AIBU to think McDonald’s has lost the plot

[ChristineCricket]

So I always have the odd McDonald’s with the kids in the holidays, so twice this week I have been in there. Both times they forgot the fries and both times it was cold and tasteless. My chicken sandwich was so thin with barely any mayo.
Now I have been eating fairly clean recently so maybe my taste buds have changed, or has anyone else noticed a decline?

It’s always been rubbish

I have noticed the quality has gone downhill since they set up the order at the kiosk and leave food there for ages until its collected. I dont bother anymore.

They vary hugely from one to another, some are also franchised. There tend to be lots around so perhaps try a different one.

I have 100% noticed this as well & they have that many delivery drivers that you end up waiting much longer than usual.

The one I went on today is my usual one and I do think the chicken sandwich used to ooze mayo.

It’s a franchise, so it’s just a shit run site by a shit franchisee.

I haven't had one since last year! I want one now lol to see if it's changed

No - we have one every 6 weeks or so and have never had a disappointing one aside from one time the chips were cold and they replaced them. I have noticed that they are a lot slower than they used to be because of all the home delivery stuff and that's annoying but never seen any differences in the quality/taste of food, including all the ones I've had abroad.

Ours won't customise your burger anymore, so I'm giving it a miss
And yes , they are scrimping on the sauce

It's always been rubbish quality but in recent years they've tried to make things healthier and more sustainable. Unfortunately a lot of the flavour that made it taste better before was due to salt, fat and artificial ingredients. As these have been phased out due to (understandable) health concerns the taste has gone downhill - the fact is, healthy food tastes worse.

Also like every other business they have had to become more sustainable. On the face of it this sounds positive but it has a negative impact on quality. In the past McDonald's focus was on speed - take the money, get the food cooked and get the customer out of the door as quickly as possible. Now, the first priority is sustainability and the avoidance of waste. This leads to things that would have been discarded in the past being left lying around to be used later on. Things become less fresh because instead of binning ingredients that were past their best they have to keep them until they are either used or are no longer safe.

It's not just McDonald's of course, all businesses are having to realign their priorities. It's just more obvious in a business like this where the focus in the past was on taste and speed. It's similar to how some supermarkets have removed "use by" dates from milk. On the face of it, encouraging consumers to "sniff it" is good and will reduce waste, but the inevitable consequence is that shops leave goods on the shelves for longer so inferior quality ones become commonplace.

Not unsafe, just not as fresh.

Its shit, I dont go anymore as its such poor quality. My local McDonalds serves burnt but cold food. I'm not lovin it. One fucking bit.

I bought a veggie wrap and some chips late last year and I hated the chips. Oily and cold.
Not had an McDonald's since.
Dh likes a Big Mac , but he agreed they are not what they once were !

My local McD is ok, but their McFlurry machine was out of order for months.

Normally aswell, I'm scraping sauce off because the burger is drowning in it.

I have been eating fairly clean recently

FFS

McDonald's the inventor of fast food has lost its way.
Takes fucking ages now.

Like literally 15 minutes from ordering to getting our meal!

I always count ourselves lucky if the order is:

1- right
2 - warm
3 - they've remembered sauce

I had the latest chicken burger - is it McCrispy or something? Absolutely awful. I couldn't eat it.

The time before that the burger just tasted of salt. Again couldn't eat it. Even DH agreed it was awful and he loves McDonald's. Give me a whopper any day.

I do like the breakfasts though - gutted they got rid of the breakfast wrap because that was amazeballs

We have a really good McDonald's near us, but noticed the last time we went that the food was tasteless and not half as satisfying as it used to be. May be they have tried to reduce the salt/fat content and so the flavour and texture has changed? Went to the new local Tim Hortons last week and that was much nicer. Will go there in the future.

Go here I don't believe it!

It used to be fatty salty cardboard but now it's just cardboard, same thing has happened to ready meals

I go to various ones round Yorkshire and they're all hot and tasty as usual.

I can’t imagine what a McDonald’s order tastes like by the time it’s delivered to someone’s home. Sometimes it’s only lukewarm when it reaches the restaurant table.

McDonalds is a franchise so service in one wont necessarily be the same as the next.
My nearest is shite, but the one further away is always hot and freshly cooked.

Funnily enough they forgot our fries last time as well.

Our local McDs just reopened after a refurbish. You can't see the kitchen at all anymore, there's just a little counter in the wall for passing food out. There's a whole seperate restaurant entrance for delivery drivers. It's a weird sort of dead vibe in there now, with all the activity hidden away. Also we went the week it opened and it was filthy already!

My saddest McDonald's moment though, was when they stopped doing sundaes.

The last time I went there my burger looked like it had been made by a drunk in the dark.

It's the least compatible with delivery, you see why they held off doing it for so long