Fast Food Prices Have Doubled In Ten Years... Labor Costs The Main Issue
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He ordered a Happy meal, ice cream cone and smoothie and it came to $12.90. We have a high minimum wage in our state so they have to cover that cost.
I normally get him to eat a healthier meal at home but treated him to junk fast food to kill some time and let him play at the Playland. If he were overweight, I wouldn't have brought him to McDonald's but we treat it as a special occasion. His parents evidently do bring him there because he knew exactly what he wanted.
That sounds a bit pricey for a Child's Happy Meal, and I am not sure that this is justified even with a minimum wage, and $12.90 is the equivalent of £10.19 in the UK, and the fact that you can buy three things off the menu for $5 in parts of the US or £3 in the UK backs up this assertion.
It's also worth noting that there is a minimum wage in the UK of £11.44, it's currently the equivalent of $14.50 USD an hour.
No. Fast food prices go up for the same reason that other prices go up: it costs more to make it now than it used to. And raising the cost of making fast food even further by mandating a wage that is astronomically out of sync with the skill level required for the job is not going to help matters in the slightest. Those $20 per hour minimum wage fast food workers are going to enjoy about 3-4 months of being "faux rich" and then the world is going to crash on them when they realize that making minimum wage still ends up with them not being able to afford anything beyond a basic existence. Because no matter what you make the minimum wage, those who earn it are still going to be comparatively poor.
We have neither a strong economy nor full employment. We have an economy that is booming in certain sectors and a labor force that has ditched traditional employment for the gig economy - and various governments are doing what they can to destroy that.
We have "low" unemployment because of the way unemployment is calculated. We have a labor force participation rate that has still not caught up with where it was in 2019 and early 2020. We have record-high consumer debt. We have a stock market that is being artificially propped up by government spending. None of these are indicators of a strong economy. In fact, all of them are indicators of a major correction coming in the near future.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with fast food prices.
Pounded (flattened) chicken is easy to do on a $20 Foreman Grill, as well. Boneless chicken breasts or thighs are less than $3/lb.
Yep, as a matter of fact, I'm having a grilled chicken breast dinner today. I don't recall the price per pound, but I bought a bunch of boneless chicken breast when it was on sale. After I cut it up to freeze it and trimmed off the fat, the price was a little less than 90 cents for each one-third pound piece. So each meal with veggies and potatoes is probably about $3.00, maybe $3.50 tops.
A January poll by consulting firm Revenue Management Solutions found that about 25% of people who make under $50,000 were cutting back on fast food, pointing to cost as a concern.
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Fast-food prices have shot up over the last decade, according to FinanceBuzz. The personal finance site found that the price of a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal from McDonald's more than doubled in price from $5.39 in 2014 to $11.99 this year.
Other restaurant chains also have jacked up their prices, FinanceBuzz said. Between 2014 and 2024, Popeye's, Jimmy John's and Subway hiked their food prices 86%, 62% and 39%, respectively. The price of a two-piece chicken combo at Popeyes jumped from $6.49 to $11.39 over that period, while an eight-inch club tuna from Jimmy Johns rose from $5.75 to $9.10, according to FinanceBuzz.
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Restaurant chains point to rising labor costs as a key factor driving up prices. Across the U.S., 22 states raised their minimum wages in January, although the federal baseline pay remains stuck at $7.25 an hour.
Labor advocates say companies should be able to absorb to costs. Nothing new there.
Maybe they should fire all of the Americans and hire the illegals.
Fast food prices go up as low wage workers living pay check to pay check no longer subsidize it.
Inflation is up because we have a strong economy with full employment and a labor shortage. At the same time, we are being hit with drought which has caused ranchers to cut their herds, citrus production is down due to severe weather and citrus greening disease for which there is no cure, olive groves overseas are drying up due to severe drought, in 2022, more than 43 million egg-laying hens died from avian flu and the industry is still recovering.
On the Delmarva Peninsula and Tidewater VA, rising sea levels are now affecting soil with salt water intrusion and storm surge into fields reducing production of vegetables and hay production. Some of these fields are now being used as marshland, unable to grow food.
I think that most leave out a factor when making these cost comparisons to home made versus travelling to a fast food place and throwing lazy accusations. Because if you don't enjoy preparing food you are incurring an uncompensated labor cost.
So what is your rate of pay after already working 8 or 10 hours doing income producing work? That is the actual cost of your time. You have to then add the cost of your labor in sourcing, preparing and cleaning up to get the accurate cost of making your own versus playing and sleeping. Beyond relieving you of the home work responsibilities being faster than the restaurant row establishments and possibly safer than mom and pop's eatery is where the corporate fast food industry made its money.
Right. It is convenient. I dont think most people eat FF on a daily basis. I cant cook a burger or chicken sandwich on a george foreman while I'm driving somewhere, or in a hurry, or maybe I'm dead tired and dont want to cook and clean up.
While there are many factors to exploding fast food prices, I am surprised one isn't mentioned more in this thread: One of the reasons McDonald's can charge these outrageous prices is for the same reason crappy artists can charge $1000 for concert tickets. BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO PAY IT.
They might kvetch about it, but they still pay it.
Until people stop feeding the beast, they will keep raising prices.
There is a McDs just a few hundred feet from my house, and I only occasionally indulge, and only when I can get a good deal on the app (and even that feels like too much sometimes)
I prefer BK (They have a $5 for 2 Whopper Jr special that's pretty good) but its not as convenient.
While there are many factors to exploding fast food prices, I am surprised one isn't mentioned more in this thread: One of the reasons McDonald's can charge these outrageous prices is for the same reason crappy artists can charge $1000 for concert tickets. BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO PAY IT.
They might kvetch about it, but they still pay it.
Until people stop feeding the beast, they will keep raising prices.
There is a McDs just a few hundred feet from my house, and I only occasionally indulge, and only when I can get a good deal on the app (and even that feels like too much sometimes)
I prefer BK (They have a $5 for 2 Whopper Jr special that's pretty good) but its not as convenient.
But only to a certain point and then they cut back.
Cracker Barrel, Starbucks, KFC, Red Lobster, Denny's and Applebee's....all lost revenue and are closing stores, cutting dividends and some even declaring bankruptcy.
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