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I used to "love" running in to McD when I was in a hurry and ask "what burgers do you have that are ready?" and just take whatever was available. More often than not, it was a cheese/double cheese.
Now I have to wait 5-10 minutes before its ready, and its more expensive.
The trade off of cheap and fast vs quality have disappeared.
Because when its good, its so fucking good. They spend literal millions developing their menu to give you a dropkick to the balls of dopamine. FAT! SALT! MSG! HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! REPEAT!
But that requires the stars to align. You need the buns and salad items to not be stale, the chips and meat for the burger to be hot and fresh, the burger to be assembled by someone giving half a fuck, the postmix machine to be set up correctly and give you the right mix, actually fizzy and ice cold. You rarely get the whole meal "just right" but when it is, that one perfect meal sticks in your brain like a catchy song and will carry you through the next half a dozen so-so feeds while you chase the dragon.
These days I only allow myself one trip to KFC a month and I go in and sit down in the restaurant because if something isnt right I go complain and ask for a remake because I spend 29 days a month counting every calorie and tracking every macro because you are not gonna fuck up my blowout meal.
People go to fast food places because while it isn't good, you know what to expect. It's going to be mediocre food for a relatively quick wait.
You just need to figure out your meal quickly without too much effort or thought? Fast food.
You could always go to a new restaurant but you don't know if they will take forever to serve you, if the food will be good, etc. But everybody knows what to expect from fast food brands.
All the answers will be the same:
I have limited choices and this is all I got.
It comfort food. I have fond memories.
Don't yuck on people's yum.
The King is holding my family hostage unless I order two whoppers a week please send help
You get tired of eating microwave meals, and anything that leaves dishes I have to clean later is certainly not easier than going to fast food
I consumed fast food regularly when it was cheap. Maybe today someone consumes fast food regularly, because it can still be cheap, but only if you collect points, coupons and such.
On top of that, they're always around you and you know what they offer, if you get used to it. Sometimes I want a satisfying safe bet instead of an unknown experiment.
The quality depends on locations and staffing, etc. Also vegetarian options at fast food joints are a guaranteed way to have crappy food. The big name fast food places have never had good choices for vegetarian/vegan stuff.
I like tasty gourmet food. But I also like junk.
I genuinely like a big Mac or a domino pizza. Are they as good as a gourmet burger or a wood oven pizza? Not even close. Can I enjoy them regularly? Absolutely.
Same. I’ve had Michelin star meals, meals from world famous chefs, and everything in between. And sometimes the only thing I want is a McDs double cheese burger.
Tastes are funny. Sometimes I want a steak and salad, sometimes I want a shitty greasy burger with a pile of fries.
Same. There's a strange allure to cheap fast food. Ig it's a childhood thing for me, forbidden fruit and all, but I really love cooking all kinds of meals myself too.
Fast food is pretty gross if you don't eat it regularly. I think a lot of it is how addictive it can be. A hit of caffeine, sugar, salt, and fat when you are hungry and tired hits the spot.
People get stuck in these routines, and the companies have apps and reward programs to gamify people into coming back.
Yeah I was just reading through these comments totally confused what was going on, I might get a KFC once a year and that's it. All the rest of them make me feel slightly ill just from the smell.
I do have a great Indian place locally I use fairly often and a couple others, just can't imagine buying the chain stuff.
Yeah I remember being in my twenties and absolutely salivating over a $2 Tuesday lunch special near my work, which is not something I could stomach now that I've got some years of home cooking in me.
I think this is the only answer that I can understand
Every time I eat a mcD cheeseburger I get a tummy ache. That shit is concrete.
Sometimes I channel my spirit animal
And I hunger for a pile of garbage.
I know this is a bad reason, but I'm lazy and don't feel like cooking, so it's convenient.
Honest question, have you tried other places that were not fast food (ie. Chilli's) or cooking quick meals that didn't work out for you? If so, what?
I always find it humorous that people treat places like Chili's or Applebee's as if they are somehow better than fast food in value for money.
I only do real fast food, or a more serious sit down restaurant of better quality. Not this overpriced garbage in between.
Oh for sure, fuck those places. I rather order from a small mom & pop restaurant than from some corpo chain. I just mentioned Chili's because OP sounded like convenience was important and ordering from an app and just going to pick up seems universally convinient. I rather cook for myself, but when I feel lazy I treat myself at a restaurant, but then again I'm not the audience this post is targeting
A lot of areas don't have other restaurants. It's a sea of fast food that can only be driven to.
City is different, but before I had the savings to move, I u didn't have much choice
It's fast and McDonalds is one of the only places in my city that is open 24/7
I don't go there regularly anymore after I stopped working as a service technician who had to travel a lot.
Hi, that's me. I get an hour for lunch during the week, and there are a handful of fast food places minutes from my work. I drive through, and sit in the parking lot eating my lunch and playing games on my phone. It's my quiet time for the day.
There's a bit of a game for some of these fast food places. Most people just roll up and order a #1 or whatever was in the commercials. That's how they get ya!
Sometimes you need to download the app, or check the menu for a budget meal. A slightly smaller burger and less than a pound of fries is an adequate meal for around $5-7.
I used to order a kid's meal, and it was more than enough food for an adult. My kids enjoyed getting toys at the end of the day, too, but they were all plastic garbage.
for a time during the 1990s they had an 'all american meal' which was small burger or cheeseburger, small fries, small drink. was cheap, too. basically a dollar-store happy meal without the toy or box. this was before those went 'kids size' and swapped in "healthier" items.
then they jacked the price up so far, it literally cost more than ordering a la carte.
Well, you see, the combination of mayonnaise and melted cheese creates a chemical chain reaction in my brain that makes me feel good.
Lack of time, lack of energy, or both. Cooking is exhausting and difficult when you're already tired from working.
Before the pandemic I was on the road sometimes and it surprised me how many towns / tiny cities would have 1 grocery store and then a couple fast food chains as the only (obvious) to-go food options.
Many seem to have one particular mini-mart or gas station that has surprisingly good food, but you tend to need some local knowledge to find that.
I visit some fast food chains but I avoid Burger King at all costs. Some of the worst burgers I have ever seen and eaten in my entire life have come from that dump.
Prices are getting out of hand, though. Fast Food is quickly reaching price parity with actual quality restaurants which is insane.
The only one I typically go to these days is taco bell because I like the flavor and homemade any of it doesn't taste the same no matter how hard I try. I do make tacos at home often, it still isn't exactly the same (good but different). With the mobile app that I run in a sandbox the prices also aren't the worst in the world and the rewards for free food stack fast.
But burger king is garbage, and I say that as a former BK customer. I think it has gone extremely downhill in the last 5-10 years and the prices have also gone up. It just doesn't make sense anymore. I got a griddle at home and can relatively easily cook up some tasty frozen patties seasoned just how I like.
Same for KFC, Wendy's, Arby's, and Carl's Jr. KFC flavor and quality seems to have gone downhill. Wendy's is exceptionally expensive typically. Arby's is not only expensive but I feel the quality has also gone down. Carl's Jr seems to be roughly the same, but the prices have gone up and the one near me is typically slow so you can tell the patty you end up with has been drying under a heat lamp for hours.
Everything at McDonald's tastes too processed and sugary to me, unsure why (and one would think I'd have a similar response to TB...)
Anyway...long story short I probably go when I go because of an attempt at nostalgia or fast convenience - but not to save money or for quality.
Lovers of asparagus, how and why do you eat it? No matter how it is cooked, I don't enjoy it. There's something about the taste I do not like. I had some again recently, and it was just as bad as I remembered it.
Why do you eat a food I don't like?
To increase the area of effect when I piss on something to claim territory
You have a point about it being expensive. It used to be really affordable, which made it a convenient option for a quick lunch or something, especially if you didn't have any lunch prepared on a workday.
As far as the taste, I think this varies from location to location around the country. I don't think the food is gourmet or anything, but it's not inedible and the taste of junk food really does set off all the feel-good chemicals in my brain.
I find that Burger King's biggest flaw is that there's zero consistency across their franchise locations. This in in stark contrast to McDonald's franchises that are really well standardized. I can go to one BK location and the food will be shit, and the next will taste pretty good. Even the same location can vary depending on the day of the week and whose shift it is. It sucks, because I am in the minority group of people that think people are sleeping on BK's french fries - they are leagues better than the competition when made correctly, but I get such inconsistent results whenever I go that I honestly can't recommend that anybody try them over an alternative with a more consistent quality. When they are made right, they are golden, crispy, fluffy, and somewhat salty. But sometimes they are undercooked so they aren't golden brown and crispy on the outside, or they are overcooked so they aren't fluffy on the inside, or they don't have any seasoning so they taste bland.
Anyway, I used to go there regularly, but I'm cutting down on calorie-loaded foods and so I will only get to go to get fast food once in a while, and I sure as hell don't waste it on a trip to BK unless I really have a craving for it or someone else I'm hanging out with wants to go there specifically. The cost just doesn't justify the quality you get, even when it does turn out really good.
Some people like the taste and don't mind paying for the convenience - full stop.
Also the vegetarian option at most fast food places is generally more expensive and worse tasting
When I used to it was because it was cheap, and I didn't have time, energy, or money for cooking very often. When you work 12 hours of physical labor and then commute, there's not much time or energy for anything other than fast food and bed.
