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I used to "love" running in to McD when I was in a hurry and ask "what burgers do you have that are ready?" and just take whatever was available. More often than not, it was a cheese/double cheese.
Now I have to wait 5-10 minutes before its ready, and its more expensive.
The trade off of cheap and fast vs quality have disappeared.
People go to fast food places because while it isn't good, you know what to expect. It's going to be mediocre food for a relatively quick wait.
You just need to figure out your meal quickly without too much effort or thought? Fast food.
You could always go to a new restaurant but you don't know if they will take forever to serve you, if the food will be good, etc. But everybody knows what to expect from fast food brands.
Because when its good, its so fucking good. They spend literal millions developing their menu to give you a dropkick to the balls of dopamine. FAT! SALT! MSG! HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! REPEAT!
But that requires the stars to align. You need the buns and salad items to not be stale, the chips and meat for the burger to be hot and fresh, the burger to be assembled by someone giving half a fuck, the postmix machine to be set up correctly and give you the right mix, actually fizzy and ice cold. You rarely get the whole meal "just right" but when it is, that one perfect meal sticks in your brain like a catchy song and will carry you through the next half a dozen so-so feeds while you chase the dragon.
These days I only allow myself one trip to KFC a month and I go in and sit down in the restaurant because if something isnt right I go complain and ask for a remake because I spend 29 days a month counting every calorie and tracking every macro because you are not gonna fuck up my blowout meal.
I consumed fast food regularly when it was cheap. Maybe today someone consumes fast food regularly, because it can still be cheap, but only if you collect points, coupons and such.
On top of that, they're always around you and you know what they offer, if you get used to it. Sometimes I want a satisfying safe bet instead of an unknown experiment.
All the answers will be the same:
I have limited choices and this is all I got.
It comfort food. I have fond memories.
Don't yuck on people's yum.
The King is holding my family hostage unless I order two whoppers a week please send help
The quality depends on locations and staffing, etc. Also vegetarian options at fast food joints are a guaranteed way to have crappy food. The big name fast food places have never had good choices for vegetarian/vegan stuff.
You get tired of eating microwave meals, and anything that leaves dishes I have to clean later is certainly not easier than going to fast food
Every time I eat a mcD cheeseburger I get a tummy ache. That shit is concrete.
It's fast and McDonalds is one of the only places in my city that is open 24/7
I don't go there regularly anymore after I stopped working as a service technician who had to travel a lot.
Fast food is pretty gross if you don't eat it regularly. I think a lot of it is how addictive it can be. A hit of caffeine, sugar, salt, and fat when you are hungry and tired hits the spot.
People get stuck in these routines, and the companies have apps and reward programs to gamify people into coming back.
Yeah I was just reading through these comments totally confused what was going on, I might get a KFC once a year and that's it. All the rest of them make me feel slightly ill just from the smell.
I do have a great Indian place locally I use fairly often and a couple others, just can't imagine buying the chain stuff.
Yeah I remember being in my twenties and absolutely salivating over a $2 Tuesday lunch special near my work, which is not something I could stomach now that I've got some years of home cooking in me.
I think this is the only answer that I can understand
I like tasty gourmet food. But I also like junk.
I genuinely like a big Mac or a domino pizza. Are they as good as a gourmet burger or a wood oven pizza? Not even close. Can I enjoy them regularly? Absolutely.
Same. I’ve had Michelin star meals, meals from world famous chefs, and everything in between. And sometimes the only thing I want is a McDs double cheese burger.
Tastes are funny. Sometimes I want a steak and salad, sometimes I want a shitty greasy burger with a pile of fries.
Same. There's a strange allure to cheap fast food. Ig it's a childhood thing for me, forbidden fruit and all, but I really love cooking all kinds of meals myself too.
I don't go to our only city with KFC and stuff a lot, so when I go I usually get a vegan burger there even tho it's mad expensive
The only one I typically go to these days is taco bell because I like the flavor and homemade any of it doesn't taste the same no matter how hard I try. I do make tacos at home often, it still isn't exactly the same (good but different). With the mobile app that I run in a sandbox the prices also aren't the worst in the world and the rewards for free food stack fast.
But burger king is garbage, and I say that as a former BK customer. I think it has gone extremely downhill in the last 5-10 years and the prices have also gone up. It just doesn't make sense anymore. I got a griddle at home and can relatively easily cook up some tasty frozen patties seasoned just how I like.
Same for KFC, Wendy's, Arby's, and Carl's Jr. KFC flavor and quality seems to have gone downhill. Wendy's is exceptionally expensive typically. Arby's is not only expensive but I feel the quality has also gone down. Carl's Jr seems to be roughly the same, but the prices have gone up and the one near me is typically slow so you can tell the patty you end up with has been drying under a heat lamp for hours.
Everything at McDonald's tastes too processed and sugary to me, unsure why (and one would think I'd have a similar response to TB...)
Anyway...long story short I probably go when I go because of an attempt at nostalgia or fast convenience - but not to save money or for quality.
I know this is a bad reason, but I'm lazy and don't feel like cooking, so it's convenient.
Honest question, have you tried other places that were not fast food (ie. Chilli's) or cooking quick meals that didn't work out for you? If so, what?
I always find it humorous that people treat places like Chili's or Applebee's as if they are somehow better than fast food in value for money.
I only do real fast food, or a more serious sit down restaurant of better quality. Not this overpriced garbage in between.
Oh for sure, fuck those places. I rather order from a small mom & pop restaurant than from some corpo chain. I just mentioned Chili's because OP sounded like convenience was important and ordering from an app and just going to pick up seems universally convinient. I rather cook for myself, but when I feel lazy I treat myself at a restaurant, but then again I'm not the audience this post is targeting
Not the same person but fast food is way faster and cheaper than some place like Chili's as long as you stick to the more value focused options. I can get a full meal with leftovers for $5-6 bucks usually
It's also cheaper than a lot of home cooking unless you plan very well, make large batches, and are cool with eating the same leftovers all week.
A lot of areas don't have other restaurants. It's a sea of fast food that can only be driven to.
City is different, but before I had the savings to move, I u didn't have much choice
I find it fascinating that places like that exist. Where I grew up I had to take the bus for like 20min for my closest fast food joint. Where I live the go to food is döner (I'm from germany). That's usully faster, healthier and in my opinion tastes a lot better than fast food. Most other countries in europe I've been to have some kind of similar food. So in my opinion it's crazy that there are still places that haven't developed some kind of quick good tasting food and that fast food has such a tight grip around a whole community
Oh, that is a fair point. We did have a donor kebab place, Which definitely blow Burger King and McDonald's out of the water.
But variety is nice and in the absence of that there was nothing other than KFC and Burger King.
I don't really bother with the middle of the restaurant industry (and it's not just me, as chains like Chili's and Applebee's have complained about the trends hollowing out the middle). It's just not enough of an improvement over fast food or fast casual to be worth the higher cost, slower service, etc.
If I'm hungry and don't want to cook/clean, I'll grab fast food.
If I want to sit down at a full service restaurant, it'll probably be an expensive trendy place with recognition from James Beard or Michelin.
I haven't been to Burger King in years, but I have been feeling the call of the void the past few times I've been traveling and needed a place to stop and grab some food.
I stopped eating at "BK" for the better part of a decade after I got terribly sick from eating one of their "Rodeo Burgers". It was basically the low-end burger option, except they replaced the onion with onion rings and used ketchup-based barbecue for the sauce.
The onion rings must've been the previous day's unsold rejects or something. I remember having the worst heartburn I've ever experienced in my life and then feeling so terribly sick for the next 2 days.
I'm 99% sure I have had BK since then, but it was breakfast-only.
Back in the day, it was the only fast food option for onion rings where I was growing up. They sucked compared to the real thing, but despite that they had their appeal. Now my stomach turns just thinking about them.
We eat pretty healthy at home. Sometimes I need to indulge in eating terrible for me junk. BK is the only fast food that I do this with because it’s absolutely the best, at least to me.
