McDonald's is cutting prices to convince customers it's affordable again

The prices are insane for all fast food near me. Taco Bell and Subway are also like this. Six bucks for a single chalupa or whatever? Fifteen bucks for a foot long sub? Might as well go to a nicer restaurant. The speed isn’t enough to justify it.

But also the menus have changed. I noticed during COVID lockdowns many of them eliminated breakfast all day, and other things. It’s not just the prices. The experience is itself different. I’m not sure lowering prices will bring back customers.

McDonalds made $14B in profit last year (2024).

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I think it's kinda funny how many fast food restaurants forgot why people eat at fast food restaurants. Almost nobody eats at them because they love the food. They eat at them because they're cheap, fast, and convenient.

But in this case, McDonald's in only reducing prices on some combo meals, not actually reducing prices overall.

McChicken Meal still makes sense to me. $5 for small fries, small drink, 4 nuggets and a McChicken. Taco Bell still has decent value menu items as well. You mainly just need to avoid the numbered combos. The price for those are indeed crazy.

Well, how else would you convince your customers that you are affordable?

I hadn't noticed. I haven't frequented a fast food place in 10 years or more. And I worked at Mickey D's when they were bragging about selling a million.

High fast food prices got me to make cooking more of a regular habit and I'm not going back to this garbage.