I worked at McDonald's when the Egg McMuffin was invented. Used to love the double cheeseburgers. And the cherry pies in February.
Don't have to worry. When the cows are eliminated, McDonald's won't be around. Soy burgers are not that addictive.
It was a long time ago, but wasn’t it McDonalds that got in trouble because they had added soy into their burgers, and didn’t say anything about it ? I can remember back when they first started in Seattle, and the first McDonalds sign that I ever saw was “Over 25,000” sold, which they thought was pretty amazing back in the early 1960’s. It wasn’t long after that when the sign was 500,000, and then One Million, and now, somewhere into the billions probably. Anyway, they had to stop adding the soy into their burgers, or tell people that they added soy; so as far as I know, they stopped adding the soy.
That may be, as vegetable matter, including soy and oatmeal, was added to burgers years ago, but that is different from having no beef or meat in it whatsoever.
When I was working managing a territory in west Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma panhandle I ate lunch at McDonald's every chance I had. I would get two of those little burgers with meat and catchup every day for lunch. In some of those lttle towns I passed through there was nowhere else to eat. It was McDonald's or Dairy Queen and sometime just one or the other. I occasional picked up a sausage biscuit or egg and whatever. Outside that my wife wouldn't go near one and so I didn't when I was not on the road. It's been years since I've been in a McDonalds.
Remember when the rumor was going around years ago that Wendy's put ground-up worms in their burgers? Actually, it was just that some of the cattle operations were feeding the cows "worm meal".....some kind of grain mixture with ground-up dried worms for extra protein. The rumor did cause them some market loss for a brief period. To this day, we still say, "Let's pick up some Wendy's Worm Burgers!" and laugh about it. I favor Wendy's and Burger King over McDonald's, but after three weeks of non-stop curry and rice, when I saw the McDonald's sign in Mumbai last year, I had to eat there. When I got in, there were about half the people in our group chowing down guiltily. Really good veggie burgers. Excellent fries, too.
I go to McDonalds a few times a year when I'm out shopping and I don't feel like making lunch when I get home. Today I got the same thing I always get: regular [small] burger, McChicken sandwich, medium fries. Pre-scamdemic price was under $5. Today's price is over $9. Part of it is the same food price inflation we're all subject to. But I was reading an article the other day about some of their locations closing due to outrageous state minimum wage increases, and buried in that article was the sub-story that McDonalds is raising their prices because they know that enough people will continue to eat there even though it costs more...much more. While on one hand it's sad for some families who now cannot afford even the occasional treat for their kids, on the other hand it's perfect business behaviour. If demand exceeds capacity, and customers are passing you over rather than waiting in line, then it means your prices are too low. Plus, a lesser component of this is to make up for the lost revenue where unrealistic wage increases are chasing businesses away. I won't go back, not that my occasional business represents any great loss. There's no way I'll pay close to $10 for a mediocre fast food lunch. The only reason I went by today is [uncharacteristically] there was no line. Instead of 20 or more cars lined up spilling out of the parking lot, there was no wait for me to order food and there were only 3 cars ahead of me paying/picking up. Now I know why.
The McDonald's here is starting people out at $18 per hour now and still can't find anyone willing to work. Often, the drive-through lane is slow because the same person who takes the order is the one who hands you your food at the second window since they are short on people. For whatever reason, while I used to prefer Dunkin's coffee to McDonald's, that has switched over the past couple of years. Either Dunkin's coffee has gotten worse or McDonald's has gotten better, but I prefer McDonald's now, so I go through the drive-through for coffee whenever I am traveling somewhere, and if I'm there early enough (the McD here no longer serves breakfast all day), I'll get a McDonald's breakfast, but there isn't much else there that I like. Sometimes, I'll get a fish sandwich without tartar sauce. That tastes kind of bland, but it's not awful, although my cats probably get better fish than what goes into those sandwiches.
The only negative food thing I recall about McDonalds is when they got caught putting beef tallow in the grease--without disclosing it--to give the fries flavor. I think it pissed off a lot of vegetarians/vegans. The first time I had McDonalds is the day we moved to Virginia in 1963, and ate there for dinner. I was upset that I could not "get it my way." Of course, with 6 kids ordering food and being fresh off the road from the drive from Indiana, no one gave a crap what I wanted. I loathe ketchup on my burgers. And I, too, recall those #Served signs when they were in the tens of thousands. My favorite place used to be Burger Chef. I'll take a Super Chef or a Big Chef over any other chain's sandwich.
Many many moons ago, the word came out that Micky’s was using some type of ground worm as a filler in their burgers. To answer the charge, the CEO simply said publicly that the type of worm they were supposedly using was so expensive that the burgers would cost 4 times as much if they used the ground worm even as a filler.
They had the BEST $1.50 burger going. I was surprised when I was in Greenville, S.C. around 10 or so years ago and there was a Jacque en le Box right around the corner from the VA clinic. It was still a buck fitty for their sloppy burger.
0 fast food where I live. It was 25 years ago but there was a cracklings stand on the corner of the gas station two blocks from here. People would get their daily fix for greasy stuff I guess. As a kid I remember the great cornbread Grandmother would make using the cracklings bought in the stores in Houston. My favorite food 50 years ago was Churches Fried Chicken. It was really good and plus there was fried clams which I dearly love. Cold Slaw and other goodies. Down Town Houston we had a McDonalds Drive Inn under the I-45 Loop going south to Galveston. It was not the chain brand but an old established place long before McDonalds started. They sued the people owning this drive in and they lost big time. I see today the same place is sitting there and it is now a Burger King. The once huge parking lot where all the street racers would hang around and drink beer has been repurposed into a normal parking lot and also the street has chewed into the frontage, no surprises there with all the traffic. To be honest I wish there was a Jack in the Box here, I still love those damned Tacos they made. The large ones with the spicy hot sauce. In 57 I spent a year in San Diego with my Mother and Brother and Sisters. Jack in the Box was just cranking up then and I remember a taco costing like 17 cents. How things have changed.