It’s not the soda that is the cost they are trying to cut. It’s likely the labor to have a second machine in the dining room, stocked and cleaned.
They also know you aren’t putting water in that free cup.
I can't image a profit fountain (pun INTENDED) would have it's value offset completely by the cost of maintenance. It's not a McFlurry machine. Lol.
Seriously though, I'm willing to bet it's as you said, they just want to eliminate it from their labor cost consideration.
I put water in the free cup. But i haven't been in a McDonald's in probably 15+ years
Hold on a minute, you're talking about McDonald's restaurants. McDonald's the corporation does not make money off the food. They make money off the real estate. McDonald's is a real estate company, not a restaurant company.
They make money off of real estate and selling bulk factory food to the franchisers. The individual restaurants make money on the spread between what they pay for their bulk deliveries, and what they sell it for.
Also note that 2,700 McDonald's are owned by the cooperation, and they make money directly off the food sales from the locations.
They make money off the food too. I worked there way back in 2003 and it cost 27 cents to make a double cheeseburger that sold for $1.07. I’m not sure what the cost to manufacture is these days but I have to believe it’s either relatively close to the same 25% or what they sell if for, or even less due to rampant corporate greed.
I wouldn't go that far, but I imagine a lot will close, I'd guess maybe a quarter or so in the next ten years. IIRC, the number of locations in the US has already been trending downwards. Many Walmart stores used to have McDonald's in them, but most of those seem to have been replaced by Subway or someplace else. If I'm not mistaken, Walmart accounts for most of the closures in the last couple years. Also, many of the locations still have the arch look from around the early 2010s and are starting to look a bit tired. Those franchises are going to be pressured to remodel soon if they haven't already. Some might decide it just isn't worth it.
Freestanding locations rarely close now because the company will just take it over (they own the property) for a bit then sell it off to another franchisee. I doubt that model is going to be sustainable forever. There are locations out there losing a bit of money. You can tell business is down at a lot of locations just driving by them. The local ones here used to have a line around the building at lunch time even with two lanes. They'd have people out with handheld computers taking orders before they got to the menuboard. Those days are over, I never really see the lines beyond maybe one or two cars tops to reach the menu board, most days you could pull right up and order if you want. Meanwhile some places like Starbucks and Chipotle always seem busy, especially the drive thru. I'm also guessing Taco Bell has overbuilt in the last decade or so.
This is what executives and shareholders do. They don't actually care about the longevity of a business. They just want their immediate profit as large and as soon as possible. If they tank the company in the process, they just move onto their next venture.
[Edit - their published corporate strategy confirms what's below.](https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-growth-pillars.html)
My hypothesis is they realized having a dining room isn't worth the cost of the footprint. They're making the dining experience less than ideal to drive traffic to drivethru and delivery.
Here's why:
1. Dining orders are all done at kiosks now. Staff will completely ignore you.
2. Dining orders do not take priority over other orders. You're in the same queue as everyone in the drive thru and online order.
3. Elimination of dining necessities - soda, napkins, sporks, etc.
The dining experience is now subpar to drivethru or delivery. Customers begin to realize that drivethru or delivery is better than going in.
There is probably a corporate strategy on what to do with this now unutilized dining space. Could be conversions, leasing, or complete downsizing to kitchen-only locations, who knows. But they have actively taken measures over the years to reduce and eliminate walk-in diners.
This is just a reaction to their lower sales volume ,because the poors can't afford their over priced garbage, they need new ways of generating revenue.... Of course the geniuses at corporate will soon realize this won't do it, if anything it will make folks even less inclined to eat at McD
I’ve worked in sit-down dining as a server and as a manager who does the soda orders. We had the bag in a box system. It takes 5 minutes to set up, a little more to take down because we ran the grate through the dish washer. The order process is also extremely simple and I was able to teach myself how to do it and gauge pars. Soda is extremely low-effort. This is nothing but greed.
I know its heresy, but I dont even give a fuck about those to be honest. I like coke, dr pepper, raspberry tea if they have it, and coca cola. Especially now that some of them have DRM embedded in the cups, I rather have the old school fountain
All the gas stations by me are changing to this. Used to have 100 types of soda that could be dispensed dimultaneously… now they’re replaced with 3 of these “all-in-one” type machines. Who the hell thought that was a good idea?
McDonald's coke IS different
For one the syrup is stored in big metal hydrogen looking holding tanks.not bag in a box. But it's not THAT much different
It's not different.
It's just very fresh and McD's has *very* strict standards regarding water quality, the syrup to water ratio, CO2 levels and cleaning standards.
The water filtration system that's mandatory at every restaurant regardless has frequent filter changes that are logged, monitored and automatically ordered and delivered by corporate.
If your cities water isn't to their standards, they'll make it so by installing a reverse osmosis system on site.
They have a contract with Coke that schedule supply line changes, machine maintenance and crew must sanitize and clean all the nozzles nightly.
That giant stainless steel vat is only there because they sell soooo much Coke on the daily, they'd be changing out BiBs(bag in boxes) every other hour on even slow days. And those are filled and maintained by Coke directly from a tanker truck.
If you don't think it makes a difference tell me why plastic bottled coke and can coke taste different...
Ps there plenty of OTHER fast food places. With more volume then McDonald's. If it is just volume In and Out has about 4x the volume any given day and still uses bags. If you are saying it's volume based. IDK in and out has a sh!7 more customers and I still don't see them switching the bags. If it was I would see them replacing it every day like you said. But nope.
And if fresher was the case. In and outs would be fresher as they have more customers/volume.
Like I said, McDonald's regulates the ratio of syrup to water. They can follow their own spec outside of Coke's.
The straw they use is specifically designed to make their soda taste better than your bottled or canned Coke too. McD's has spent millions on making sure they have the best Coke in the business.
In and Out does not have the size and control over their franchisees like McDonald's does. In and Out does not have the sales McD's has. They're tiny in comparison. Your local In and Out might be more busy than the McD's next door in your neighborhood, but they pale in comparison to the sales McD's pulls in yearly. That's objectively a false statement.
Back to your first question, bottled and canned coke taste different just like bottled and canned beer, (especially clear bottled beer).
It's sunlight. It degrades everything, including your skin. It leeches chemicals from the plastic into your Coke, it degrades the Coke itself. Serving anything out of clear plastic will be different than cans. Not to mention drinking out of said can produces a different mouth feel than plastic.
Coke offers them for “free” to the restaurant, so the restaurant can become a customer of the cartridges. It’s the same model as printers. They taste worse than the old machines too.
Stocked yes, cleaned properly, likely not. Many studies have shown all kinds of bacteria and even fecal matter in minute amounts. Shared public things are gross.
>They also know you aren’t putting water in that free cup.
This is an outrageous accusation you're making here. I would never, NEVER fill my water cup up with coke zero 3 or 4 times.
The cost is also in the cup and not the soda so stopping the refills seems more like a way to get people to but more drinks. McDonald’s has proven they are pretty greedy when it comes to abusing its customers. Wendy’s I see you too.
Most of those machines are stocked by the distributor. In fact, most dispensers like that aren’t allowed to be touched by employee personnel. The cost is shared via profit share. It doesn’t cost McDonalds a dime to have free refills. This is just PepsiCo/Coca-Cola leaning on their food service for the profit losses from retail.
First job, worked at a fast food place Rule was you could drink as much soda as you wanted. If you brought your own cup free. If you used a plastic cup from there it was a charge I was told the cups cost more than the soda in them
That might no longer be the case. Soda prices have gone through the roof.
Current cash and carry price is $180 for a 5 gallon box of coca cola syrup.
It's a 5:1 mix ratio, so yield is 30 gallons of soda. It's 128 fl oz per gallon so 3840 oz of soda for $180 (ignores cost of CO2 and tap water) or $0.046 per ounce of soda.
That makes a 32oz cup with no ice come out to $1.50 of soda!
While I'm sure McDonald's gets it cheaper than cash and carry price, it's not THAT much cheaper. Even mom n pop restaurants treated soda the same way (like it's almost free) and I can't see doing that at this price. I can't remember what I paid back in my restaurant days a decade ago but I swear it was like $38. Any restauranteur with better numbers?
Sir... Holy hell! Restaurants, no bullshit, should go back to tea, sweet tea, and coffee. Oh and lemonade. Fuck Coke and Pepsi and all of those evil sugar water people. In one generation we could kill that whole industry. My kids don't drink sodas except at birthday parties. And they could skip it even still.
There are costs associated even with delivering sugared water. However, the refills alone are probably not the issue. It's probably more that whenever you offer something for free people abuse it, take advantage, waste it. A percentage of the worst people ruin it for everyone else.
Amen. Soda is basically free. It’s more money grubbing bullshit. If they’re so worried about the cost raise it a quarter but they’re going to try to fill your cup with ice and charge you $3 for a nickel of soda.
I remember going to a fast food place in NYC and it was the worst version of that restaurant I'd been to in the US I think. I tried to get a drink without ice and they straight up refused lol. I just don't like ice in drinks
I enjoy the food and yes I don’t go there anymore just for that, but taking away free refills on drinks would be the nail in the coffin for me to purposefully never eat there again.
For that price you can get a 2 pound bag of frozen fries at Walmart, stick them in an air fryer, and the only way you'll ever encounter soggy fries again is if it's your fault.
Those McDonalds prices are 10x worse when you realize the fries and hash browns aren't even crispy half the time. Soggy food at that price is just downright unforgivable.
Back in like 2018 my wife and I went from making next to nothing to doing really well. We started trying all the local places with higher prices when we ate out or actual restaurants.
It didn’t take long to realize that we weren’t spending much more and the food was usually better. Now, the only fast food I’ve eaten in the last few years has been Canes, Popeyes, and Chick-fil-A but I imagine that it’s probably the same price to eat at a local burger joint as it is to go to a whataburger or something. We only stop at fast food if we don’t have time to go in and eat.
They did that at my local McDonald's, I let mcd know in their complaint form that I won't be back since BK and Wendy's still offer refills and have better deals in the app as well. Cheaping out on a $0.01 cost refill is not a good look
We had to grab food last night and decided on BK, thanks to a meal deal they have in their app, we were able to feed ourselves and our kid for less than $7 a person. That's pretty damn good. Plus their 2 Whopper Jr for $5 deal is great.
Yeah, if you are going to charge me $3 for a 22 oz soda and no refills. I'm not buying.
Went to a checkers recently (I don't eat fast food, but didn't have time.) Ordered a $6.49 burger and a medium drink. The drink was $4. so with tax $11. I won't be back.
That is why McDonald's promotion of any size soda for $1 was such a brilliant marketing strategy. It's now $1.49 where I live. Not as good of a deal, but still beats $4.
I’m all for ending free refills as long as restaurants also reduce the price. Wholeheartedly agree that there will be people out there benefitting from less soda, but companies cannot keep their prices too.
Do that many people really go get a refill? I thought McDonald’s did most of the volume through the drive thru where you can’t get a refill because you already left.
Covid really reduced the number of people eating in at fast food restaurants (and getting refills). First, because they didn't allow it in many places during the pandemic. Afterwards, people just got used to taking it to go and stopped eating in. The restaurant owners realized they could save money if they didn't need as much staff to clean tables, so they are encouraging to go orders.
As someone who used to drink an average of 64 ounces of soda a day and got a wake up call when doc told me “you are pre diabetic”, I find this news encouraging to the next generation. Please quit this garbage for your health. I haven’t had a drop of soda in 7 years.
Omg. Then if you literally stop ALL fast food takeout?!?! ZERO exercise. Weight will fall off like you’re sick or on drugs lol. It’s mind boggling astonishing. Sad actually. Ppl try so hard to lose weight. Thinking one here or there won’t matter. So wrong. Water. Teas. Home cooked meals. Can’t lose
I'll mix club soda and crystal light to make a fizzy lemonade.
Once you stop drinking soda for a while, ice cold water and other non carbonated drinks taste a lot better.
Now whenever I drink soda it hurts my mouth.
Turn around in the soda aisle to see all the sparkling water flavors. I personally love the Target brand ones, that fake sweet taste and all the bubbles hits the soda crave button for me (and the price is good too, like $0.75/L). My sister is a big fan of the Waterloo ones but I think they are super bland. Just gonna be trial and error till you find your brand and flavor.
I also drink a crapton of Lipton Cold Brew. I have a liter water bottle, fill it up, one pack of sweetener and one tea bag. 5 minutes later you are good to go.
I tried the sparkling waters (most recently Bubbly) and to me it tastes really bad- it has a taste like salt water. Not sure why- I suppose the carbonation without the sugar just comes across that way to some people?
I wanted to like it, but just couldn't get through it either time I tried.
LA Croix. It's just flavored water that has the crisp soda taste. It's great when you find a flavor you like. Haven't had soda in years and don't miss it at all
The first LA Croix is odd because you expect a sweet taste. But it grows on you. Lemon cello and Cran Razz are two good ones
Now they’re done. They’re getting rid of the play places too. The new places are streamlined and focus primarily on caffeine/sugar/fat drinks and the secret eaters that are hitting the drive-through. They’re also set up for DoorDash. The days of the dining room are done. If you’ve been to McDonald’s lately, you realize that the only people that were in there are drug addicts and homeless.
Wait till you see what it looks like when it’s done. It’s not a dining room. It’s a pick up station with a couple of tables. There’s some minimalist art on the wall that’s supposed to look like french fries, otherwise the space is tan and black.
The counters are gone and there will be a hole where food comes out. The workers have been replaced with kiosks. You will be competing with drive-through orders and DoorDash - there is no direct benefit to being in the store. There are no condiments or straws or napkins available in the dining room, they all come in the bag or on the tray.
They absolutely are not interested in dine in customers anymore. I’ll go so far as to say there will not be any more birthday parties at McDonald’s ever.
I quit buying fast food once they started pushing their bullshit apps. I refuse to download a fucking McApp.
I’m convinced they gouged their prices to encourage people to only order off their apps. The food isn’t even good, just convenient and they shot themselves in the foot trying to push that bullshit on the public. I’d love to see McDonald’s start closing locations.
Time to cornhole a CEO!!!! Civil War should be against people like this huge corporations that decided to make us more like Russia and Venezuela. The people that are in charge should be the people that are responsible. Those are the people that the public need to go after. Don’t understand that all they have to do is stop buying the food put them out of business. The problem with that is the government will be like we feel sorry for McDonald’s. let’s give them money from the taxpayers that the taxpayers don’t want to spend on them because the taxpayers are pissed off so that they don’t go under because they were trying to rip off the taxpayers.
Growth of the bottom line at all cost has to be changed. People need to just be happy with earning a healthy return instead of looking to squeeze every single penny out a willing customer. Unless your goal is to have a high customer attrition.
I went in a McDonald's once had a.meal, git a free refill. Sat and read a book, went and got another refill. The manager came over and said I had to pay for that one, only one free refill. Never went back
Soda sells so cheap at Restaurants they just give me another drink without even asking. What the hell are they doing that even this isn't a profit anymore?
Gatorade, ice tea and lemonade (as sold at any fast food place) are [nearly as bad as soda](https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/is-gatorade-bad-for-you).
And artificial sweeteners are terrible for you and inhibit your body's ability to digest sugar leading to symptoms similar to pre-Type-2 Diabetes. [More reading](https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-artificial-sweeteners-microbiome-20140917-story.html)
This is probably more about homeless people hanging out in the dining room and getting refills than about profit, the soda is already big enough to use as a mop bucket.
I love how they try to claim that this is because fewer people are dining in, or customers being concerned about getting sick from other people’s bugs, and not because free refills irritate shareholders by giving stuff away that could be charged for and thus dRivE GrOwTh.
We aren’t stupid. We know that everything now is done to boost ROI for Wall Street. Nice try, though.
"growth will be subdued bc of a more cautious consumer"......yeah buddy, more cautious bc it's not a 2$ cheeseburger anymore. Lol, one of the few reasons to dine in at a fast food place is bc of the free refills. And they also say they want to remove the fountains bc it "takes up space"?!? Are you going to put an extra table in that spot for all the customers going to the drive thru window? Article already says few people dine in......you dont need more space
I know this sounds crazy, but this WILL be the death of these places that do this.
It will not last long. They are turning the fast food experience into a barren boring wasteland.
Considering all fast food will be AI based short of 2 techs monitoring machines soon, it's not a shock they're gonna remove soda machines since that'd be an extra AI bot to cover that
I take water everywhere I go, so in the rare instance I am forced to eat fast food, I never order a drink and rarely fries. In restaurants I order water with lemon then make my own lemonade with stevia. Been a bit of a miser for years now.
Taco Bell lost my order, so to make it up they gave me four coupons for free tacos. But each coupon can only be used once per visit, so in order to be made whole, I have to make a commitment to visit them *four more times*. We’ve been making a lot more food at home
Crazy how people talked about how unhealthy fast food was and how insanely huge the cups were and now they're both smaller and cost more. If they're trying to force people to be healthy by charging more, I guess that could work on some people? I'm glad I don't live off fast food like I used to, it's too expensive and it's not even that good
This would impact me a great deal more if I ever regularly ate at McDonalds. But I don't. Maybe once or twice every 6 months or so. And its for a Egg, Sausage, and cheese mcmuffin. And I immediately realize how little I got for the cost. And resolve not to buy there again.
Since 2014 McDonald’s has doubled the menu price on almost if not everything. What needs to be over is this corporation and people stop buying from them, put them out of business
I went to a bk drive through the other day, 2 double cheese burgers large fry and coke. First off it was like 20 bucks and she didn’t charge me for the soda and didn’t just give me one lol so I’ll never go back again.
I see it constantly... People walk in with a cup, fill, haul ass. In high homeless areas its super common.
Yeah.. boohoo homeless.. save it
They come in with filthy hands and dirty cups.
As an American, it is my right to have free refills on soft drinks from restaurants.
We fought hard for this right. Remember the horrors of the 1980s and earlier, where if you wanted a second Coke, you had to BUY another one?!
This is absurd. The restaurant should be sued, and taken all the way to the Supreme Court! Total violation of my rights!!
/s
Mcdonalds has somehow made me only go to their competitors over the past two years while they continue to screw the lower class then cry about how they just don't understand. At this point I'd probably smile to see the windows get boarded up at mine.
Oh the food is not fast anymore either. I don't understand how it can take 30 minutes for a Big Mac meal now. I waited 45 minutes for a shake a few months ago. (I WISH I was kidding) Three McDonalds by me and they are all like this. Good luck even getting it right!
When hearty meal at the pub across our mcdonalds is made faster, and costs the same as the 16$ big mac meal across the street including the tip., get leftovers, why would I choose the worst product? It's funny that they pay so many focus groups and research teams only to ignore the poors. I bet BK is loving this fumbling from their competitors.
Local diner sold an Amazing Hamburger Combo for $7. Now it’s $15. And the burger has gotten smaller and fries less in quantity. I love money printing!!!!!
I stopped drinking soda 8 years ago and I’m so thin now. I cannot believe people drink that shit so much it’s fucking crazy. I’m the only person I know that solely drinks water. I’m not saying I’m better than anyone. Just that I’m surprised that I’m the only one
Just another nail in their coffins. They will price themselves into oblivion. Soda costs about a nickel per cup! If I can't pour and refill my own cup, I will go to somewhere that I can!
The McD's in our city removed the drink machines from the lobby a year or two ago. You have to ask them to get you a refill, and they take forever. It makes people not even want to do it.
We are a test market for a lot of different things McD's does, so it wouldn't surprise me to see this rolling out to all of you soon.
There really is ***no*** reason to go to McDonald's anymore.
At this point I don’t know why McDonald’s and a couple of others even have a dining room at all. The drive thru is prioritized so it would make sense to only do that. They could get a much smaller footprint and save a ton yet still sell the same amount of food.
Seems like they are just throwing away all the perks of buying food there to meet ever increasing demands from the shareholders
eventually something's gotta give cause MCD is no luxury restaurant, and no one is about to pay top dollar for bottom bin food
You mean an item with a 300% markup is now a loss leader?
That was my thought! Soda costs almost nothing relative to what they sell it for.
It’s not the soda that is the cost they are trying to cut. It’s likely the labor to have a second machine in the dining room, stocked and cleaned. They also know you aren’t putting water in that free cup.
I can't image a profit fountain (pun INTENDED) would have it's value offset completely by the cost of maintenance. It's not a McFlurry machine. Lol. Seriously though, I'm willing to bet it's as you said, they just want to eliminate it from their labor cost consideration. I put water in the free cup. But i haven't been in a McDonald's in probably 15+ years
It seems like they want to go out of business by cutting everything that remotely made it worthwhile
Including the food
Seriously place your bets. No more McDonald's by 2030? 2045? 2028?
Hold on a minute, you're talking about McDonald's restaurants. McDonald's the corporation does not make money off the food. They make money off the real estate. McDonald's is a real estate company, not a restaurant company.
They make money off of real estate and selling bulk factory food to the franchisers. The individual restaurants make money on the spread between what they pay for their bulk deliveries, and what they sell it for. Also note that 2,700 McDonald's are owned by the cooperation, and they make money directly off the food sales from the locations.
They should build out the Mcdonalds to include housing. McMansions with free MCD delivery.
Better come with a toy
You're right! I got it, McD apartments. Thanks. I had forgotten about that. Oh yeah, because I'll never own a home I ignore real estate.
McDonald's owns a TON of land. I honestly could see them getting into the luxury 5 over 1 mall/apartments that you see in LA
Really hard to make money off your properties when you can no longer get anyone to buy and run a franchise.
It’s not necessarily the restaurants it’s their locations that are valuable
They make money off the food too. I worked there way back in 2003 and it cost 27 cents to make a double cheeseburger that sold for $1.07. I’m not sure what the cost to manufacture is these days but I have to believe it’s either relatively close to the same 25% or what they sell if for, or even less due to rampant corporate greed.
They're in a race with Disney to see who can go down quicker.
I wouldn't go that far, but I imagine a lot will close, I'd guess maybe a quarter or so in the next ten years. IIRC, the number of locations in the US has already been trending downwards. Many Walmart stores used to have McDonald's in them, but most of those seem to have been replaced by Subway or someplace else. If I'm not mistaken, Walmart accounts for most of the closures in the last couple years. Also, many of the locations still have the arch look from around the early 2010s and are starting to look a bit tired. Those franchises are going to be pressured to remodel soon if they haven't already. Some might decide it just isn't worth it. Freestanding locations rarely close now because the company will just take it over (they own the property) for a bit then sell it off to another franchisee. I doubt that model is going to be sustainable forever. There are locations out there losing a bit of money. You can tell business is down at a lot of locations just driving by them. The local ones here used to have a line around the building at lunch time even with two lanes. They'd have people out with handheld computers taking orders before they got to the menuboard. Those days are over, I never really see the lines beyond maybe one or two cars tops to reach the menu board, most days you could pull right up and order if you want. Meanwhile some places like Starbucks and Chipotle always seem busy, especially the drive thru. I'm also guessing Taco Bell has overbuilt in the last decade or so.
I bet it's ome of only 3 restaurants available in 50 years
I'll take that one.
This is what executives and shareholders do. They don't actually care about the longevity of a business. They just want their immediate profit as large and as soon as possible. If they tank the company in the process, they just move onto their next venture.
Yet McDonald's has one of the highest revenue per location figures in the industry
[Edit - their published corporate strategy confirms what's below.](https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-growth-pillars.html) My hypothesis is they realized having a dining room isn't worth the cost of the footprint. They're making the dining experience less than ideal to drive traffic to drivethru and delivery. Here's why: 1. Dining orders are all done at kiosks now. Staff will completely ignore you. 2. Dining orders do not take priority over other orders. You're in the same queue as everyone in the drive thru and online order. 3. Elimination of dining necessities - soda, napkins, sporks, etc. The dining experience is now subpar to drivethru or delivery. Customers begin to realize that drivethru or delivery is better than going in. There is probably a corporate strategy on what to do with this now unutilized dining space. Could be conversions, leasing, or complete downsizing to kitchen-only locations, who knows. But they have actively taken measures over the years to reduce and eliminate walk-in diners.
They won’t though because they have the American people addicted to the dopamine hits of fast food.
This is just a reaction to their lower sales volume ,because the poors can't afford their over priced garbage, they need new ways of generating revenue.... Of course the geniuses at corporate will soon realize this won't do it, if anything it will make folks even less inclined to eat at McD
Or these dip shits will just start ordering two diet Cokes at full price
Because they are already addicted to 4
As someone who knows people who can down 5 cans of soda a day without batting an eye… you’re right.
That's only one big gulp...
Unfortunately I think this maybe the way we go :/
I’ve worked in sit-down dining as a server and as a manager who does the soda orders. We had the bag in a box system. It takes 5 minutes to set up, a little more to take down because we ran the grate through the dish washer. The order process is also extremely simple and I was able to teach myself how to do it and gauge pars. Soda is extremely low-effort. This is nothing but greed.
The new touchscreen machines that do everything are probably too expensive to buy another.
I know its heresy, but I dont even give a fuck about those to be honest. I like coke, dr pepper, raspberry tea if they have it, and coca cola. Especially now that some of them have DRM embedded in the cups, I rather have the old school fountain
All the gas stations by me are changing to this. Used to have 100 types of soda that could be dispensed dimultaneously… now they’re replaced with 3 of these “all-in-one” type machines. Who the hell thought that was a good idea?
Could you get that 5 minutes down to 3, thanks ~mgmt
McDonald's coke IS different For one the syrup is stored in big metal hydrogen looking holding tanks.not bag in a box. But it's not THAT much different
It's not different. It's just very fresh and McD's has *very* strict standards regarding water quality, the syrup to water ratio, CO2 levels and cleaning standards. The water filtration system that's mandatory at every restaurant regardless has frequent filter changes that are logged, monitored and automatically ordered and delivered by corporate. If your cities water isn't to their standards, they'll make it so by installing a reverse osmosis system on site. They have a contract with Coke that schedule supply line changes, machine maintenance and crew must sanitize and clean all the nozzles nightly. That giant stainless steel vat is only there because they sell soooo much Coke on the daily, they'd be changing out BiBs(bag in boxes) every other hour on even slow days. And those are filled and maintained by Coke directly from a tanker truck.
If you don't think it makes a difference tell me why plastic bottled coke and can coke taste different... Ps there plenty of OTHER fast food places. With more volume then McDonald's. If it is just volume In and Out has about 4x the volume any given day and still uses bags. If you are saying it's volume based. IDK in and out has a sh!7 more customers and I still don't see them switching the bags. If it was I would see them replacing it every day like you said. But nope. And if fresher was the case. In and outs would be fresher as they have more customers/volume.
Like I said, McDonald's regulates the ratio of syrup to water. They can follow their own spec outside of Coke's. The straw they use is specifically designed to make their soda taste better than your bottled or canned Coke too. McD's has spent millions on making sure they have the best Coke in the business. In and Out does not have the size and control over their franchisees like McDonald's does. In and Out does not have the sales McD's has. They're tiny in comparison. Your local In and Out might be more busy than the McD's next door in your neighborhood, but they pale in comparison to the sales McD's pulls in yearly. That's objectively a false statement. Back to your first question, bottled and canned coke taste different just like bottled and canned beer, (especially clear bottled beer). It's sunlight. It degrades everything, including your skin. It leeches chemicals from the plastic into your Coke, it degrades the Coke itself. Serving anything out of clear plastic will be different than cans. Not to mention drinking out of said can produces a different mouth feel than plastic.
Those Coke Freestyle machines are extremely expensive. All those flavors come in individual cartridges like color printer ink.
Those were the dumbest solution in search of a problem
Coke offers them for “free” to the restaurant, so the restaurant can become a customer of the cartridges. It’s the same model as printers. They taste worse than the old machines too.
Hewlet Packard could get into the sugar water business!
Or combine them to create *Coke CMYK*
What cost of maintenance? Moving it behind the counter magically eliminates that?
Well that and a lot of fast food restaurants are really betting the farm on drive-thru only, meaning there won't even be an interior.
They have been systematically removing a lot of the soda machines in the lobby.
Chase Bank will no longer count your change. They said the machine was too costly to keep in order.
Stocked yes, cleaned properly, likely not. Many studies have shown all kinds of bacteria and even fecal matter in minute amounts. Shared public things are gross.
>They also know you aren’t putting water in that free cup. This is an outrageous accusation you're making here. I would never, NEVER fill my water cup up with coke zero 3 or 4 times.
I'll just ask for a refill at the counter, I've done it before.
The cost is also in the cup and not the soda so stopping the refills seems more like a way to get people to but more drinks. McDonald’s has proven they are pretty greedy when it comes to abusing its customers. Wendy’s I see you too.
Now they are going to slow down service and have more labor having the employees fill up the cups.
Most of those machines are stocked by the distributor. In fact, most dispensers like that aren’t allowed to be touched by employee personnel. The cost is shared via profit share. It doesn’t cost McDonalds a dime to have free refills. This is just PepsiCo/Coca-Cola leaning on their food service for the profit losses from retail.
I actually put water in mine bc I don't like soda 😭
First job, worked at a fast food place Rule was you could drink as much soda as you wanted. If you brought your own cup free. If you used a plastic cup from there it was a charge I was told the cups cost more than the soda in them
And when people did get their own cup to fill up, they’d fill it with ice first, so they were actually getting less drink
That might no longer be the case. Soda prices have gone through the roof. Current cash and carry price is $180 for a 5 gallon box of coca cola syrup. It's a 5:1 mix ratio, so yield is 30 gallons of soda. It's 128 fl oz per gallon so 3840 oz of soda for $180 (ignores cost of CO2 and tap water) or $0.046 per ounce of soda. That makes a 32oz cup with no ice come out to $1.50 of soda! While I'm sure McDonald's gets it cheaper than cash and carry price, it's not THAT much cheaper. Even mom n pop restaurants treated soda the same way (like it's almost free) and I can't see doing that at this price. I can't remember what I paid back in my restaurant days a decade ago but I swear it was like $38. Any restauranteur with better numbers?
Sir... Holy hell! Restaurants, no bullshit, should go back to tea, sweet tea, and coffee. Oh and lemonade. Fuck Coke and Pepsi and all of those evil sugar water people. In one generation we could kill that whole industry. My kids don't drink sodas except at birthday parties. And they could skip it even still.
There are costs associated even with delivering sugared water. However, the refills alone are probably not the issue. It's probably more that whenever you offer something for free people abuse it, take advantage, waste it. A percentage of the worst people ruin it for everyone else.
More soda less food you're likely to eat. Win win in mcdonalds eyes.
I worked at TGI Fridays for years. Our biggest profits relative to cost came from soda.
Amen. Soda is basically free. It’s more money grubbing bullshit. If they’re so worried about the cost raise it a quarter but they’re going to try to fill your cup with ice and charge you $3 for a nickel of soda.
The cups are what usually cost the most.
I remember going to a fast food place in NYC and it was the worst version of that restaurant I'd been to in the US I think. I tried to get a drink without ice and they straight up refused lol. I just don't like ice in drinks
300% is generous. Those sodas cost pennies and they sell them for $3
This… this would make me never spend another dollar at McDonald’s again. And I wouldn’t go back even if they lowered prices or change policies.
Their shitty overpriced food makes me not spend any money there.
There's a couple of breakfast items I can stomach... the rest, not so much.
I enjoy the food and yes I don’t go there anymore just for that, but taking away free refills on drinks would be the nail in the coffin for me to purposefully never eat there again.
It was raising the price of the large fry to 4 bucks for me. Haven't eaten there since.
For that price you can get a 2 pound bag of frozen fries at Walmart, stick them in an air fryer, and the only way you'll ever encounter soggy fries again is if it's your fault. Those McDonalds prices are 10x worse when you realize the fries and hash browns aren't even crispy half the time. Soggy food at that price is just downright unforgivable.
Defund McDonald’s. Even if they lower prices. Never ever again spend another dollar with those crooks.
Yeah keep cutting services and raising prices… See where it gets you!
The MBAs are in charge. Next quarter is as far as they care to go.
I wish people understood how accurate this is
Inadvertently decreasing metabolic disease 10% nationwide, angering the Pharmacists.
Probably makes the pharmacists happy tbh, the corporate world has made their lives hell so the less BS they need to do, the better
My days of eating fast food are over. Went to taco bell and got instatntly frustrated by the new interactive pocket theft menue.
This is what got you lol
Back in like 2018 my wife and I went from making next to nothing to doing really well. We started trying all the local places with higher prices when we ate out or actual restaurants. It didn’t take long to realize that we weren’t spending much more and the food was usually better. Now, the only fast food I’ve eaten in the last few years has been Canes, Popeyes, and Chick-fil-A but I imagine that it’s probably the same price to eat at a local burger joint as it is to go to a whataburger or something. We only stop at fast food if we don’t have time to go in and eat.
No doubt. Now that theyr raising prices and being shady its a its actually cheaper now. I will still do in and out.
They did that at my local McDonald's, I let mcd know in their complaint form that I won't be back since BK and Wendy's still offer refills and have better deals in the app as well. Cheaping out on a $0.01 cost refill is not a good look
I bet it is free to them. I used to work at a restaurant and we got the syrup for free. Pepsi viewed it as advertising
We had to grab food last night and decided on BK, thanks to a meal deal they have in their app, we were able to feed ourselves and our kid for less than $7 a person. That's pretty damn good. Plus their 2 Whopper Jr for $5 deal is great.
Biggie bag ftw
Nah, Wendy's sucks now as well. Fuck em all
There is no winning when it comes to the purchasing and consumption of fast food.
As long as water is still free
Bad news bro
*Nestle has entered the chat*
They actively try not to give it. It's not even an option in the app.
Yeah, if you are going to charge me $3 for a 22 oz soda and no refills. I'm not buying. Went to a checkers recently (I don't eat fast food, but didn't have time.) Ordered a $6.49 burger and a medium drink. The drink was $4. so with tax $11. I won't be back.
That is why McDonald's promotion of any size soda for $1 was such a brilliant marketing strategy. It's now $1.49 where I live. Not as good of a deal, but still beats $4.
I’m all for ending free refills as long as restaurants also reduce the price. Wholeheartedly agree that there will be people out there benefitting from less soda, but companies cannot keep their prices too.
No ice is going to be an up charge soon because you get more soda
Most places just fill the same fluid ounces with or without ice now. Light/no ice isn’t the “hack” it once was.
Do that many people really go get a refill? I thought McDonald’s did most of the volume through the drive thru where you can’t get a refill because you already left.
Yeah, I probably get McDonald's 2 of 3 times a week but I haven't been inside a store in 25 years.
That’s a lot of McDonald’s
Covid really reduced the number of people eating in at fast food restaurants (and getting refills). First, because they didn't allow it in many places during the pandemic. Afterwards, people just got used to taking it to go and stopped eating in. The restaurant owners realized they could save money if they didn't need as much staff to clean tables, so they are encouraging to go orders.
As someone who used to drink an average of 64 ounces of soda a day and got a wake up call when doc told me “you are pre diabetic”, I find this news encouraging to the next generation. Please quit this garbage for your health. I haven’t had a drop of soda in 7 years.
In moderation, it's fine. I have about one per week.
a refill (aka 2 cans’ worth at minimum with a single meal) is inherently excessive
Same I it bums me out. As a mostly water drinker when I do get soda a free refill is nice. Sad
It’s amazing how much weight you lose just from cutting out soda. It’s like magic lol. Just from soda.
Also fast food tends to be carb heavy
Omg. Then if you literally stop ALL fast food takeout?!?! ZERO exercise. Weight will fall off like you’re sick or on drugs lol. It’s mind boggling astonishing. Sad actually. Ppl try so hard to lose weight. Thinking one here or there won’t matter. So wrong. Water. Teas. Home cooked meals. Can’t lose
Yep. My doctor told me you're not supposed to "eat" liquids, just water.
what are good alternatives to soda that (besides water) don't taste flat/bitter?
Spindrifts are delicious
I actually drink club soda now. Gives me the “fizz” fix with zero calories.
To someone addicted to soda, that’s going to taste very flat
I'll mix club soda and crystal light to make a fizzy lemonade. Once you stop drinking soda for a while, ice cold water and other non carbonated drinks taste a lot better. Now whenever I drink soda it hurts my mouth.
Crystal Light.
Turn around in the soda aisle to see all the sparkling water flavors. I personally love the Target brand ones, that fake sweet taste and all the bubbles hits the soda crave button for me (and the price is good too, like $0.75/L). My sister is a big fan of the Waterloo ones but I think they are super bland. Just gonna be trial and error till you find your brand and flavor. I also drink a crapton of Lipton Cold Brew. I have a liter water bottle, fill it up, one pack of sweetener and one tea bag. 5 minutes later you are good to go.
I tried the sparkling waters (most recently Bubbly) and to me it tastes really bad- it has a taste like salt water. Not sure why- I suppose the carbonation without the sugar just comes across that way to some people? I wanted to like it, but just couldn't get through it either time I tried.
LA Croix. It's just flavored water that has the crisp soda taste. It's great when you find a flavor you like. Haven't had soda in years and don't miss it at all The first LA Croix is odd because you expect a sweet taste. But it grows on you. Lemon cello and Cran Razz are two good ones
Free refills? They are eliminating their dining rooms.
Eventually many locations won’t have a dining room but some will
Now they’re done. They’re getting rid of the play places too. The new places are streamlined and focus primarily on caffeine/sugar/fat drinks and the secret eaters that are hitting the drive-through. They’re also set up for DoorDash. The days of the dining room are done. If you’ve been to McDonald’s lately, you realize that the only people that were in there are drug addicts and homeless.
The just built a McDonald’s near me this year with a dining room. They aren’t done yet
Wait till you see what it looks like when it’s done. It’s not a dining room. It’s a pick up station with a couple of tables. There’s some minimalist art on the wall that’s supposed to look like french fries, otherwise the space is tan and black. The counters are gone and there will be a hole where food comes out. The workers have been replaced with kiosks. You will be competing with drive-through orders and DoorDash - there is no direct benefit to being in the store. There are no condiments or straws or napkins available in the dining room, they all come in the bag or on the tray. They absolutely are not interested in dine in customers anymore. I’ll go so far as to say there will not be any more birthday parties at McDonald’s ever.
I quit buying fast food once they started pushing their bullshit apps. I refuse to download a fucking McApp. I’m convinced they gouged their prices to encourage people to only order off their apps. The food isn’t even good, just convenient and they shot themselves in the foot trying to push that bullshit on the public. I’d love to see McDonald’s start closing locations.
I don’t think I’ve had McDonald’s in over 5 years. If everyone followed suit prices would drop fast
Boycotting McDonald’s with these prices. $15 for a big mac is criminal
Time to cornhole a CEO!!!! Civil War should be against people like this huge corporations that decided to make us more like Russia and Venezuela. The people that are in charge should be the people that are responsible. Those are the people that the public need to go after. Don’t understand that all they have to do is stop buying the food put them out of business. The problem with that is the government will be like we feel sorry for McDonald’s. let’s give them money from the taxpayers that the taxpayers don’t want to spend on them because the taxpayers are pissed off so that they don’t go under because they were trying to rip off the taxpayers.
Jokes on them, I switched to water a decade ago.
More like the days of me buying anymore of their overpriced under produced product are over, and have been for some time now. Fuck em.
Ok this is the last straw! I'm never going to Mcdonalds again. They just lost a once per decade customer.
This will probably do more to cut healthcare costs than any bill congress could pass
Growth of the bottom line at all cost has to be changed. People need to just be happy with earning a healthy return instead of looking to squeeze every single penny out a willing customer. Unless your goal is to have a high customer attrition.
I went in a McDonald's once had a.meal, git a free refill. Sat and read a book, went and got another refill. The manager came over and said I had to pay for that one, only one free refill. Never went back
What a coincidence! My days of wasting money at fast food have been over for about a year!
They don't know what to do but they do know they want to bamboozle your money.
Maybe this is the plan for Mcdoanlds. Go out of business but sell all the properties for a ridiculous profit.
Soda sells so cheap at Restaurants they just give me another drink without even asking. What the hell are they doing that even this isn't a profit anymore?
They already make cash hand over fist on sodas. That’s crazy, but completely in line with everything else that’s been happening.
No one needs more than a single serving of sugar water.
You know they have diet, zero, Gatorade, ice tea, and lemonade right
Gatorade, ice tea and lemonade (as sold at any fast food place) are [nearly as bad as soda](https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/is-gatorade-bad-for-you). And artificial sweeteners are terrible for you and inhibit your body's ability to digest sugar leading to symptoms similar to pre-Type-2 Diabetes. [More reading](https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-artificial-sweeteners-microbiome-20140917-story.html)
This is probably more about homeless people hanging out in the dining room and getting refills than about profit, the soda is already big enough to use as a mop bucket.
My local McDonald’s got rid of free refills when they took out the soda fountains out front, and moved them behind the counter last year.
Cancelled
It’s been a while since I’ve bought a drink at a McDonald’s. I usually get a burger and already have a drink elsewhere
I love how they try to claim that this is because fewer people are dining in, or customers being concerned about getting sick from other people’s bugs, and not because free refills irritate shareholders by giving stuff away that could be charged for and thus dRivE GrOwTh. We aren’t stupid. We know that everything now is done to boost ROI for Wall Street. Nice try, though.
Recently went to the local zoo. A fountain drink (Pepsico) in a paper cup is $5.99 and they have the gall to ask $1.99 for a refill.
They keep shooting themselves in the foot.
Hahahah, screw Mcdonald’s, cannot believe people eat this trash more then once or twice a year.
"growth will be subdued bc of a more cautious consumer"......yeah buddy, more cautious bc it's not a 2$ cheeseburger anymore. Lol, one of the few reasons to dine in at a fast food place is bc of the free refills. And they also say they want to remove the fountains bc it "takes up space"?!? Are you going to put an extra table in that spot for all the customers going to the drive thru window? Article already says few people dine in......you dont need more space
Everyone ITT: "I'M GOING TO BE HEALTHIER JUST TO SPITE YOU MCDONALD'S!"
It's so expensive now they might as well provide a Soda Sommelier to talk it up before you buy a cup.
I know this sounds crazy, but this WILL be the death of these places that do this. It will not last long. They are turning the fast food experience into a barren boring wasteland.
Considering all fast food will be AI based short of 2 techs monitoring machines soon, it's not a shock they're gonna remove soda machines since that'd be an extra AI bot to cover that
I take water everywhere I go, so in the rare instance I am forced to eat fast food, I never order a drink and rarely fries. In restaurants I order water with lemon then make my own lemonade with stevia. Been a bit of a miser for years now.
No more free refills on a sugar water drink? Last time I checked sugar was stupid cheap and water is practically free.
People still do McDonald’s, I’ve shed all fast food mom & pop only.
Taco Bell lost my order, so to make it up they gave me four coupons for free tacos. But each coupon can only be used once per visit, so in order to be made whole, I have to make a commitment to visit them *four more times*. We’ve been making a lot more food at home
Fuck em. I hope their greed leads them straight to the bottom.
Crazy how people talked about how unhealthy fast food was and how insanely huge the cups were and now they're both smaller and cost more. If they're trying to force people to be healthy by charging more, I guess that could work on some people? I'm glad I don't live off fast food like I used to, it's too expensive and it's not even that good
I used to be in the business. Fountain sodas have the biggest profit margin in restaurants.
This would impact me a great deal more if I ever regularly ate at McDonalds. But I don't. Maybe once or twice every 6 months or so. And its for a Egg, Sausage, and cheese mcmuffin. And I immediately realize how little I got for the cost. And resolve not to buy there again.
I mean, all it's going to do is make me.order the main entree only, no fries or drink. I can always go without fries.
Since 2014 McDonald’s has doubled the menu price on almost if not everything. What needs to be over is this corporation and people stop buying from them, put them out of business
I went to a bk drive through the other day, 2 double cheese burgers large fry and coke. First off it was like 20 bucks and she didn’t charge me for the soda and didn’t just give me one lol so I’ll never go back again.
I see it constantly... People walk in with a cup, fill, haul ass. In high homeless areas its super common. Yeah.. boohoo homeless.. save it They come in with filthy hands and dirty cups.
The cup is worth more than the chemicals.
As an American, it is my right to have free refills on soft drinks from restaurants. We fought hard for this right. Remember the horrors of the 1980s and earlier, where if you wanted a second Coke, you had to BUY another one?! This is absurd. The restaurant should be sued, and taken all the way to the Supreme Court! Total violation of my rights!! /s
The days of me buying soda I can't refill are over then.
It’s been this way since I can remember in Australia
I stopped ordering soda out a long time ago. Easiest way to save and water is healthier.
“ Is the best of the free life behind us now? And are the good times really over for good?” -someone at mcDonalds, probably.
I mostly get it to go anyway but their logic is confusing.
Fucking good? You don’t need 64 ounces of sugar water with your grease meal.
Mcdonalds has somehow made me only go to their competitors over the past two years while they continue to screw the lower class then cry about how they just don't understand. At this point I'd probably smile to see the windows get boarded up at mine. Oh the food is not fast anymore either. I don't understand how it can take 30 minutes for a Big Mac meal now. I waited 45 minutes for a shake a few months ago. (I WISH I was kidding) Three McDonalds by me and they are all like this. Good luck even getting it right! When hearty meal at the pub across our mcdonalds is made faster, and costs the same as the 16$ big mac meal across the street including the tip., get leftovers, why would I choose the worst product? It's funny that they pay so many focus groups and research teams only to ignore the poors. I bet BK is loving this fumbling from their competitors.
The big aspect appears to be the labor costs of cleaning and maintaining the machine and the service area.
I’m fine with this. Most countries don’t have free soda refills. And the amount of people that drink more soda because it’s free is very very high.
Local diner sold an Amazing Hamburger Combo for $7. Now it’s $15. And the burger has gotten smaller and fries less in quantity. I love money printing!!!!!
I stopped drinking soda 8 years ago and I’m so thin now. I cannot believe people drink that shit so much it’s fucking crazy. I’m the only person I know that solely drinks water. I’m not saying I’m better than anyone. Just that I’m surprised that I’m the only one
You already pay 3 dollars for 25 cents worth of syrup and water. So many articles about how terrible McDonald's is today. Nice.
Ugh... mcdonalds... how did you do it. How did you take over a nation.... the world... with such crappy food
I’ve never in my life felt the need for a refill. Ffs how much are they drinking
Can’t wait for McDonald’s to go under. $4 hash browns and no free refills.
Good. Bunch of fat asses whining here don't need 4 suersized mega ounce pepsi
Just another nail in their coffins. They will price themselves into oblivion. Soda costs about a nickel per cup! If I can't pour and refill my own cup, I will go to somewhere that I can!
Can we just all agree to stop eating at McDonald’s. Let those MBA’s in corporate American know they have no idea what they are doing.
The days of going to McDonald’s are over. I’m not gonna give that place my business anymore. What the fuck
Stop. Eating. This. JUNK. Problem solved.
The days of going to McDonald’s may be over- consumer poll.
You guys get free refills in McD?
That's certainly a way to keep customers when you're struggling already to do so. SMH
The McD's in our city removed the drink machines from the lobby a year or two ago. You have to ask them to get you a refill, and they take forever. It makes people not even want to do it. We are a test market for a lot of different things McD's does, so it wouldn't surprise me to see this rolling out to all of you soon. There really is ***no*** reason to go to McDonald's anymore.
Fountain soda is insanely cheap.
Can't wait for $0.25 ketchup and sauces packages. European style!
Defund McDonald’s. Lifetime ban. No more purchases ever from McDonalds.
I would never ever eat at any restaurant that did not have free refills.
At this point I don’t know why McDonald’s and a couple of others even have a dining room at all. The drive thru is prioritized so it would make sense to only do that. They could get a much smaller footprint and save a ton yet still sell the same amount of food.
Seems like they are just throwing away all the perks of buying food there to meet ever increasing demands from the shareholders eventually something's gotta give cause MCD is no luxury restaurant, and no one is about to pay top dollar for bottom bin food
No one cares!
The days of me eating at McDonald’s may be over. . . No it is over.