# Why are we now keeping the menu a secret? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 20, 2014, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773 "2014-02-20T05:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/21 "2014-02-20T23:24:15Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > The weirdest one for me is KFC. Maybe it’s because I rarely go there but every time I come out of the line I’m confused about what I just ordered. > > They list number of pieces and number of sides but don’t tell you what pieces you are getting and don’t have a list of the sides. > > If I get a 4 piece, can I get 4 breasts? Do I have to take a wing? If I don’t want a wing do I pay more? I know you have potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, and I just learned about mac and cheese, what other sides do you have and how much do I pay if I want a bigger portion? > > I’m sure this isn’t a big deal to a regular, but it seems odd to someone who only goes there one every couple of years. I know the KFC menu fairly well and I agree with you. The latest iteration is not very descriptive at all. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/22 "2014-02-21T00:54:52Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > On what planet is a McDonald’s hamburger $6.95? I don’t recall naming McDonald’s specifically, but yes, I’m in Australia - where a Big Mac on its own is somewhere around the $5 mark depending which store you’re at and the Grand Angus is somewhere around $6.50 or so, again depending which store you’re at. Burger chain Grill’d charges $9.50 for its standard hamburger alone (they’re a _lot_ trendier and more upmarket than McDonalds, though) too and you’ll find yourself paying between $6 and $10 for a hamburger with the lot at most local fish and chip/takeaway places too, in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/23 "2014-02-21T01:51:33Z")
Well, all those beets are probably expensive. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/24 "2014-02-21T02:00:12Z")
But dingo meat should be pretty cheap, you’d think… ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/25 "2014-02-21T03:27:47Z")
Didn’t Starbucks take some heat a couple years ago when it stopped listing the “tall” sizes of it’s beverages from the drive-thru menus even though they were still available? Then they tried to backpedal claiming they did it to make the menu less cluttered for customers. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/26 "2014-02-22T07:55:24Z")
You people all need to check out In & Out Burger, if there’s one in your neighborhood. (It’s mostly a West Coast chain.) Their ENTIRE menu consists of: [ul] [li] Single burger.[/li][li] Double burger.[/li][li] Single cheeseburger.[/li][li] Double cheeseburger.[/li][li] Fries. (One size only.) (Salt-free on request.)[/li][li] The usual self-serve beverage bar.[/li][/ul] Diced onions on burger optional, grilled diced onions on request. That’s _it._ All burgers cooked when ordered, not in advance and kept warm while they dry out; not cooked at a factory, frozen, and shipped out. Likewise, fries cut from fresh whole potatoes and cooked on site. (For the insider crowd, there’s also a secret menu that’s not shown at all. You just have to know about it. It’s easily googlable.) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/27 "2014-02-22T13:18:36Z")
Get outta the LINE! ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/28 "2014-02-22T13:33:24Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > That’s _it._ > > [snip] > > (For the insider crowd, there’s also a secret menu that’s not shown at all. You just have to know about it. It’s easily googlable.) Isn’t this exactly what the OP is complaining about? I mean, he’s complaining about posting the complex and hiding the basics, and In-and-Out posts the basics and hides the fancy, but it’s the same problem. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/29 "2014-02-22T13:50:20Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > But dingo meat should be pretty cheap, you’d think… You think finding babies to feed them is cheap? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/30 "2014-02-22T14:12:48Z")
It seems to me that the pattern has been to get away from text and more toward pictures on menus. I’m just wondering how long it’ll be before some fast food manufacturer goes to pictures and prices only… like some sort of medieval style menu for quasi-illiterates. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/31 "2014-02-22T14:17:22Z")
Not listing all of what you have for sale and positioning your marketing so you can only see what costs what by ordering it at the register is a deceptive business practice. People need to know that the price of the sandwich jumps up to $4.65 when you add a slice of cheese. I would have thought that it was common sense when the line stacks up 20 deep because the register clerk has shouted. “Manager, I need a key-card on register 3” that there is a net loss of profit and profitability given the company pays by the hour. Also, doesn’t a better educated consumer make the business transaction smoother so the company can move more product per 8 hour shift? Dumbing down the menu to pictographs so your customers can say _Ugh!_ _Ugh!_ and point seems to be at odds with profitability. “Knowledge…? Knowledge? That is a worship word. Yang worship. You will not speak it.” ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/32 "2014-02-22T16:47:34Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > But dingo meat should be pretty cheap, you’d think… Not so. The babies required to fatten them up for butchering don’t come cheap, ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/33 "2014-02-22T17:02:14Z")
Wow-- every fast food place here (midwest) has prices shown clearly. Yeah, the “Numbered Meals” are getting bigger\* (hope I never hit the point where I walk in and say “I’ll have a 2 and a 5” like I saw a fat guy do the other day).\* But my beloved Dollar Menu is still there… Bacon Ranch burger, fries and a fruit/yogurt parfait for $3.15 with tax: Mmmm… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/34 "2014-02-22T17:35:41Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > You people all need to check out In & Out Burger, if there’s one in your neighborhood. (It’s mostly a West Coast chain.) > > Their ENTIRE menu consists of: > [ul] > [li] Single burger.[/li][li] Double burger.[/li][li] Single cheeseburger.[/li][li] Double cheeseburger.[/li][li] Fries. (One size only.) (Salt-free on request.)[/li][li] The usual self-serve beverage bar.[/li][/ul] > Diced onions on burger optional, grilled diced onions on request. > That’s _it._ > All burgers cooked when ordered, not in advance and kept warm while they dry out; not cooked at a factory, frozen, and shipped out. Likewise, fries cut from fresh whole potatoes and cooked on site. > > (For the insider crowd, there’s also a secret menu that’s not shown at all. You just have to know about it. It’s easily googlable.) You forgot their shakes. That’s listed on the menu as, well. Love the short, simple menu, although as good as their burgers are (my favorite fast food burgers), with only two grill orders, you’d think they’d figure out the fries by now, but I guess there must be people who like them. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/35 "2014-02-23T03:36:29Z")
I thought for sure this thread was going to be about Chinese Restaurants. Now I see its about people who have trouble finding the menu items that aren’t in flashing neon lights. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/36 "2014-02-23T04:15:48Z")
No, we have trouble finding them at all. Because they aren’t posted anywhere. I’ve asked. And it’s even more annoying trying to order a couple of pieces of chicken when you’re in a neighborhood where you have to talk to the cashier through an intercom. That thing that looks like the full menu over on the side wall? That’s the nutrition information card. You want me to not hold up the line? Inform me of all the available choices. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/37 "2014-02-23T04:21:36Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Actually I’ve noticed (at McDonalds) that in some cases the combo meal is cheaper than ordering just a hamburger and fries. Hasn’t that been the case at most of these places for at least 20 years or more? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/38 "2014-02-23T04:24:33Z")
Oh I guess maybe the combo includes a drink, if that’s what you meant. If I do eat at one of these places I only get a sandwich, so I haven’t been paying attention much. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/39 "2014-02-23T16:12:54Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > You people all need to check out In & Out Burger, if there’s one in your neighborhood. (It’s mostly a West Coast chain.) > > Their ENTIRE menu consists of: > > \ > > (For the insider crowd, there’s also a secret menu that’s not shown at all. You just have to know about it. It’s easily googlable.) If there’s also a secret menu, then what’s posted is obviously not their ENTIRE menu, no? ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773/40 "2014-02-23T16:39:54Z")
The in-n-out secret menu is the same items, just cooked differently. They still only have burgers, fries, soft drinks, and shakes, but you can get your onions grilled or get any number of beef patties or cheese slices or have the whole shebang wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. Then there’s animal style, where they do something magical and delicious that I don’t fully understand but order every time I’m there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-we-now-keeping-the-menu-a-secret/681773.md?page=3)