What on earth happened to McDonalds?

[nile455]

Yes I've been known to enjoy an occasional McDonald's (don't judge). But wow, how's it's changed the last few years. It's sad what they've done to their restaurants. Let me think of all the ways they've ruined their restaurant experience...

Most noticeably, they completely stripped all the fun and color from their dining rooms and replaced them with minimalist, lifeless decors. The location near me doesn’t even have the menu displayed on the wall behind the counter anymore.

But it gets worse. They no longer have anyone at the front counter to take your order. Everyone is in the back doing the food or scrambling to fill to-go orders. They now expect all customers to order using those awful kiosks. If you have a special order and need to order from the counter, you have to stand there and wait and wait for an employee to notice you.

Want a drink refill? Tough luck. They did away with the self-serve drink machines, so you have to go to the counter and battle your way through all the pickup patrons and hope that an employee back there sees that you need a refill. And if your drink is ice water, they now put those in the tiniest possible 8 oz cup, so that's an awful lot of trips to the counter and waiting frustrated (as your food gets cold).

Don’t want to keep getting up to refill your baby sized 8 oz water cup? Well, the regular size cups will cost you. That’s right, they now charge for regular sized water cups.

It's funny how their slogan used to be "smiles are free". Now you can barely get them to look at you. The only way to make eye contact with an employee is to lean over the counter and hope someone sees you. Or speak out "Excuse me, can I please get...."

Let's get to the menu... Remember when they offered healthier items? Well, no more salads. No more grilled chicken. Nothing but fried stuff. They even charge extra for lettuce on a hamburger. Appalling.

And remember the dollar menu? They took that away too. Let's be honest, they did. $3 doesn't count. There is literally not one thing that is a dollar, I looked it up. And a tiny little hot fudge sundae (which is no longer hot, because they took that away too), is now $3.19. What?!?

And don’t even think of asking them for a mixed soda, or a half-and-half. You used to be able to get that, but now that’s a definite no.

Even the serving trays are gone. Now they just hand you a bag with your food in it. Yes, even if you selected "for here", and even after you typed in your locator number on your plastic tent thingy. Everything now comes in a brown bag.

Even parking is a pain in the butt now because nearly every spot is reserved for pickup and drive-thru. Is it clear yet that they no longer want people in their restaurants?

Oh and forget McDonald’s PlayPlaces. Those were way too happy, so they got rid of those too. I was actually surprised to see they still technically offer birthday parties in their restaurants. This is funny to me. What on earth do the kids do there? There’s no PlayPlace, and the dining rooms are now so small with nothing to look at. Ronald McDonald is nothing but a distant memory.

Okay, McRant over. But I do miss the McDonald’s we had as kids. Or even from three years ago lol.

 

[tvguy]

Yes I've been known to enjoy an occasional McDonald's (don't judge). But wow, how's it's changed the last few years. It's sad what they've done to their restaurants. Let me think of all the ways they've ruined their restaurant experience...

Most noticeably, they completely stripped all the fun and color from their dining rooms and replaced them with minimalist, lifeless decors. The location near me doesn’t even have the menu displayed on the wall behind the counter anymore.

But it gets worse. They no longer have anyone at the front counter to take your order. Everyone is in the back doing the food or scrambling to fill to-go orders. They now expect all customers to order using those awful kiosks. If you have a special order and need to order from the counter, you have to stand there and wait and wait for an employee to notice you.

Want a drink refill? Tough luck. They did away with the self-serve drink machines, so you have to go to the counter and battle your way through all the pickup patrons and hope that an employee back there sees that you need a refill. And if your drink is ice water, they now put those in the tiniest possible 8 oz cup, so that's an awful lot of trips to the counter and waiting frustrated (as your food gets cold).

Don’t want to keep getting up to refill your baby sized 8 oz water cup? Well, the regular size cups will cost you. That’s right, they now charge for regular sized water cups.

It's funny how their slogan used to be "smiles are free". Now you can barely get them to look at you. The only way to make eye contact with an employee is to lean over the counter and hope someone sees you. Or speak out "Excuse me, can I please get...."

Let's get to the menu... Remember when they offered healthier items? Well, no more salads. No more grilled chicken. Nothing but fried stuff. They even charge extra for lettuce on a hamburger. Appalling.

And remember the dollar menu? They took that away too. Let's be honest, they did. $3 doesn't count. There is literally not one thing that is a dollar, I looked it up. And a tiny little hot fudge sundae (which is no longer hot, because they took that away too), is now $3.19. What?!?

And don’t even think of asking them for a mixed soda, or a half-and-half. You used to be able to get that, but now that’s a definite no.

Even the serving trays are gone. Now they just hand you a bag with your food in it. Yes, even if you selected "for here", and even after you typed in your locator number on your plastic tent thingy. Everything now comes in a brown bag.

Even parking is a pain in the butt now because nearly every spot is reserved for pickup and drive-thru. Is it clear yet that they no longer want people in their restaurants?

Oh and forget McDonald’s PlayPlaces. Those were way too happy, so they got rid of those too. I was actually surprised to see they still technically offer birthday parties in their restaurants. This is funny to me. What on earth do the kids do there? There’s no PlayPlace, and the dining rooms are now so small with nothing to look at. Ronald McDonald is nothing but a distant memory.

Okay, McRant over. But I do miss the McDonald’s we had as kids. Or even from three years ago lol.

We have the kiosks here too, just put them in when they remodeled the Play Place. But they still have an employee at the counter if you don't want to use the kiosk. Inflation is to blame for the demise of the dollar menu.
As for healthy food, well, we all know why that is gone. NOBODY bought those items.

 

[sam_gordon]

They're giving people (customers) what they (McD's) think they (customers) want. Play places went away a while back. I think because of (real or imagined) liability concerns.

By not staffing the front counter, they don't need as many employees. That's money savings right there. Let's say your "service quality" is a scale from 1-10 (10 high). The counter employees got them a score of "8". Take away the counter employees, and maybe the score drops to a 7 or 6. Is that enough to drive away business? Maybe a little. Does enough business leave to justify hiring people? I think that remains to be seen. But it's working for grocery stores (our local Meijer has more self service kiosks than manned check out stations), so maybe it will for fast food.

Our McD's still has self service soda fountains (did the last time I went in, which granted has been a while). I've had no problems getting regular size cups for ice water if I order a meal. Getting a sandwich and a water? Yea, rinky dink cups.

It's all about the money, money.

 

[ChrisFL]

I think the percentage of drive-thru and delivery services has skyrocketed since covid and why there's much less focus on dining inside

 

[tvguy]

I think the percentage of drive-thru and delivery services has skyrocketed since covid and why there's much less focus on dining inside

No question. I have not seen this at McDonalds but several other fast food chain locations here either have cut way back on hours you can even dine in, or still haven't restarted dine in. But the signs Wendy's here posted, indicate that is because they don't have the staff to run the dine in counter. It's all drive thru.

 

[sam_gordon]

I think the percentage of drive-thru and delivery services has skyrocketed since covid and why there's much less focus on dining inside

Our area McD's were changing their interior decoration (and putting in the kiosks) before Covid hit.

 

[Allison]

The McDonald's in this area are not like what you are describing.

 

[Planogirl]

Ours don’t have kiosks yet and regular drinks are a dollar. A McChicken and cheeseburger were a dollar each the last time I checked too. The rest of what you said is true here too.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I quit going to McDonald's for the exact reasons as you described. They now walled off the front counter where no customer can be seen by the staff. Good luck getting refills or for an incorrect order. You want ketchup or salt? Tough! The very last time I dined in I resorted to yelling for help. It took the lady in front of us 20 minutes to straighten out her order. Very unpleasant experience. I tried twice and I am now done with them. I am not a fan of eating in my car or taking it home only to have cold fries. Goodbye McDonalds. Sorry. Not sorry!

 

[Moliphino]

I love the kiosks. I can customize my order without feeling like a PITA.

The one near me still has self serve drinks, too.

 

[GAN]

It’s likely they’re testing it in various locations which would be common. The Interior changes Are probably related to customer feedback/changing styles -mid century, minimalist design has been back for a while now. As far as the business itself goes, their value is all tied to property -they own most of the land which is in almost all high dollar value locations. So I think that allows them to be a little more risky making changes -if the feedback, like the OP, is negative they’ll change it again.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I use the app, works like a champ.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I grew up eating McDonald's when I was a little girl and every so often I always looked forward to Dad coming home from work with a Happy Meal from McDonald's to eat and that was such a happy time until I grew out of eating McDonald's hamburgers because they put pepper in their hamburger patties and now eat Chicken McNuggets now when I eat at McDonald's now. But i've noticed the exact same thing that the original poster described at my McDonald's and I have witnessed the tiny drink cups because when I got McDonald's recently my drink was originally in a tiny cup and Dad had to get the biggest cup they had but they ran out and I had to drink my soda in the coffee cup. I think the kiosks are annoying as well because Dad tries to use them and they are broken at my McDonald's and he always stands in line to get our orders. Another thing is McDonald's Egg McMuffins are not toasted today and every time my dad used to get them he would always request them toasted which they never did and not only is the soda cups tiny but if you order your kids a Happy Meal you'll notice that McDonald's gives you the french fries in tiny sizes now and when I get this I always have to share my fries with Mom. What I think McDonald's is doing now is trying to make up for lost time and I think ever since the pandemic McDonald's has struggled and with this new ordering system they think this will improve their restaurants. I am surprised how they still survive and now with celebrities endorsing meals such as Mariah Carey Travis Scott and BTS McDonald's thinks this is the new way to attract new customers. If McDonald's would go back to it's old image they could get more people to eat there

 

[pinkxray]

I pretty much stopped going to McDonald’s except when the kids get a happy meal every few months. Our last McDonald’s with a play place just remodeled to look like a Starbucks. I don’t like the brown coffee house look.

I don’t like the kiosks. I love to mobile order food and just pick it up but of course the app never works when I need it to so that’s out.

The drive thru at the two McDonald’s in my town are usually pretty busy, so it doesn’t seem to be hurting their business by making any of these changes though.

 

[Christine]

I pretty much stopped going to McDonald’s except when the kids get a happy meal every few months. Our last McDonald’s with a play place just remodeled to look like a Starbucks. I don’t like the brown coffee house look.

I don’t like the kiosks. I love to mobile order food and just pick it up but of course the app never works when I need it to so that’s out.

The drive thru at the two McDonald’s in my town are usually pretty busy, so it doesn’t seem to be hurting their business by making any of these changes though.

Our remodels in this area are in the gray color scheme with yellow lettering and some trim. If it weren't for the yellow, they'd kind of look like a prison.

 

[GAN]

What I think McDonald's is doing now is trying to make up for lost time and I think ever since the pandemic McDonald's has struggled and with this new ordering system they think this will improve their restaurants. I am surprised how they still survive and now with celebrities endorsing meals such as Mariah Carey Travis Scott and BTS McDonald's thinks this is the new way to attract new customers. If McDonald's would go back to it's old image they could get more people to eat there

McDonalds isn’t struggling -maybe in your area it appears that way, but they have so many locations(38,000!) that the over performing stores outweigh any under-performing ones. They’ve done extremely well since Covid hit -they actually did much better and were one of the few winners in the restaurant world. I only know this because I own their stock, which has grown 30% in the last 2-years even though the overall market has lost around 20%.

 

[mousefan73]

I’m here in Germany so I don’t know how different things are compared to the US but I like the kiosks. And I think it does help with waiting in line, if there’s no line for the kiosks. Here in Germany having the app saves you so much money and has so many coupons that I need time in front of the kiosk to punch through my order to see which is most cost-effective. I would be holding up the whole line behind me if I had to do this with a human.

I was actually in ours last night and noticed they remodeled it it’s gray with a few pastel colors. The one away from the bright yellow orange red brown to more organic colors.

So don’t assume I’m a McDonald’s regular lol, but in our town is the only fast food place it’s open till 2 AM and with teenagers usually a pitstop on the way home on weekends

 

[anniemae]

covid has changed everything. I can see why the play centers closed, covid as well as liability concerns. Plus who the heck cleaned those things out? Always seemed gross to me even before covid.

With the kiosks, they can save money with less employees. Nobody wants to work in fast food so it's hard to acquire and retain staff. Many places close in the middle of the day due to no staffing. Probably why they are not smiling either. They are working hard and dealing with cutbacks and not enough staff. I personally applaud those that show up and work whether they are smiling or not.

The trays are probably gone due to covid. It's more sanitary to use a disposable bag instead of a tray that someone has to disinfect after it's used.

The dollar menu is most likely gone due to increased cost. Everything is more expensive now and they probably cannot afford to keep things priced at $1. They are not in business to lose money.

As for the salads and healthy stuff, well I imagine nobody was ordering those and it was not cost effective to keep them on the menu.

 

[Meglen]

If you are not using the mobile app you are doing it wrong. That's where all the deals are. Free food, points for more free food, constant b1g1 deals. As for the drink stations all mine still have them, and kiosks which you can specifically change anything on your order without a human. So idk what you mean by a special order you need the front desk.

 

[amcnj]

I thought I read play areas started disappearing before Covid, due to cleanliness concerns, safety and insurance costs. As restaurants remodel they often are removed.

Kiosk ordering and lower cost items disappearing are cost saving/inflation related changes.

Trays and other sanitary related changes might be Covid changes.

McDonald’s around here all still have self-serve drink areas. Some other chains never did.

I think the new designs and the McCafe concept (if that is still a thing) must have been an effort to appeal more to adults. Aside from happy meals, there don’t seem to be a lot of other kid centric ideas there. Is that a reaction towards complaints about companies marketing unhealthy things towards children?

Like other businesses they are evolving and trying to appeal to their customers. Not all changes are targeted towards or will work for everyone. When I was young they just had outside walk up counters and you ate outside or in your car. I do miss those giant Golden Arches that were on either side of the restaurant though!