McDonald's sales are slumping because people can't afford fast-food
www.cbsnews.com
McDonald's sales fell for the first time since 2020 as the world's biggest restaurant chain plays catch-up with rivals.
  • Bearlifter [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    74·
    4 个月前

    “The context is since October of last year, you’ve had lower grocery prices than restaurant prices. And when prices are cheaper at grocery stores, low-income households go there. When McDonald’s is cheaper, they go to McDonald’s,” Wedbush restaurants analyst Nick Setyan said.

    But fast-food chains could see a boost early next year, he added. “Prices at the grocery store aren’t going to continue to deflate, and restaurants are going to figure out how to price their offerings the right way.”

    So, they’re planning on not lowering prices but instead waiting until folks can’t buy groceries so they come back to where they can afford to eat. Most likely also collude with other brands so they also won’t lower their prices.

    The blasé tone in which they describe a business strategy of ‘the poor will come back when they have nowhere else to go’ is horrendous.

    Also, the soulless analyst’s name is Nick Satan, this existence can’t be real.

    Death to Amerikkka

    • D61 [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      23·
      4 个月前

      Remember, McDonalds Corp doesn’t make money off of the sale of a burger. They make money off of real estate and franchise licensining agrements.

      • AnarchoAnarchist [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        4 个月前

        Groceries are expensive but the margin on groceries, the actual profit per product, is ridiculously low for the retailer. They make up for this low rate of profit, with volume, getting 1 to 3% profit on each cart of groceries is feasible when you’re serving thousands of customers a day.

        Costco only has a 2.5% profit margin for example. And that is with lots of store brands, and very shrewd negotiating to get massive volume discounts.

    • SwitchyandWitchy [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      18·
      4 个月前

      Iirc there was a report a while ago stating that the boycott did significantly affect McD’s revenue along with Starbucks at least. Wish it was more though, would’ve loved to see mass branch closures across the world like we’ve seen in the middle East.

      Edit: the impact was less than I thought. The highest figure I’ve seen after a quick search is a 3.6% reduction in revenue in the US catgirl-cry

      Though that does at least sound like enough for shareholders to get concerned. Especially if their costs have t gone down accordingly.

  • DelgadoSlims [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    36·
    4 个月前

    They charge way too much for they’re crappy food! Why would I spend $12 at McDonalds to get a crappy burger combo when I can spend $4 at the gas station for 2 equally crappy hotdogs and a big drink? Scoop Chinese and casual Mexican is all under $8 near me. Why would I ever eat McDonalds?

  • Dort_Owl [they/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    35·
    4 个月前

    Also McDonalds food is just poor quality, so if I was going to waste money on fast food I would choose something that doesn’t taste like vomit and depression

    • ThunderComplex@lemmy.todayEnglish
      23·
      4 个月前

      McD burgers have always been shitty quality but nowadays they offer burgers that cost 8€ and even their cheapest burgers have gotten way too expensive.
      I find it somewhat fascinating to witness fast food becoming a premium option.

      • mendiCAN [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
        16·
        4 个月前

        yeah one can pay a little more and eat a burger in a restaurant that doesn’t cause a sugar rush and stomach cramps. i don’t know who McDs is even selling to these days

    • redchertEnglish
      2·
      4 个月前

      I preferred Burger King anyway, McDonalds burgers are dry and tasteless, its nuggets dont taste like chicken and the fries are mid. Where I lived Burger King was also cheaper since it suffered a huge scandal back in the day when it was revealed that workers were spitting in the food. So all the treatlers overran mcdonalds and burger king was cheap and empty and served better quality.

    • stinkEnglish
      27·
      4 个月前

      Also… a sit down restaurant is like the same price as fast food at this point lol. Even then, I’d rather have a chipotle bowl for the same price as a burger that makes me feel like shit the rest of the day.

  • SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.netEnglish
    27·
    4 个月前

    McDonalds makes most of its money from real estate speculation, the burgers are really just for paying property taxes. So if burger sales slump it doesn’t hurt them that much.

  • CrawlMarks [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    17·
    4 个月前

    A curve is described where if you sell half the items at twice the price you make more money because you save overhead. They are just pushing the slider. If they can sell one burger for a million dollars they coudl save so much on costs.

  • DragonBallZinn [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    17·
    4 个月前

    :man-ray: “Are you, a fast food company?”

    :patrick-yep: “Yep”

    :man-ray: “And poor people are more likely to buy fast food, and the rich consume less, right?”

    :patrick-yep: “You decided burger is worth more, forgoing your base. And if you want to have your sales back, you need to make your products cheaper as you cannot rely on rich people, who do not consume your product, right?”

    :patrick-yep: “that makes sense to me.”

    :man-ray: “Then stop raising prices”

    :patrick-yep: “But I want money and the poor don’t mind!”