Ever Wanted To Know How Much Things Cost At McDonalds?

2nd

Wrabbit2000
That is amazing to see.. I take it that's from a McDonald's listing of what it's costing them to throw out each listed item?

I'd seen another list in a McDonalds on the wall for staff to see which listed the cost of condiments with the admonishment to think before giving more than 1 or 2 (depending on item) by request only. Ketchup was $.05 I think, while I know one of the dipping sauces was $0.20 for a bit of a hit on them.

I guess they count every last bean in every last way. That makes for a statement on profit margins vs. material tho.

Depends. If it's a franchise and the owner is sloppy, they often waste a lot. I worked at one where there was lots and lots of waste simply because no one was watching. The managers just counted the waste. They never said anything.

BrianFlanders

Depends. If it's a franchise and the owner is sloppy, they often waste a lot. I worked at one where there was lots and lots of waste simply because no one was watching. The managers just counted the waste. They never said anything.

My neighbor had a Quiznos and it got to the point that even with him, his wife and son working there with a couple of other employees they still had to finally close the door. Just because a person opens a fast food restaurant does mean they can make a profit even with the lowest level of employees needed.

TruthSeekerMike
McDonald's is under no obligation to sell food. They do it to make money, that's it. I have a business and I charge a lot more over my material cost than McDonald's does and don't feel the least bit bad about it. Businesses exist for one reason only, to make money. They don't have to justify how much they charge or balance it with better salaries or anything else. I don't understand why people are always so surprised to learn that companies charge more for things than it costs them, that's called making a profit. I know this much, McDonald's hasn't gotten one cent from me for decades; not because I disagree with their practices but because they sell poison and I can't understand how rational people consume it.

Fine, but it's no problem to point out when any given company is charging like 1000% markup. It's not must McDonald's that does this. Then again, it's not everyone that does this. Here in Toronto, if I want to pay a good price for anything, I go to our local China town. One example is health food stores. The downtown ones here have their prices and of course they vary from store to store. Then I walk into the two health food stores in China town, owned and operated by Chinese people. The prices in the Chinese stores for many different products, vitamins, etc. etc., all different brands and commercial products, is literally below half the price of all the other stores in Toronto.

But these Chinese health food stores have existed for years so are clearly doing well and still making a profit. So it's worth pointing out that some other store can and does charge more than double for the same product. It's worth knowing, and worth discussing. Yeah they're in it to make money. But you want to know who has the more thriving business? The Chinese stores - they are FRIGGING PACKED with shoppers all the time, much more so than any of the other stores here.

reply to post by Xtrozero


if paying a high rent, then that is all too common. Nothing dooms a restaurant owner during that first few years like landlords.

And Quizno's, though delicious, is ludicrously expensive compared to all the other sub sandwich choices. Had they been savvy, they would have chosen Jimmy John's or something comparable. Those places are profitable because much of the work is done by the manager that starts at 5am., all before the help arrives.

I ran a Jimmy John's on campus of Univ of Illinois back when there was only 5 locations. there was the manager, and 1 part time employee and 1-3 delivery guys.

DeadSeraph
I guess this would explain why they have no qualms about wasting large amounts of food. I worked at McDonalds when I was 13 and the amount of food waste I witnessed on any given shift was sickening. Doesn't matter as much to the company when they are only throwing out $20 worth of product a day I suppose.

edit on 4-1-2014 by DeadSeraph because: (no reason given)

Do you know why they throw out product? Because there are strict guidelines on how long food can sit out...expiration dates and secondary expiration dates. Oh im sure theyd love to keep some of their stuff out quite a bit longer but they can't legally.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I have always been of the opinion that what is served at Mcdonalds is something that is impersonating food, but isn't. This bears it out. Its pseudofood.

NoRulesAllowed

rimjaja
I don't know why society is so anti-capitalism. Even here on ATS, which used to be fairly conservative, liberalism has gotten out of hand.

I don't care if anyone ever eats at McD's. It isn't my business. But whether you love them or hate them, they provide inexpensive food to the masses. You could eat at McD's for far less than it would cost you to make things yourself. Yes, the quality and ingredients would not compare, but if you are poor, eating 2 burgers off the dollar menu might be your best option for not starving for the day. You couldn't get anything in the grocery store for that.

And I believe that all businesses deserve to make a profit. There has to be some reward for putting up with the risk and stress of being a business owner. Profits are what allow companies to hire people.

Wow...2 Burgers off the dollar.menu from McD are "the best option for not starving"? Pretty funny..and sad really.

It's exactly SUCH opinion that "liberals" (and what on earth has this even to do with liberalism/capitalism) have to open their mouth because the COMMON JOE is too dumbed down...I mean look at yourself! You're seriously stating that two burgers are "the best option to not starve".

Like there is no alternatives even for very poor people to at least SOMEWHAT eat and be healthy....but with a view such as yours the masses just kept dumbed down. You're living in a society with...like....70% obese people and heart disease topping all the charts for death causes...and you write such nonsense....cheezus christ.

Don't be so sanctimonious! If someone has $100 a month for food, then places like McDonalds help them to stretch their food budget. If you are a student with $10 bucks in you wallet until your next student loan come in in 5 days, you could, theoretically eat off the dollar menu. $10 in the grocery story won't buy you food for 5 days, even if you only buy beans, rice, and ramen noodles -- all of which you can argue are not healthier than the nutritional quality of a fast food burger.

Any the whole thing about liberalism stems from the fact that the entire threat was so openly anticapitalistic.

Further more, while you are up there on your high horse calling names and degrading people for posting, you may want to check yourself. The demographic for fast food places like McDonalds is lower socioeconomically. Just like smokers are more likely to have lower socioeconomic status, so too goes obesity rates. Have you ever looked in the shopping carts or read the statistical averages of what people on EBT/WIC/ and other social welfare programs buy? Answer - A lot of junk food! Is that sad? Absolutely, but your idealism isn't going to make people go out and but Organic O's and grass-fed beef? I think not!
I never once said McDonalds was an ideal meal, I said it fulfilled a role, but you would rather call me names and point fingers. Way to go, you are awesome - just ask yourself!

Shouldn't be a surprise since McDonalds make over a billion dollars per quarter. The food cost and labor has to be really low.

edit: with profits in the billions, how can they afford to pay a real living wage to workers.

roadgravel
Shouldn't be a surprise since McDonalds make over a billion dollars per quarter. The food cost and labor has to be really low.

edit: with profits in the billions, how can they afford to pay a real living wage to workers.

edit on 1/5/2014 by roadgravel because: (no reason given)

This is what $15 minimum wage will look like..

www.thelookingspoon.com...

I'm remember reading a book many years ago that suggested something about how McDonalds actually made the majority of it's profits not from burgers and fries, but from the carefully selected real estate that they put their stores on. Not being a realtor, I wouldn't exactly know how they achieve this other than the value of the land they are on forever increasing in value.

Obviously the book went into much more detail about how this worked, but I will look for the book and if I can find it I will post the name and author and people can read it for themselves.

But after 2 years working at McDonalds, I did learn the following.............
*** Drinking too much of the Sundae mixture in the cool room will make you sick, very quickly.
*** Going back in for more Sundae mixture will not help the situation. In fact, it WILL make it worse.
*** There is no mistake or error that cannot be swept up, thrown out or hidden in the roof storage.
*** The smell produced when opening a new bucket of pickles still haunts me to this day.
*** Due to some of the things that I have seen co-workers do to the food of customers that may of complained a little too much, and without going into details, NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER piss off the people that prepare your food.
*** And finally, what message are McDonalds sending by saying its a crime to walk into a store and take a burger without paying, but if I wear a costume and call myself hamburglar, then it's all just harmless fun

butcherguy
reply to post by thedoctorswife

 

Valid points.
Also, the workers take the job by their own choice.

Not always...

reply to post by tothetenthpower


kinda side topic but a Real Question. how many Chicken McNuggets does it take to make a 128mb ram chip? u got to really not care about yourself if your still eating that junk.

I was a manager at a McDonald's for about a year.

This is fairly recent, due to the presence of the 'Mighty Wings'.

To answer a few questions:

This is a "Waste Sheet." It is used to tally the 'completed' and 'raw' waste. 'Completed' waste on the left-hand side is considered an item that is packaged or ready to sell, which when considering cost is the sum of it's components plus any packaging cost. 'Raw' waste is considered any product that is incomplete (i.e. a part).

Unsurprisingly, what appears to have been wasted here the most is 'Filet', which are the fish filets. We are required to have a certain amount of product cooked and ready to assemble when someone orders, but it must be thrown away after a certain (rather short) amount of time to ensure both quality and food safety. Since fish filets are one of the most rarely ordered items, the waste there is usually the highest.

There are many more items than the ones listed here - they are merely the most commonly wasted, and therefore for the sake of simplicity, the ones present on the sheet. This is entered into a computerized system that keeps track of stock and waste amounts over time.

On the subject of labor, at my store that was relatively low volume, our labor costs ranged anywhere from 30% all the way to 50% and 60% - which unfortunately means that any increase in the minimum wage would make the store unprofitable, the owner would likely choose to close it, and the 40-50 full time employees would be out of a job.

As for the quality of the food, in all honesty, the beef and whole chicken (grilled, crispy chicken breast, etc.) are NOT poor quality in any way. Frankly, the hype about McDonalds having poor quality food is a little overblown. The only thing that's truthfully unhealthy in the sandwiches are the buns, due to sugar and other nonsense like that.

All of the ingredients for all of the products are publicly posted; nutrition.mcdonalds.com...


AND - the reason the burgers "don't decompose"? It's because they have insufficient moisture and dry out too quickly for mold to set in. Any burger, no matter the type of bun used or type of beef/other ingredients, will behave the same way if it is the size of a McDouble (Say, .2lbs beef)


- zS

reply to post by tothetenthpower


if you think thats bad you should see how cheap supermarkets get their products.

You think you're getting a bargain, you're not and they are laughing all the way to the bank.

Honestly it should be illegal to extort so much profit from the public.

The store would be unprofitable, well, that depends on the definition of profitable used. Such as making 1B instead of 1.5B.

Silicis n Volvo
reply to post by tothetenthpower

 

Honestly it should be illegal to extort so much profit from the public.

edit on 6-1-2014 by Silicis n Volvo because: (no reason given)

No, what should be illegal is lobbying to do away with competition.

If you have true competition the market decides the prices not the owner. We the consumer have decided that a $5 value meal is acceptable.

I don't care if McD charges 40000% markup as long as there competitors don't form an oligopoly and fix the market and its prices and I can go elsewhere to eat.

In the case of McD I don't see any problems with their markups as they streamlined their business processes and use their buying power to decrease their cost of operations while still providing a relatively low price that the consumers are happy with.

The restaurant industries are unlike other industries like telecommunications, healthcare, Oil , etc which create an oligopoly with the help of the gov't to ensure lack of competition and fixed pricing.

Do away with Oligopoly and lobbying and most of this countries problem will be solved. As far as I know MCD hasn't used their influence$ on our gov't to fix the fast food industries prices? So I don't see an problem with their profit margin.

double post?

Triple post?

reply to post by interupt42


I agree with healthy competition.

But adding 1000's of % onto markup is not right. It's greedy.

and its not just the restaurant industry. prices across all markets rise too fast too quickly when compared to wages

its not just a lack of competition (though I agree with what you said). It's ignorance of the masses. People are just "getting by" when they dont need to