# Should fast food places sell alcohol? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 22, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024 "2011-12-22T01:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Doctor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Doctor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/41 "2011-12-22T18:40:18Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > Interesting. How did the price and quality of the beer compare to what you’d get in a real restaurant? Do McDonalds and Burger King have their own exclusive brands of beer? I think it was the local brand on tap. Comes in cheap clear plastic cup. They didn’t seem to make any big deal about it at all. You didn’t go to Mickey D’s for the beer – it was just an option for those who prefer beer to soda or water. Pretty cheap from what I recall. I didn’t try any, I couldn’t really imagine drinking fast food quality beer. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/42 "2011-12-22T18:45:29Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > Do McDonalds and Burger King have their own exclusive brands of beer? I’m not sure why they’d have their own beer…they don’t have their own soda, do they? They all just license it from Coke (unless their Yum Brands, then they get Pepsi.) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/43 "2011-12-22T19:01:28Z")
Don’t really care. But I wonder how they will handle it? You can’t just grab a beer from a bar and walk out to your car. Are they serving this stuff in paper cups? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/44 "2011-12-22T19:42:39Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I’m torn on this. On one hand there really is nothing wrong about it, on the other hand fast food is food on the go and in the US that means using vehicles which doesn’t generally mix with alcohol well. You almost need a different category of restaurant due to the way fast food is generally consumed in the US and how it fits into our life style to have ones that serve drinks. I could see it working at a fast food restaurant that was located in a place that had a lot of pedestrian traffic—say, downtown in a big city or a campustown area of a college town. My guess is that you couldn’t order alcohol at the drive-thru. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/45 "2011-12-22T20:09:21Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > My guess is that you couldn’t order alcohol at the drive-thru. In the Outer Banks there are drive-thru beer places, for real. You drive around back and pull in car-wash style, order a 12-pack, pay and drive off. Never even have to get out of your car. It’s called a Brew Thru. Genius. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/46 "2011-12-22T20:13:08Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I thought that about Sunday sales too, but damn if I can’t waltz right in and buy a half-gallon of rotgut on the Lord’s Day now. Hallelujah! Not in Columbus/Muscogee County. While I didn’t want the expense of a special election to vote on it, there are already preachers/assorted nutjobs haranging City Council to not put it on the ballot at all. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/47 "2011-12-22T20:15:30Z")
I actually read an article about this a week or two ago in _Craine’s Chicago Business_ and McDonald’s said they have no intention of testing alcohol in the US. They haven’t been very successful marketing McDonald’s as an “adult” place to eat (witness the various failed ‘upscale’ burgers) and don’t want to risk their family/kid-friendly image by selling beer or wine. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/48 "2011-12-22T20:17:47Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > In the Outer Banks there are drive-thru beer places, for real. > > You drive around back and pull in car-wash style, order a 12-pack, pay and drive off. Never even have to get out of your car. It’s called a Brew Thru. Genius. We have one of those too, but you can’t open the booze while you’re in the vehicle. I’m imagining McDonalds running another tap for beer and having a drive-thru…no way. Hell, even getting a bottle or can in the drive-thru seems iffy. It’s just so easy to crack it open in the car. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/49 "2011-12-22T22:14:11Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > What are we defining as “fast food” here? I sometimes go to Red Robin, which isn’t as fast as, say, McDonald’s, but it’s not fine dining, either. Red Robin is “casual dining.” Fast Food places have drive thru windows. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/50 "2011-12-22T22:20:36Z")
Hmmm, I can accept “fast food places have drive thru windows”, as long as we also add drive IN places, like Sonic. I don’t think that Red Robin is even as good as casual dining, though. It’s sort of a bastard child of fast food and casual dining, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024/51 "2011-12-22T22:24:04Z")
You guys haven’t been to Louisiana where they had(have?) the drive-thru liquor places, where you literally get a cup of some cocktail at the drive-thru window. It’s sealed though, like the asian tea houses do with their tapioca pearl teas, but they give you a straw to poke through. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-fast-food-places-sell-alcohol/607024.md?page=2)