McDonald's posts sizzling 80% profit rise in 2008

Originally posted by Styki
During a time when people want to save money McDonald's is the place to go. You can get a double cheeseburger for a dollar. Go to a nice healthy place to eat and try to beat that.

You can beat that. Potato, turnip some other none descript veg and meat all in a nice pastry casing... It's called a pasty and it is the food of gods! (if those gods decide to spend about a quid on lunch)

Some people have said similar things...

McDonalds is NOT cheap!

That's a laughably ignorant thing to use as an excuse for eating fast food. People eat McDonald's (etcetera) because out of laziness, and I'll admit, it does taste good while you're eating it. I personally haven't eaten food from McDonald's for 5 years, out of principle...

There's something gratifying about preparing food at home, besides the fact that it's much much cheaper than fast food, almost always tastes better, and is almost always wayyyy healthier. I think people have lost the art of food in modern times. People are so lazy and selfish that they refuse to cook for themselves and/or their family.

And to the people saying they don't have time to make food at home: Really? You have 24 hours in a day and you don't have the half hour to hour it takes to cook a good meal?

I don't buy it!

[edit on 1/26/2009 by iceofspades]

reply to post by AnAbsoluteCreation


i eat mcdonalds more than 4 times a week, and im 6'0, 150lbs and have a 28 inch waste. The last time i had my blood pressure taken it was 100 over 65.

my point is, its not just the food you eat, its the body you've been given and how well you understand your limits within this balance. the greatest ignorance we face in the so-called (and poorly so) "obesity epidemic" is that there are strict, one size fits all portions and diet regimens. the 2,000 calorie a day thing is BS.... IMHO it seems more likely that some people should have 1,200 while others can consume as much as 5,000 as their metabolism will naturally compensate for this consumption.

not to be too off topic (sorry), but i think its important to share this perspective as there is an understood tone on this site (ats) of distrust, conspiracy, etc. I don't think mcdonalds is succeeding in killing people or sickening them deliberately. I think theyve got terrible food yet an powerfully effective business model and (in my case/for my excuse) one also happens to be a block walking from my office.


oh well, food for though as they say.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


Yes, but how old are you? Your statements about McDonald's not affecting your health are inconclusive without knowing your age, as well as how long you have been eating it "more than 4 times a week".

[edit on 1/26/2009 by iceofspades]

I guess the cheapness of McDonald's depends on what you consider cheep. I have also never heard of this pasty. I am not denying that it exists, in fact I might have to put that on my to try list.

Time is an issue. Sometimes it's not just being able to find 30 min throughout the day but finding the time at the right time of day. Also if you are cooking at home then you have at least 2 meals a day if not more to cook.

All I am saying is that it's edible, affordable and readily available. I personally don't know anybody who eats there regularly so this article surprised me. They did have an 80% profit rise this last year.

I think it would be interesting if somebody made a healthy fast food restaurant. The only problem is getting something like this on the same playing field as McDonald's.

I'm sorry if anyone has said this already, But has anyone seen the movie "Super Size me"?

The guy gets sick at one point lol

Let me clarify,
When I cook, I don't make Hamburger Helper. I cook real food. Like thai, or chicken and veggie dishes, slow cook stews, intense stuff. The ingredients cost me a LOT more than going out for a meal, even taking into account leftovers. At least around here, yeah, for sure.

I always complain about how much my ingredients cost. It's way more than the cost of a burger or a meal of fast food.

This does not surprise me at all. Junk food will always be something people will buy as long as it tastes good. They should come up with even more fattening and sugar filled foods so they can make an even bigger profit.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
Let me clarify,
When I cook, I don't make Hamburger Helper. I cook real food. Like thai, or chicken and veggie dishes, slow cook stews, intense stuff. The ingredients cost me a LOT more than going out for a meal, even taking into account leftovers. At least around here, yeah, for sure.

I always complain about how much my ingredients cost. It's way more than the cost of a burger or a meal of fast food.

Really? Then you must shop at the most expensive grocery stores in your area.

Me and the mrs. always find the cheapest prices on ingredients, we stay away from wally world's grocery section. That is probably one of the most expensive places to shop for groceries. We have found that Safeway, and if we still had it here, Save-A-Lot is the best place. For about 100 bucks, we walk out with 2 full carts of food, compared to 100 bucks and half of 1 cart at wally food world.

Try shopping around. I bet you will find that what your spending at FF places is more and you can bet that once you start finding the good deals, you will have far more meals per dollar spent than you are with the FF way.



Cheers!!!!

What is with these food fascists telling people what they should or shouldn't eat? Last time I checked my body, including my taste buds, are mine. I eat McDonalds a few times a month because it's cheap, fast for times when I don't have time to make something.

I used to work at McDonald's when I was in high school about 40 hours a week. It was a great job working the grill with great hardworking people. It is a company that if you choose to stay, you can move up pretty quickly. For those people who are too proud to get a job there I say to you, I would take a burger flipper over some self righteous welfare bum any day of the week.

It's no secret why places like Walmart, McDonalds etc do very well in times of economic trouble. Every needs what they have to offer and they offer it at a price that nobody else can match. Whoever invested in these companies 6 months is laughing all the way to the bank at those self righteous people protesting about "exploitation" and so forth. Maybe now because they are laid off, they might learn a thing or two begging for a job at the few places that are still hiring like McDonalds and Walmart.

WOW I was just thinking this should be happening about 20 minutes ago. WOW I was right

Originally posted by iceofspades
Some people have said similar things...

McDonalds is NOT cheap!

Maybe somewhere it is...

But yeah, it certainly isnt here. A McDonalds meal cost about the same as a regular resturant meal. Eating homemade meals is often cheaper, unless you make a really fancy dish. I can eat for 1/10th the price of McDonalds if I just grab some pasta, lol.

I friend of mine is probably responsible for that.

Seriously though, I think it's because McDonalds is convenient. People are being forced to work longer hours, which ends up meaning you can use the little spare time you have to cook a healthy meal, or you can use it to wind down and relax instead. Too often, you cannot do both.

So the choice ends up being: eat unhealthy or be stressed out.

reply to post by AnAbsoluteCreation


First off, 58 million people WORLD WIDE. And I believe that was "per day" at that. Not 25% of Americans eating there every day lol ..

Anywho ..

In 2008 I ate at McDonalds and other places more often then going to sit down restaurants and paying out the wazoo for a half # meal and having to tip the moron attempting to serve the food. (I would never tip if I where not afraid of what would happen to my food if I returned. I mean.. the waitress doesn't even carry the food out.. it's like hey, here is $10 for writing my order on a piece of paper, messing it up, forgetting to get refills and over all have a bad attitude.) ......... but I digress..

2009 I hope to cut down on eating out all together... except bars, and this German place I went to this weekend.

More at home food, of course, for lunch McDonalds is cheap.. and easy ..

And now they serve good coffee.. their coffee used to suck so bad, now it's pretty tasty.. no more waiting in line at Starbucks (who's coffee sucks by the way)

Some of these replies are laughable...

"I'm too busy"
"It's cheap"
"I exercise so I can still eat there"

1) You're too busy to EAT? C'mon, that is bullcrap at its finest. If you really think you don't have time to fix a meal, GET OFF OF ATS AND GO COOK A FRICKIN' MEAL. You need to really redefine your priorities. Is it that you're too busy to cook, or that you don't want to spend the time to cook? Or is it that you have no idea how to cook for yourself? This to me is honestly a sign of the society we live in and how back asswards it is. Food is something you NEED. It is right at the TOP of the list of things you need to LIVE. Some of you should have not worried so much about the frivolous things in life and spent a little bit of time in the kitchen so you were at least competent. If you can't find time in your day to make a proper meal, you seriously need to redefine what is important in your life and take a real hard look at what you do with your time. There is NO excuse for not making time to cook food. I would love for these people who say they are too busy to cook to post a full 24 hour schedule for their day...a true and honest one...

2) It's cheap, yeah right. People already said this and I will just echo it: BE A BETTER SHOPPER and find your own ingredients to make meals. Buy a sack of potatoes, a LB of ground chuck, some cheese, a bag of buns, and a case of pop. Keep your receipt. Slice just enough potatoes to make one serving of fries, keep track of how many potatoes you used. Make a nice 1/8 pound pattie. Pour yourself one can of pop. Compute how much of the actual food you bought was used for this 1 meal. Divide your receipt total against the amount of food you just used (as a ratio, like 1/8 of the chuck is actually how much money...) I guarantee your prices will be comparable to the McD's price and probably cheaper. NOT TO MENTION THIS MEAL WILL BE HEALTHIER FOR YOU THAN THE SAME ONE YOU BOUGHT AT MCDs. We can't even compute how much health is worth, but I would like to find a way to figure that in somehow.... And I know darn well no one that said "it's cheap" will partake in this experiment... why? Because you're lazy and you'd rather eat a cancerous cow from Mexico than spend 20 minutes making this meal and 5 more minutes doing the math.

3) Because you are skinny, DOES NOT mean you are healthy. People said this already too and I'll echo it again... THE FOOD HAS LITTLE TO NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE. In bare bones terms, food is fuel + building blocks. If you are not getting the proper vitamins, proteins, amino acids, etc etc your body is NOT going to be able to function at its best or be healthy. I know plenty of people who "smoke because it keeps them skinny." Skinny does NOT mean health. The dude who talks about being 6'0" 150 pounds, THAT IS A STRING BEAN... you'd probably break in half with a strong gust of wind. It is obvious your metabolism is ultra high but you will find with age it is going to SLOOOW down and that gunk is going to slooowly build up in your arteries, THEN and only then will you think man, I should have really thought about the junk I put in my body.

It comes down to two basic things... laziness and ignorance. Lazy because you can't or won't fix food for yourself, let alone shop for the food. You'd rather drive through a window in the morning than get up 20 minutes earlier in the morning to fix something. You'd rather drive through a window at night than miss 20 minutes of your favorite tv show. Everyone is allowed to live their own life, but their are basic survival needs we all have and if you skimp on those because you enjoy the other LUXURIES of life, that is your own choice and that is down right lazy.

Ignorance because a) you have no clue about healthy living or eating and you have no clue how to fix food or shop for it.

All of you defending McDonalds for any reason are suffering from one of these cases, and if you were brutally honest in this thread instead of making yourself feel better about your bad choices in life then you would realize it.

Here is an average day for me, and no, I don't eat any fast food...

Breakfast: Oatmeal + Milk/ OJ or Cereal + OJ or the traditional breakfast food like Eggs/Bacon or Sausage/Toast + Milk/OJ

Lunch: Tuna, Peanut Butter Sandwich, Protein Bar, Water, occasionally I throw in some fruit...

Dinner: Chicken/Beef/Pork/Fish, corn/green beans/potatoes, applesauce/other random side, Protein Shae

I learned early from my high school physics teacher the importance of good eating (he was a former body builder and the healthiest 50+ year old I have ever seen in my life). It's amazing how much it makes sense when you have an intelligent person explaining to you scientifically the importance and the processes of what you eat. It sunk into my head real early and it is something that is now a part of my every day life. And I have never ONCE had a problem balancing food, work, school, friends. Not in high school, not in college even with all the busy work that comes with it. Because of this, I find it hard to believe ANYONE can make a claim "I don't have time" ... PRIORITIES PRIORITIES PRIORITIES

I really am not a high and mighty person, but when it comes to life you've got real basic needs that trump the rest: air, food/water, clothes, shelter. That is a common element ALL human beings share and these need to be tended to FIRST before you can worry about other crap in life. If you don't tend to these things, that is nothing more than a personal choice and there are no excuses. Unless you are homeless, but none of you are since you're typing on your fancy computers sitting at home so I have no remorse or no understanding for any of you who eat fast food/don't cook...

This is why McDonalds should be boycotted.
This is most likely why 80% rise in profit.

Plastic is cheaper than food right?
So why not eat plastic to save a buck between resteraunt visits?
Eat a Safeway bag and the window crank off your Ford for lunch.
It's probably more nutritious than a McMeal, and probably digests faster as well.

No person should ever patronize the franchise ever.

Why?

Expand your McKnowledge HERE

12% of the entire American workforce will work in a McDonald's at some point in their life.

Regardless of what you think of the nutritional value of their food, I think they are an important part of the US economy.

Personally I don't think their food is as nutritionally corrupt as some people suggest it is. And in times of hardship, its best to have at least some low cost option.

You can't slate a company for making a relatively honest buck, when compared to the gimmickry of the financial institutions of your country.

WHAT?! What on earth is this hogwash about McDonalds being CHEAP?! You think 5 bucks for a meal is cheap?! I could eat 3 much healthier meals for the same price by performing the long lost art of cooking.

I love McDonalds, the food is just so nice. Id be alot better off without them tho lol It doesnt surprise me that they have announced such high profits, despite us being in a "crisis". People always want fast food.

I find it startling that this cooperation had a negative number on the bottom line here in Denmark when the annual numbers was posted, and yet they earn more and more money channeling their money into countries where they dont have to pay taxes.

The top of Mcd. should have a very bad taste in their mouth.

Best regards.

Loke.