast-food-s-got-a-netflix-problem-as-americans-prefer-to-dine-in
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nimbius
A big factor for some items is just price. I work full time as an engine
mechanic and the price of a burger has gotten absolutely ridiculous. Arbys and
Burger King both think their gods gift to meat, but at the end of the day its
just shredded iceburg lettuce and mayonnaise between two thoroughly crushed
sugary buns. Its not worth $15.

What ive started doing instead is shop-cooked fridays. I'll set up a crock pot
of steel cut oats in the morning, and in the afternoon we grill in the back
parking lot. everyone chips in a few bucks at the start of the week and its
gone over well. Ive had guys from the body shop next door come over and offer
to buy burgers instead of hit up the fast food chains along the strip. Its
cheaper and easier than waiting for a crushed cold burger up the road.

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jimmaswell
What are you talking about? McDonald's has a cheeseburger on the value menu
for less than $2. If you want something nicer, the single burger with fresh
high quality beef at Wendy's is $5.

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cptskippy
Surprisingly there's no discussion of food quality as a factor. In the race to
keep portions huge and prices low the quality of food served at most chain
restaurants has declined to the point that it's unpalatable for many. But for
whatever reason businesses refuse to acknowledge this fact.

~~~
w0utert
This is something that always strikes me as very odd when visiting the US. The
portions are just So.Frigging.Huge, to the point it becomes outright comical.
If I order a 'small' pizza in the US, I get something way bigger than the
'normal' pizza I would get at home, which I already are barely able to finish.
I'm almost never able to finish my plate, not just because I cannot eat more,
but mostly because I simply don't want to eat more of the same: in most cases
the food is bland, and I quickly have had enough of it. I'm not saying the
food is 'bad', I also like to eat fast food now and then, just that it simply
doesn't warrant eating more of it than absolutely necessary. Typical quantity
over quality.

At the same time, when I go out for dinner at home, the best restaurant
experiences are always when I feel 'almost full' when my plate is completely
empty, and still have some room left for dessert. Nothing needs to go to
waste, and I don't need to take doggy-bags home so I can eat more of the same
bland (and now re-heated, soggy) food the next day, as is common in the US
(doggy bags are an extremely rare sight where I live). The 'dining out'
experience could hardly be any more different comparing the US to the
restaurants at home. To make things worse, prices are also way higher in the
US, at least the more urban areas in the east and west.

I remember one time staying in an AirBNB in the US, talking to the host who
used to own a classic american diner. She had the exact same thoughts about
food quality and portion sizes as we did, and told us she actually tried to do
it different in her diner. Customers would by default get a small plate of
food, but could order more for free if it wasn't enough. For some bizarre
reason her customers hated it and kept complaining about the portion size. So
she switched back, and almost no-one ever finished their food completely
again.

Very quaint obsession with quantity, if you ask me.

~~~
spicymaki
Funny enough you can order half-portions at many restaurants. That will bring
the portions closer to a normal size.

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saddestcatever
Really? That never even occurred, since I've never seen that option on a menu.

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ceejayoz
As with splitting a plate between two people, it's not something you'd
typically see on a menu, but they're usually happy to do it.

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pjc50
The graph in the middle should be compared with a graph of economic growth:
[https://www.statista.com/statistics/188165/annual-gdp-
growth...](https://www.statista.com/statistics/188165/annual-gdp-growth-of-
the-united-states-since-1990/)

"Peak restaurant" is in the peak boom years of 1999-2000 and 2007-8. What's
interesting is that it hasn't recovered even though the economy nominally has.
This lends credence to the "unequal recovery" theories, that although growth
is up and unemployment appears to be down people don't actually have nearly as
much spending money.

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village-idiot
That and the richer you are the less likely you are to eat fast food, which
reinforces your point about unequal recovery further.

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mikepurvis
I could definitely see a "shrinking middle class" argument here— poor people
are cooking at home and rich people are eating out at nice restaurants— fast
food is set up to serve a demographic that's just not as prominent as it was
10-20 years ago.

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village-idiot
Typically the poor don’t cook at home, they subsist on very cheap junk food
available at gas stations and similar. Cooking takes time, some skill, and
access to raw ingredients. This is very hard if you’re overworked and live in
a food desert.

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specialist
The food desert phenomenon really bugs me. But I do have hope the pendulum
will swing back.

The whole paleo thing. What I jokingly call the "troglodiet". Beans, wild
rice, big leafy greens. Much less meat, dairy, starchy carbs.

It's weird that cheaper is more healthy.

I really only need a pressure cooker, cutting board, knives, a few bowls, some
storage. I've unloaded most everything else. I'm basically camping at home.

But I had to get more wealthy to even become aware of these options, choices.

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rcarrigan87
Some may have missed it, but the article casually mentions student loan debt
as a driver of this change. Personally, I typically only eat out once a week
to save money (and it's healthier).

If you peel back the curtain on a lot of ongoing changes in consumer
preferences I think you'll find student loans are always a contributing factor
to some degree - especially among younger generations.

And yet we aren't doing anything about it. Tariffs, tax cuts, etc. but rarely
is it mentioned what a weight student loans are around the US economy's
neck...

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zeveb
Why are so many borrowing money to get a college degree in a field which won't
pay off? For that matter, why are we paying for so many to get high school
degrees which don't pay off? The driver of a semi truck, or the cashier at a
fast food restaurant, doesn't need to spend four years reading Catcher in the
Rye and studying algebra.

That's not saying anything bad about those people or those jobs: they are no
doubt good people and those jobs are important and valuable. What I _am_
saying is that rather than automatically paying for everyone's college, we
might instead ask what the point of education is, and whether everyone needs
to spend four _more_ years at school.

As you might guess, I think the answer is 'no,' and I think that the way that
high school changed from something optional for a few to something required of
all is instructive.

A better result, I think, would be to make government assistance equally
applicable to vocational school, and to outright not offer government
assistance (loans or scholarships) for certain degrees in fields with low
employment prospects.

~~~
rcarrigan87
Wasn't at all suggesting we should make higher ed free. I made mention of the
tax cuts because the Trump admin likes to talk about helping the economy but
yet they've said/done nothing about student loans which are proving to be a
massive impediment to economic growth.

I don't like the idea of the gov't choosing which degrees/majors are worth
funding. We've derisked student loans to a point where lenders don't care
about your income prospects. If we allowed students loans to be discharged
through bankruptcy you would start to see a big shift in how loans are made.
The reality is the entire structure of higher ed right now is a sham.

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pascalxus
Here in the Bay area, the price differential between grocery store and
restaurants is even greater, due to rapidly rising labor costs and local
inflation increasing more rapidly than national inflation. As usual, it all
comes back to housing. Restaurants can't hire workers because workers can't
afford to live there due to housing problems. As a result, when you go out,
dinner for 2 people costs an arm and leg. We just don't go out anymore. But,
even the Cafe is getting really expensive. Pearl Milk tea now costs 5.50$
minimum, even here in the east bay. 10 years ago, I remember getting those
same bubbly drinks for 3$

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CompelTechnic
The graph showing restaurant cost inflation trumping grocery cost inflation
over the last couple years is surprising to me. There's a big difference.
Labor costs are a huge factor, I would guess.

~~~
joobus
Exploding health insurance costs for all employees that qualify are also being
passed on to customers.

~~~
jandrese
How many employees in the restaurant industry get health insurance? There are
many millions of waiters, cooks, busboys, greeters, etc... that get paid
minimum wage with no benefits.

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JoeAltmaier
What opportunities in online apps does this create? Restaurant loyalty
programs, daily special updates, custom food kit delivery...

~~~
xkfm
Most major chains already have apps, at least I Know McDonalds and Burger King
both do. The McD's app does have online ordering too, and you can pick it up
at the restaurant. Less chance of confusion when dealing with a screen or
mobile device if you don't have a standardish order.

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Moru
But the end price often ends up higher than the fancy restaurant across the
street.

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drak0n1c
One of the main draws of the mobile apps are the discount coupons. At
McDonalds you can get many of their sandwiches for $1 using the mobile
checkout coupon, including the Fish Filet and Big Mac. I've been using it
pretty regularly recently to get a single sandwich, no side, for lunch. Burger
King has similar deals, but they are usually oriented around getting two adult
meals for $6, etc.

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fastbeef
I’m always amused when people refer to fast food places as “restaurants”.

~~~
moate
I worked as a chef in restaurants for over a decade: Why do you feel this way?
It's food. If you eat it, you will be fed. Someone cooked that food for you.
The quality of the product doesn't make something a "restaurant" instead of a
restaurant. Many times it's not the best dining experience, but they clearly
have a function in the "getting people meals" ecosystem.

TL;dr- slow clap for some top tier smug nonsense, but your point is extremely
invalid and undermines the hard work millions of people are putting in every
day at these establishments.

~~~
growlist
I think that's a little harsh - at least here in the UK the word restaurant
conjures up an idea of a more expensive establishment, likely with tablecloths
and wine involved, and possibly French. It's not difficult to see the humour
in the juxtaposition of that image with the reality of McDonald's. I've
nothing against McDonald's btw, and eat there from time to time.

~~~
moate
Oh no, that was well from harsh.

I'm fine calling that guy smug, because that's an extremely smug thought.

Also, you do have an internalized bias against McDonald's and you just showed
it. To you, a restaurant isn't "a place that serves food" but "a move
expensive establishment..." That's not to say you're a bad person, just that
you're shifting definitions from what something objectively is to what you
think something should be.

Here in the US, restaurant workers across the board are not paid enough and
there are massive labor issues tied to the industry. Fast food workers
especially are treated abhorrently because "that's not even a real restaurant"
or "that's a job for a kid to get out of high school".

I'll fully admit that my past influences my thoughts on the matter, but what
I'm trying to do is say that this sort of behavior isn't cool, and remind
people that these places are often franchises run by a guy employing people
from your neighborhood.

McDonald's food is objectively of a lower quality than that of other
restaurants. It's still a restaurant, no matter how dismissive people want to
be.

~~~
growlist
Ok then, have it your way: next time you're going out on a date trying telling
your date you are taking her to a restaurant, and then go to McDonald's. I
suspect it might be a short date.

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moate
Well of course it would be a short date.

It's fast food...

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growlist
Likely you probably wouldn't even make it to the 'restaurant'!

