The Very Official McDonalds (and other fast food outlets) Thread

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Alexia
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Martin Phillp wrote: Tue 20 Feb, 2018 03.03
james2001 wrote: Tue 20 Feb, 2018 02.04 I'll eat my hat if KFC's DHL contract wasn't significantly cheaper than the previous one. How many issues do we see caused by things being offered to the lowest bidder? This mess will probably cost them a lot more than they've saved.
Not affecting Northern Ireland, which appears to have a cross border distributor for KFC with the Irish Republic.
For now....
Martin Phillp
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KFC have added a list of open restaurants.

http://www.itv.com/news/2018-02-20/kfc-store-closures/
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rdobbie
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Martin Phillp wrote: Tue 20 Feb, 2018 12.52 KFC have added a list of open restaurants.

http://www.itv.com/news/2018-02-20/kfc-store-closures/
Mine's on the open list, but this evening didn't have any burger buns, mayo, lettuce, coleslaw, beans or fries. I was told I could have a Zinger burger minus the bun, lettuce and mayo - but at full price.

I'd have thought that keeping the restaurant open under those circumstances is more damaging to the brand than shutting the doors altogether. It's hard to imagine McDonalds selling two naked beefburgers in a box and describing it as a Big Mac.

They may also want to look in future at how they could adapt the content on the big screens to provide live information on unavailable items, rather than getting the managers to print out their own messages on A4 paper and plaster them over the screens.
Martin Phillp
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More stores have opened today in comparison to yesterday, but as mentioned above, why would you risk going in if they don't have basics such as burger buns?
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dosxuk
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Martin Phillp wrote: Thu 22 Feb, 2018 00.00 More stores have opened today in comparison to yesterday, but as mentioned above, why would you risk going in if they don't have basics such as burger buns?
I wonder if it's because of the scale of the franchising. While the larger groups, and KFC themselves can probably cope with a few days shutdown, it's going to be very difficult for the smaller stores, especially those where there's only one branch, and especially where the problem and resolution is out of their control.

It's all very well head office saying don't bother opening, but make sure you pay everyone what they would've worked, if you've not had any income in a few days, and the stock you do have is going out of date rapidly. It'd be very tempting to open and flog what you can just to get some money flowing in.
JAS84
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Martin Phillp wrote: Sat 17 Feb, 2018 20.34 The Grand Big Mac didn't feel particularly 'big' to me, but is at a premium price.
How much are the Grand and Jr anyway? The McDonalds website doesn't have a price list.
Martin Phillp
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JAS84 wrote: Wed 28 Feb, 2018 20.22
Martin Phillp wrote: Sat 17 Feb, 2018 20.34 The Grand Big Mac didn't feel particularly 'big' to me, but is at a premium price.
How much are the Grand and Jr anyway? The McDonalds website doesn't have a price list.
IIRC £5.89 for the medium meal. Prices vary due to the franchisee.
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james2001
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Bit annoyed to discover Pizza Hut have changed it so that you can now only get diet drinks with refills, if you want a regular Pepsi you have to buy a bottle- which costs about 40p more for a single glass than the unlimited refills cost, and you can't add the extra flavours you could with the refill machine- which is one of the things I enjoyed at Pizza Hut.

According to them it's because of the "sugar tax" coming in next month, but there's nothing to stop them adding some extra to the cost of refills to cover that (the tax is around 25p a litre, and nobody's likely to drink more than that in one sitting, even with unlimited refills), and the extra cost of the bottles is well in excess of what the sugar tax would be (plus you have to pay for another bottle if you want a second glass). Plenty of other places are still selling regular drinks with refills despite the tax.

This sort of nannying really pisses me off. I genuinely can't stand the taste of diet drinks, and I resent trying to be "forced" into having them. If I want a regular, I have to pay more to get less, then pay more again if I want a second glass I have to pay again- so having two glasses will cost me well over double what a refillable diet coke does for as much as that person wants. TGI Fridays have also done the same- only diet coke on refills, if you want regular you have to fork out extra for a bottle (then pay it again if you want a second bottle).

While I don't agree with the concept of the sugar tax, I'd at least be prepared to pay the extra to have the drink I like (pay an extra 10, 15, 20p or have a diet coke- it's a no brainer), but that choice in far too many cases isn't even being offered, both through the likes of Pizza Hut and Subway only offering diet drinks, and all the reformulations that have taken place over the past year to avoid the tax (Lucozade now tasts like there's washing up liquid in it, and I've heard nothing but bad things about the new Irn-Bru and Ribena as well). The option of paying extra for the original hasn't even been offered.

I can understand the concept of tackling childhood obesity, but does that mean us adults shouldn't be allowed to make our own decisions and have diet drinks forced on us whether we like it or not? Take the free refills away from kids if you think it's unhealthy, but let us grown adults make our own choices. It's not like having a couple of glasses of coke when you're about to eat a cheesy, greasy, salty pizza is going to change things anyway. Being told I "should be healthier" (when I already go to the gym three times a week and go ice skating 2 hours a week) and having something I enjoy as a treat taken away and replaced with something I find unpleasant really makes me resentful.

I wonder how many people would feel if they wanted a beer or a glass or wine when they went out for a meal and were told only alcohol free was available because of "taxes" and "binge drinking"? That's how I feel having diet soft drinks forced on me.

This post turned into more of a rant than I was expecting...
all new Phil
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They wouldn’t be able to just add 25p on to refills as they wouldn’t be able to police who had refills of sugary or non-sugar drinks. Companies can’t just add a blanket amount to all drinks and absorb it that way, it has to be specifically applied to sugary drinks so they are a more expensive option. The whole point of it is to be habit-changing.

Your Pizza Hut example might be a trial like my company are carrying out before the tax comes in. We’re having some sites remain as now but with an extra charge for sugary drinks, and other sites are removing the sugary option completely except for a small number of bottles (like how you describe).
james2001
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Well, it's certainly habit changing, as I won't be going there any more. I'll go somewhere where I can still get the drinks I like without being charged over the odds for rip-off bottles, or being nannied into diet drinks I can't stand. Which obviously doesn't include Pizza Hut, Subway or TGI Fridays any more.

Maybe they should have thought this law through and how to implement it properly rather than just yanking people's choice away without warning (and offering a bottle at an inflated price compared to the dispensed version isn't "choice").
Alexia
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It's not a law, it's a tax levied against private companies in a Budget. A Tory budget at that. How those individual companies plan to recoup or offset the taxation monies is down to them. Some, like Irn Bru, have cut the sugar in the drink. Some have beefed up their sugar free range. But some will still stay, and get more expensive.

As for restaurants, well the choice is entirely down to what's profitable and economical for the restaurant to offer in a manner it can economically offer it.

The crux of it is that you now have two separate products which stemmed from a perceived common ancestor - sugared and non sugared drinks - that up until now were able to be charged the same price for. That state of affairs just doesn't exist any more, so the sugared ones have been removed from the refillable range which, given children's lack of self-control and the possibility of less ethical parents acquiring the sugary versions in proxy, is probably in the spirit of the reason the tax exists in the first place. We've all heard stories from Nando's of the small glasses being used for pop when they are provided for free water. Humans can't be trusted - adults or not.

The thing to remember is that Pizza Hut et al haven't COMPLETELY withdrawn your product of choice, they've just moved it to a different pricing bracket and chosen to deliver it in a more controlled way i.e. removing the refillable aspect. You mention alcohol - alcohol isn't delivered in a refillable medium. Nor are milkshakes or J20s or hot drinks or even water, judging by Pizza Hut's menu. In that way they're no different from the 99% of restaurants who choose to deliver their soft drinks in individual units rather than via soda stream.

Off the top of my head the only other places that offer bottomless soft drinks are Nando's, Harvester, Toby Carvery, Beefeater, Hungry Horse possibly.... but there's a possibility those could follow suit soon...... so get used to the idea because I don't think it's going away.



BTW as some background colour on my own perspective - I more or less gave up full-sugar drinks in January 2016 at the beginning of a much needed and much overdue health kick which saw me lose - and mostly keep off - 3.5 stone. 16st5lb down to 12st12lb. I am still partial to the odd full-sugar energy drink when I'm on my all-too-frequent night-shifts but that's more of a gutteral animal instinct than a conscious decision. Sort of like my complete inability to *not* have a beer on a Friday night while watching Barshens. Like you say - they're treats, but they shouldn't be the norm. Not nowadays when our knowledge of the dangers of sugar is greater than it's ever been, and when evidence of the effects of the prevalance of sugar in our diet is all around us. Through willpower and experimentation I've adjusted my palate and now Pepsi Max Ginger is my vice of choice, along with Irn Bru Xtra and Vimto Mix. There are a plethora of zero sugar energy drink flavours as well that still have caffeine and taurine in them to satisfy my other chemical addictions and give me the quick but ultimately futile boost I need at 3am.

But perhaps this is the most important thing.... when I look at a can of Monster, or a Mars bar, or a Greggs sausage roll, I'm not looking at a treat, I'm looking back in time at a heavier, unhealthier, sadder, more tired, more fatigued, more lazy me that I don't want to go back to. Do I miss not giving a shit about what I stuff in my gob? Sometimes. Do I miss not being able to fit into size XL t-shirts? No. Do I miss the seratonin boosts I used to get when consuming my latest collection of the corner shop's colourful confections and concoctions? Yes. Do I miss the self-loathing I feel when hiding the wrappers and empty tins afterwards? No. I was overweight and borderline obese from discovering the joy of £3.70 9" margherita pizzas at the local kebab shop during my first year of university, right through to the day David Bowie died. Fourteen years of gluttony. Hopefully I'm over that now. But I don't want anyone going through that unnecessarily, so I'm all in favour of removing temptation, removing all loopholes, treating sugared drinks with a bit more care and respect than before. Hopefully it will prevent anyone else going through what I had to go through.
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