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I Looked Into Why Restaurant Quality Is Declining. What I Found Is SHOCKING
- Thread starter DerekJohnson
- Start date
HHusky
New Fish
Couldn't bring myself to watch the whole thing, but my practice has always involved franchising. I don't know who Matt is talking to or who claimed capitalism needs to end so that Arby's can taste better—seems like a contrived attempt to hook viewers—but private equity was barely a blip on the radar in franchising when I started out. Now it's ubiquitous and particularly so in the past 10-15 years.
So, could declining quality be in part due to the "green eye shade" people taking over? It's very plausible.
So, could declining quality be in part due to the "green eye shade" people taking over? It's very plausible.
PE kills everything it touches - including sandwiches.
Take note B1G conference.
Pitchfork51
Active poster
Panera is the most extreme example.
I had a 10 dollar gift card that’s been sitting in my car for a year so one day I was driving by and figured I’d go in. This is a Saturday at like 1pm.
I go in, there is like 1 worker I could see in the back, no customers. I ordered a standard meal thing that they sort of advertise as one of their main go-tos (like a soup and sandwich or something) and a drink. It still ended up being like 16 bucks or something crazy meaning it was well over 20. Obviously didn’t tip the machine.
It came out, just a super generic kinda soggy microwave tasting sandwich and mediocre soup.
I was like how is this place in business? I cannot imagine a single person would have had this experience and decided to ever come back.
If I remember correctly like 10 years ago it was a kinda good place to pop in and get something for lunch when you’re at work. Like fresh baked stuff.
I had a 10 dollar gift card that’s been sitting in my car for a year so one day I was driving by and figured I’d go in. This is a Saturday at like 1pm.
I go in, there is like 1 worker I could see in the back, no customers. I ordered a standard meal thing that they sort of advertise as one of their main go-tos (like a soup and sandwich or something) and a drink. It still ended up being like 16 bucks or something crazy meaning it was well over 20. Obviously didn’t tip the machine.
It came out, just a super generic kinda soggy microwave tasting sandwich and mediocre soup.
I was like how is this place in business? I cannot imagine a single person would have had this experience and decided to ever come back.
If I remember correctly like 10 years ago it was a kinda good place to pop in and get something for lunch when you’re at work. Like fresh baked stuff.
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Panera was sold to private equity in 2017
Before that Panera was pretty cool. Fresh baked stuff, pretty good food. Kind of spendy but above Starbucks swill level quality.
Private equity turns everything to shit.
Before that Panera was pretty cool. Fresh baked stuff, pretty good food. Kind of spendy but above Starbucks swill level quality.
Private equity turns everything to shit.
Never been to a Panera and not on my bucket list. Don't eat out a lot but avoid chain places as much as possible. Lots of great restaurants in the Portland area. Ordering a rib eye, a rack of lamb, scallops, oysters or a sea food pasta dish isn't getting you a microwaved meal. I last ate at a Denny's over a decade ago and how you screw up eggs, hashbrowns and sausage is a mystery to me. The Cracker Barrel in both Beaverton and Tualatin closed. Never been there. Not a fan of microwaved food and a lack of Bloody Mary's for breakfast. Plenty of non-chain breakfast places serving fresh food for breakfast and Bloody's. McDonald's still can't make a decent chicken strip. They should just buy Popeye's and call it good. There is a reason that Chick-fil-A had the largest sales per location of any fast food place in the US. Hire a chick and make her gay didn't work out well for Cracker Barrel. You think that was removed from the course list for a Harvard MBA? Nope, die before DEI is removed as a required course.
HHusky
New Fish
What I find doesn't ring true here for me is the notion that somehow eating well at home is way cheaper than eating chain fast food—depending on what you are comparing, it may not be cheaper to eat at home at all. So, spending a lot and doing the work yourself has to be compared the predictability of a chain and the relatively low cost of eating the "slop", to use his term.
At some point you are just arguing with the market. Matt says people don't care enough for this to change. Well, I think that is true. Could quality decline to a point that that would change for a large segment of the population? Yes, of course.
At some point you are just arguing with the market. Matt says people don't care enough for this to change. Well, I think that is true. Could quality decline to a point that that would change for a large segment of the population? Yes, of course.
I should have guessed that fast-food restaurants would be the one thing H has some knowledge about.
Eating at home is always cheaper. It does take some effort, but you can get a half pound ground chuck hamburger patty for $2.50 at Freddy's. A quarter pounder with cheese is close to six bucks at McDonald's. Convenience is nice though. When you are unemployed, you have a lot of spare time. No food stamps for pop and frozen pizza at 7-11 should be a part of Team Dazzler's Super Constitutional Rights.
HHusky
New Fish
If you want to discuss whether the unemployed should eat out, start a thread. Otherwise, you just made my point.
our grocery bill is around 2.5k/mo and I can pretty much guarantee it would support our family of 4.
…so that’s 83.00/day for all of us….or 21.00 per household member breakfast lunch and dinner.
You simply cannot do that eating fast food. It would double the cost. Shit when I take the kids to get Burger Master it’s 80.00 for 4 people for one meal.
…so that’s 83.00/day for all of us….or 21.00 per household member breakfast lunch and dinner.
You simply cannot do that eating fast food. It would double the cost. Shit when I take the kids to get Burger Master it’s 80.00 for 4 people for one meal.
There is no going out to any restaurant; fast food, fast casual or sit down, that is cheaper than preparing foods at home. I do most of the cooking around here and I like to shop the specials as well as the regular stuff. I can spend $14 bucks on salad ingredients and make 6 dinner salads out of it. That would cost somewhere around $90 if we were to go out to dinner. I can purchase 93% lean hamburger at $7 bucks a pound and make 6 hefty burgers. We all know the fatty meat McDonalds uses, once cooked, that 1/4 pounder is more like a 3 oz patty. Its still costing you $6.50 just for the burger and that doesn't include cheese.
I called on all the fast casual and fast food headquarters at one point in my career. Wendy's used to be an "A" brand. I was calling on the President a few years after Dave Thomas died. They were totally unprepared for his death and put their largest franchisee in as President. They quickly ran the brand into the ground. The President wanted to cut costs instead of keeping the brand associated with quality and Dave. The very first thing they did was lower the quality of meat and start shipping it frozen. Second was buy chicken cheaper for their chicken sandwich which had been their biggest profit margin in some parts of the country. It has never recovered. The franchisee who was president was replaced by an even bigger spoiled inherited idiot, died, his family sold the franchise, of which only half are still operating and the whole Wendy's brand sucks.
Bad business decisions come from everywhere, not just from no name conglomerate ownership.
I called on all the fast casual and fast food headquarters at one point in my career. Wendy's used to be an "A" brand. I was calling on the President a few years after Dave Thomas died. They were totally unprepared for his death and put their largest franchisee in as President. They quickly ran the brand into the ground. The President wanted to cut costs instead of keeping the brand associated with quality and Dave. The very first thing they did was lower the quality of meat and start shipping it frozen. Second was buy chicken cheaper for their chicken sandwich which had been their biggest profit margin in some parts of the country. It has never recovered. The franchisee who was president was replaced by an even bigger spoiled inherited idiot, died, his family sold the franchise, of which only half are still operating and the whole Wendy's brand sucks.
Bad business decisions come from everywhere, not just from no name conglomerate ownership.
Went to a great Eastern European place in Wallingford after the game. Pickled vegetables before the dumplings was a great touch. Kostritzer on tap too. Didn't look at the bill.
You guys enjoy eating your cans of cat food at home though. Nobody mentally sane has ever cared about Panera and fucking Wendy's
You guys enjoy eating your cans of cat food at home though. Nobody mentally sane has ever cared about Panera and fucking Wendy's
I don’t think anyone is talking about eating cat food at home.
the discussion was around whether or not fast food is less expensive than cooking at home since most working class/lower income folks do the former out of convenience.
the quick math says that it’s decidedly less expensive to eat reasonably well(steak, fish, veggies etc etc) at home as opposed to going to McDonald’s.
My only experience with fast food nowadays is when the kids are begging for Burger Master or 5 Guys and we try to limit that because it’s not great for you…not because of the price point.
We usually eat at home during the week because it’s just easier on our schedules to have something meal prepped with sports and shit because you’re not going to have time to take them out to dinner at 5pm before football practice and when it ends at 7:30, your options are either run them through the drive thru or just get them home for the pasta that you meal prepped the day before or whatever.
the discussion was around whether or not fast food is less expensive than cooking at home since most working class/lower income folks do the former out of convenience.
the quick math says that it’s decidedly less expensive to eat reasonably well(steak, fish, veggies etc etc) at home as opposed to going to McDonald’s.
My only experience with fast food nowadays is when the kids are begging for Burger Master or 5 Guys and we try to limit that because it’s not great for you…not because of the price point.
We usually eat at home during the week because it’s just easier on our schedules to have something meal prepped with sports and shit because you’re not going to have time to take them out to dinner at 5pm before football practice and when it ends at 7:30, your options are either run them through the drive thru or just get them home for the pasta that you meal prepped the day before or whatever.
After all this posting on food issues, we still don't have a leftard here defending the dementia patient's approach to foodstamps. No support for a work, study or volunteer requirement. Little to zero vetting of recipients. No restrictions on food eligibility like soda pop and Doritos. Kicking 7-11s and mini marts off the program. Nope, just double the number of recipients from below 20 million to 42 million and then scream when the dems refused to fund the welfare state.
Hale thinks eating at home means people are eating cat food.
Brilliant.
Brilliant.
No wife, no kids and I eat out about 95% of the time (though half the time company is paying)
Everything is $20/pop it's insane.
The convenience factor and grocery price increases have made it hard to switch out of the habit.
I pretty much have wasted veggies every time I buy, meal prepping is a bitch.
Everything is $20/pop it's insane.
The convenience factor and grocery price increases have made it hard to switch out of the habit.
I pretty much have wasted veggies every time I buy, meal prepping is a bitch.
Yeah I know. I just hate boomers.