Posted on 11/08/2023 5:25:42 AM PST by Bon of Babble
I don’t eat fast food often anymore... but like you I avoid BK more often than not because of just decades of poor service and quality.
Every so often though, when traveling I do hit one on my travels, and the quality is just all over the map.. have no idea what I’m going to get. Every so often you get surprised.
I was on some non interstate highway that went through a small town and was starving, and pulled into a BK... it was clear from the start this was not a corporate store, the building was old school style, clean, well maintained, busy, the staff were polite and did their jobs well (appeared to mostly be high school students at the time I stopped in).. and the good was well prepared and good.
I talked briefly to the manager, and I was correct, it was a family that owned the store, they didn’t own multiple locations, just the one, a local family who had bought a franchise back in the 80s and continued to run it well.
The reality is, if you can actually find a well run restaurant, most “fast food” places actually do have reasonably decent food... No its not great, but its not a bad meal if its prepared properly etc. Which is why they grew to be big chains to begin with. The problem is that most of them are not well run at all.
I know McD’s gets the shaft, and deservedly so most of the time... but I will say to this day, if you get a double cheeseburger, fresh off the grill, you get a pretty good burger for a few bucks. Issue is you never ever get one fresh off the grill unless you order one with no seasoning, because then they have to cook it fresh.
Yes, its clear to me all that corporate wants is the cashflow, they don’t give a damn at all about brand and quality.
I don’t have high standards when I walk into a fast food place.. but there is no excuse for cold food, and poor service. I’m not expecting GREAT service, if I get it that’s awesome, but at least don’t have me ANGRY because of how bad the service was when I’m done.
I have stated it on other posts here, most fast food do offer pretty good food for the price, WHEN ITS PREPARED PROPERLY... and that’s the problem... most are not prepared properly... poor quality control, training, etc.
The Whopper will become the Wimper
I don’t think they are the BEST product, but I do completely agree with you on the Quality control is abysmal, and thats across their entire ogranization.
A well prepared BK burger is good, it certainly stands up very well against the competition, and can outperform many of them.
The issue is, as you stated, consistency... walking into a BK you have never been to before, you literally have ZERO idea what you are going to get... Could be anything from a good well prepared burger with decent service to a cold piece of cardboard, and cold fries and lousy service. The variation range at BK is just huge... and you truly never know what you are going to get from restaurant to restaurant.
BK Corporate clearly does not care about quality standards at their restaurants... because if they did there is no way, their brand could be such a crapshoot between locations.
Interesting. IMO, Burger King is so much better than McDonald’s, Wendy’s, etc. The Whopper rocks.
Oh noes...fast food desert.
There was a BK in Rio Rancho that was unbelievably slow. Even if they had no customers it would take 20-30 minutes to get your order. I always wondered how they could be so bad!
The rainbow-colored pride whopper didn't help either.
I thought this was a little odd. where I live in Nebraska , a Taco Bell had been closed for awhile is now reopened. There is a possibility the local BK might get closed....only to reopen later...????????
Dollar Generals? They’re everywhere in NC!
Although technically...they should be called Dollar & a Quarter Generals.
BK sucks. It’s burgers are mainly fat and there chicken is some kind of paste formed into something that looks like chicken. Gross.
To be fair, let’s keep in mind that these fast food chains are places where the corporate leadership now feels a need to go to great lengths to minimize the visibility of corporate logos and identifying features in their restaurants — because of the damage to the brand from all the videos posted online of stunted mutants engaging in brawls inside these places.
FIVE GUYS burgers & amazing fries, are light years ahead of those two tired chains’ bland offerings, whose heydays were back in the 70s & 80s. It’s been downhill ever since.
https://restaurants.fiveguys.com/1125-haines-rd
How’s that $15/hr minimum wage working out for ya?
the $1.25 store is Dollar Tree. Green signs.
Dollar General has the yellow and black signs and their pricing has nothing to do with the name.
Maybe they will close the one near me. Driving by, the flame broiled burgers scent blown into the air smells so good and makes me hungry. But I have learned the smell is better than the taste.
Nor the rice laden “French Fries”.
Last time I was in a BK was when I was trucking. Hadnt had a hot meal in 3 days. After one look at the ferals behind the counter I did an about face and ate at a truck stop 2 hours away. Call me a racist but I dont like spit on my Whopper.
I know thats correct. On road trips we try to get burger king at least once. Most are well and efficiently run. Arkansas and Missouri along I 55 every one is decent. Home in Alabama, we avoid it like plague. Every one here is staffed by generally rude people who give every indication they dont want you in their establishment.
Yes, Five Guys is our family favorite, especially the fries, and the one near me now has milkshakes and malts (REAL ones, not like McD’s) - also it was my mother’s favorite (after Chick-Fil-A).
Would take that over In-n-Out (I live near one) and Tommy’s burgers any day - wouldn’t think of going to McDonald’s or Burger King - tasteless!!
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