Welp, you may be right.
My friend [can’t ask him for clarification or further questions because he is no longer with us] once mentioned something about a feature of the original chain McDonald’s’s being consistency of product; I don’t recall him saying anything about them being dirt cheap compared to random greasy spoons in California or elsewhere.
There’s one I drive past sometimes that puts deals on the billboard and I’ve seen a sack of 10 for $10 in the past few months.
yeah that was the hook in the 50s and mid-60s was theoretically you could get the exact same thing at the exact same price from the east coast to the West and there were no differences because most of the burger chains were just a copy of McD’s so you went with what you knew
Now in the late '60s and all of the '70s when places like Jack in the Box popped up with creative ideas is when places differentiated from each other jack in the Box had tacos weinerschnitzel started putting chili and cheese on 90 percent of its menus and Tommy’s became a thing … Of course, the only changes in and out officially made is they made the double-double and I think they have a chicken sandwich now
Excellent information, thank you. Sadly, also chilling and daunting information about my future being able to occasionally enjoy some quick and easy McDs.
I’m older than you but not as old as some here. When I was young there was no such thing as family chain restaurants like there are now. In the town I grew up in there are now an Applebee’s, T.G.I. Fridays, Longhorn and Olive Garden all stacked up next to each other. When I was a kid the only place I knew of that was relatively close was a Howard Johnson’s and we didn’t go there.
I was late teens or later before Bennigans came to the next town over.
Under $1000 for the year!? Whether by choice or necessity that’s incredibly frugal.
Last weekend my daughter and son-in-law visited. We ate at an Indian restaurant that was BYOB. Appetizers, dinners, and corkage for 4 was $100, $120 with tip. The food was fantastic. Will be going back.
Back to the OP, looking at several definitions of luxury goods and specifically “accessible luxury” or “mass luxury” McD’s does seem to flirt a bit with luxury, and seems to nail accessible luxury.
One link for reference: Luxury goods - Wikipedia
You went to a BYOB restaurant and they charged you a corkage fee? Do you mean you chose to bring your own instead of ordering from their list, or that they didn’t sell alcohol but still charged you for bringing your own? Because that feels worse than the mandatory “gratuity”
They do not have a liquor license. If you bring your own bottle, they provide glasses. They charge $6 for this. It’s very common. We were able to drink two bottles of $12 wine instead of paying $35 a bottle. I love BYOB with a corkage fee.
Move to NJ. Most restaurants are BYOB and I don’t think I’ve ever come across a corkage fee (in a BYOB place…).
When I’ve brought my own bottle and not been charged a corkage fee, I increase my tip to reflect this.
That is very possibly because so many restaurants in NJ are BYOB and as I understand it , the reason for that is because so few are able to get a liquor license. IOW, you aren’t bringing your own to avoid buying from the restaurant. On the other hand, in New York , a restaurant with a capacity of more than 19 needs a license to allow BYOB. If they have a capacity of 19 or less and no license they aren’t permitted to charge a corkage fee because that’s considered to be selling alcohol - which might be a factor in NJ as well
We used to go to a sushi place that was BYOB. The servers did not know the laws. One night we took my nephew who was 18 (drinking age is 21). We brought a bottle of wine and our server brought us wine glasses. He put one in front of me, one in front of my gf, then he looked at my nephew with a stern look and asked how old he was. My nephew answered honestly, that he was 18. Server gave him a glass.
McDonald’s is now the Honda Civic of fast food burgers. A Civic is not a luxury car, but compared to its competition, Honda can charge a premium based on its reputation.
McDonald’s tops the rankings (IMHO, of course) in terms of availability (locations), consistency, speed, and quality. They’ve finally decided they no longer need to compete on price.
I wonder how much of the upward trend in fast food prices was led by McDonald’s. As a Big Mac costs more, can Burger King charge a little more for a Whopper? And on down the chain until White Castle can even get in on the action?
It’s been a few years now, but my experience has been that McDonald’s isn’t particularly fast.
They were pretty unaffordable for the most people when the meal only cost $500. I am often a spendthrift when it comes to eating out, but luckily I become a tightwad when at those prices. Even when I was spending client’s money on an expense account I had my limits. I guess I can spend too much on things, but not way too much.
Don’t forget that those are Canadian “dollars”, though, so probably a lot less in real money. No one knows how much – it’s like converting from Canadian temperatures to real degrees.
Note that I specifically said “hamburger”, not “cheeseburger”. The site I linked to had that at $2.39 but YMMV.
I think one thing that is confusing the comparison is how poorly wages have kept up with inflation. Compared to today’s basic wages, these items seem higher than before. But compared to inflation alone they really aren’t all that much.
E.g., I was paid $1.15 hour in 1968. That corresponds to $10.32 today. But now Fed. minimum wage is merely $7.25. (And I suspect it fully take into account rent costs.)
Fast food isn’t really going up all that much compared to most things. It’s wages that are falling behind.