I would think that, but In N Out somehow makes it worked. I counted no fewer than 13 employees that I could see at my most recent stop in Phoenix. It’s incredible.
I haven’t been to an In-N-Out in years (the lines are too long). What are their recent price hikes like compared to other fast food since COVID/Inflation?
We don’t have that here. But I gather there are fewer In-n-Outs than Subways. Fewer popular restaurants might mean busier ones? Staff are obviously needed at busy times and in locations with commensurate traffic.
It isn’t unusual here to see a mere four people (who)manning a fast food joint of average popularity. Am sure this varies widely.
They went up minimally, but nothing like McDonald’s or Taco Bell. A Big Mac with fries and a drink runs about $16. A double double with fries and a drink - about $10. That’s one of the reasons In and Out remains packed and the others are ghost towns. They are able to keep their prices low while remaining fully staffed. Their locations are always clean, their employees always friendly and competent. But, In and Out also doesn’t change their menu every 3 days, nor do they need to advertise much. I suspect that has a lot to do with it.
Everything old is new again!
Seriously, that’s what MickeyD’s was like 60 years ago, at least where I was. Specifically, the McDonalds on Route 1 south of Alexandria, VA was strictly take-out. There were a couple of uncomfortable, not-particularly-clean-looking booths off to one side that you never saw anyone use. Everyone parked, walked in, ordered, got their food, and took it back to the car. It didn’t even have a drive-through window.
The one in Hybla Valley was like that from 1960 to at least 1971; when a McDonalds with a dining area like we’re used to opened up further south along Route 1 by Ft. Belvoir towards the end of that period, it was a difference we noticed; we’d never thought of McDonalds as a place where you’d go in and sit down.
Gawd, does this accurately describe my first (and last) experience in a Chipotle.
Although at the time I compared it to a penitentiary mess hall …
Same in California. I remember a time when Carl’s Jr. was the weird fast food chain that actually let you inside the building. Places like McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Der Wienersnitzel (all where you ordered at a window) had a few concrete tables and benches outside, but that was the extent of the dining amenities. The huge golden aches and mission bell facades were abandoned when they started accommodating indoor sit-down customers in the 1970s. I still see a lot of the original Taco Bell buildings but none of them are still Taco Bells. Every now and then you will see a Weinersnitzel still housed in the old steep-roofed building. None of those have indoor dining.
This sort of thing is going vary a lot from location to location. The McDonald’s in Big Bear Lake near the ski resort is absolutely packed inside with people eating and warming up. Probably the cheapest, quickest place to get food along the strip there. There’s no time limit on how long you stay; amenities aren’t locked up.
However, many McDonald’s in Los Angeles that have a significant homeless population also have table time limits, fountains behind the counter, and daily codes for the bathrooms. But there’s still many that are more open. Location really matters.
Same thing with Starbucks. Some are very open and let you lounge for hours. Others have a few outside tables and a locked bathroom.
My pet peeve is the use of wall and window materials which unmercifully reflect sound, specifically that of other people. My family has a place like that in Florida that we’ve regularly gone to (run by a childhood acquaintance), but after the last time where none of us could hear ourselves think thanks to the ricocheting conversational chatter, I told them never again.
I don’t buy meals, just double cheeseburgers. I believe it was like $5.30-ish in the Phoenix area. A few years ago it was under $5. I just remember that it was a bit above five, as I remarked on it. But different locations have different prices. I see a picture on Yelp of the In n Out I go to when I’m out there that it was $5.05 as of May of 2023, and $4.60 May of 2022. Right before the lockdown, it was $4.15 in Feb 2020.
This is from a different design factor – the materials that reflect sound rather than absorbing it are the ones that are easy to clean. That’s why they are chosen.
I believe there is data believed by the restaurant industry that loud means more sales. People get expansive in a party environment and reticent in a church quiet environment.
Obviously gathered and analyzed by extrovert sales / marketing types.
Hard surfaces turn 2 couples in a big room into a shouting match.
It was a few years ago, but I did this once. It was kind of weird, because as already mentioned there’s no public area. It took me and another guy there for a pick up a minute to figure out where we were supposed to go, but we eventually figured out that you’re supposed to ring a doorbell on the front door, and someone brings the order out to you. There appeared to be several different virtual “restaurants” operating out of the same kitchen.
I was told by a server in a particularly loud sports bar type restaurant that a loud environment encourages patrons to use their mouths for dinking rather than conversation.
About 8 or so years ago before COVID all the local McDonald’s and Jack in the Boxes in my area tried to actually bring people inside by offering free Wi-Fi and having big screen TVs on the wall that played TV shows and trivia things and all the ads were just for the restaurant. McDonald’s TV was what McDonald’s had and I remember watching an episode of the Brady Bunch while I was eating in there. I think what wound up happening was instead of bringing in office people using their WiFi on lunch or having families eat there for an extended period of time they wound up just getting homeless people who would sit inside all day watching the TV and using the WiFi because I remember within a year they all had signs saying ONE HOUR MAXIMUM FOR SEAT USAGE and eventually they just turned the TVs off.
We have one of those Taco Bell mission style buildings here in Little Rock, but it’s been a Chinese restaurant for more than twenty years now. I’m one of those folks who kind of misses the old fast food restaurant experience. The Wendy’s restaurants always had those old time newspaper patterns on their tables to go along with the old fashioned hamburger I guess. Now all these restaurants pretty much look alike with red accents everywhere.
But I hardly ever eat inside a fast food restaurant. We had a Popeye’s open here three years ago, and while I pickup food there more often than I should, I’ven ever been inside.
I have read sad music (country?) encourages drinking.
They don’ call it “cryin’ in yer beer” music for nuthin’, pardner.
And when they do advertise, it’s mostly on radio which is relatively cheap.
Yet, somehow I know that’s what a hamburger’s all about.