to think McDonald's have lost the main idea of "fast food"

[urwildquoter24]

It's not even fast anymore. It takes at least 15 minutes on a good day to get food, and on a bad day even longer. The drive-thru is even worse, I was in there last weekend and there were three cars in front of me and took half an hour to get my food and go.

I haven't even seen McDonald's do anything particularly creative recently. They're just bringing back old things and the food really doesn't look anything like in there adverts (which we established years ago)

And don't start about the new Happy Meal toys!!!

McDonald's is basically where fast food started, and now I think it's lost it a bit.

I stopped working for them two years ago now but as a CEL, we were constantly told that McDonald's wasn't fast food - it was a family restaurant chain.

And believe me, the staff hate delivery more than the customers! Most of the stores don't really have space for the volume of food that's ordered and it just slows everything down. We weren't allowed to turn the order tablets off either, even if we were utterly swamped with orders.

I blame Deliveroo and similar. I was in a proper sit down restaurant and had to wait 90 mins for my mains whilst delivery drivers walked in and out constantly. I was with a large group which is the only reason I stayed had I been with my family we would have just walked out.

It was so much more convenient when they used to have the burgers ready on the shelf behind the tills.

They still do this at my local McDonald's, because it hasn't been refurbished and looks about 13/14 years out of date compared to others nearby.

Of course it's food 🙄🙄🙄

Ever had McCain fries from the supermarket freezer? Same thing as McDonald's fries which are made by McCain. Burgers are 100% beef which is a lot better than a lot of supermarket burgers, and the nuggets are 100% chicken breast. The meat/milk/eggs are all from British and Irish farms and is RSPCA assured too!

Might want to fact check before you spout utter rubbish eh @KnickerlessParsons

My only problem with that is that you get food that's been sitting out for hours unless you customise it, then they'll have no choice but to make it fresh.

If it's anything like McDonald's, the staff in store want to make delivery orders last hut are constantly told by the higher ups that delivery has to be a priority.

I was always getting into trouble for making in store orders my priority!

They are still free depending on your order value like you can get one free with a a meal/ happy meal but not with other things.

The max amount of time food could be held is 30mins, and much less than that for fries so nothing would be sitting for hours.

Yes all of our local McDonald’s take around half an hour now and it doesn’t matter if you do drive thru, click & collect or go in store - it takes forever! And the chips are always freezing.

YANBU. I went for an interview there and the guy interviewing me placed a big emphasis on the fact McD’s is fast food not fast service. He wasn’t wrong.

I avoid now, can’t be bothered with the chaotic ordering system and not really knowing where you are in the queue because the screen says your order is ready to collect but then nothing appears for ages.

Plus at our local one it always seems full of teenagers who won’t queue to use the machines to order, so you end up with a normal queue and then teenagers pushing in with most people too afraid to say anything and the staff completely ignoring. Far too stressful for a burger that looks like someone sat on it and soggy chips.

I bloody love KFC. Had some just the other day. Scrumptious.

I think Colonel Sanders should be memorialised in Westminster Abbey or somewhere equally significant. I know he was an American but he’s spread such joy to the world that I believe we can make an exception.

Just a statue outside the Vegan Society’s HQ in Birmingham for Ronald McDonald, I’m afraid.

For me a visit to McDonald's has always been about grabbing something quickly rather than the food. The last two occasions we have been there the wait was ridiculous.....definitely not fast food anymore!

Absolutely no problem in my semi-rural part of Scotland but I think the Deliveroo type delivery is not much of a thing here yet. TBH, if you're ordering delivery of this type of food, I think you would expect it to be below par by the time it reaches you.

Aye, I only go if pestered by DD now and a max of once a week.

In the sense that they haven't really bought put any menu items that are actually interesting.

I don't think they need to keep changing the menu. The standards are the best. The rest are just to generate a bit of new advertising, like when chocolate bars do orange or mint flavours. There's not really the intention that the Big New Tasty Whatever spin on burger/bacon/cheese/bread is gonna blow anyone's mind and become a staple. Most people want a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder or Chicken Nuggets or a handful of other classics with fries and they're happy with that.

The speed seems to be a local issue, it's still swift enough at our local ones. Maybe all the Deliveroo orders are causing more bottlenecks.

Sometimes they charge for dips, more often they don't ime, and if you're eating in, they often have the free dips where you squirt sauce into little pots.

Happy Meal Toys - I just wish there was an option on the digital menu for no toy. I love a Happy Meal because the normal meals can be too much at times, but I don't want the toy or book and there's no box to tick for that. It's a waste. Glad there's no longer plastic toys though, madness to want those back.

It’s because they no longer batch cook and prepare food. Every burger is built one by one. When I worked at McD’s twenty years ago it was deffo faster. This was partly because the systems monitored our speed, especially on drive through. Our pay rises depended on us providing quality and quantity of service.

We have 3 McDonald's near to us. They are all ok. I've never waited 15 minutes for anything. I got one delivered once and it was lukewarm by the time we got it so I wouldn't do that again.

Sadly, there are 2 close together a short drive from us. Both shit. Both full of deliveroo and just eat drivers.

If you will go to an establishment like McDonalds, this is all on you. Garbage "food" .

That still wouldn't make plastic toys sustainable, though. Mass producing unnecessary (and often unwanted) toys is emissions intensive and unsustainable, regardless of whether it's possible to expend more GHG emissions melting them back down into something else.

Also there main stay veggie option is so retro now.

They need a veggie chicken offering.

Why would a veggie want chicken?

I absolutely despise fast food or any takeaways precisely because is so inconvenient and not fast at all, not to mention expensive and unhealthy. I can whip a meal faster, cheaper and healthier...not to mention tastier.

You used a lot of words to say your local Maccies is shit. There are plenty others, try a different one.

It's all the Just Eat and Deliveroo orders that they prioritise over people in the drive through queue or stood at the counter. If they're not careful, it will kill their business.

It's been getting worse and worse over the past two or three years, well, ever since Covid really which coincides with the massive increase in home deliveries.

It's not just the waiting in the (very slow moving) queue, then waiting at the second window or being told to park up, all that time, your food is getting colder and mankier as parts of it are ready and left languishing under the heat lamps, whilst waiting for other parts, and then even when it's all bagged and ready to go, it can take a while for the staff to become available to bring it to you sat in the car park.

Whenever I finally get the order, I now always check that it's warm and fresh and will refuse to accept it and insist on replacements if the chips are cold and soggy for example (which is far too often these days!).