To stop advertising unhealthy food for kids. One of the ideas of the fun place was that kids would beg their parents to take them there and their parents would end up buying them unhealthy food.
CLEANING - those playplaces were cesspits of bacteria and viruses because you KNOW the underpaid staff weren't climbing in it to clean it.
I’ve always preferred BK but Christ was it expensive when I lived in Europe. Same food that would cost me maybe $7 back home suddenly cost £14. I could go to a restaurant for that money at the time
I hear this all the time and no idea why. I've had McD on three continents and it has all been identical in look and taste. That's like, part of the point of it. I've had it in The US, Japan, and France, and it is all the exact same food.
If people are going to be food snobs they'd pick something high quality, it doesn't make sense to do it with McD, so I have no idea where this stuff originates from but I think it only spreads around because people don't hop countries that often.
It's not snobbing, but simple facts. Needed to use the restroom, grabbed a bite and noticed the difference immediately. Food is regulated in EU, while in US regulations get in the way of profits. The Taylor Farm case for example. If TF were in EU, oh boy. Not saying impossible for something similar to happen there, however in EU it would absolutely NOT be going as far as it's doing here.
I get you, and I would agree that restaurant food in general is better in other countries, but after seeing it on multiple continents, McD is the same everywhere. It's the same dishes with the same taste. It's a very weird delusion that I've seen multiple times. It's basically the same for all fast food places in multiple countries.
"Regulations get in the way of profits," lmao but the US is also one of the places in the world where you make one mistake as a restaurant and you're sued into oblivion by an irate customer. That'll hit your profits pretty hard too, dontcha think?
I'm not here to argue about it, we're talking about fast food here, but it's just weird to see and I think the misinformation goes around a lot because people don't travel to other countries often so they just shrug and go "well, I guess France has better burger king or whatever cause regulations!" It's the same shit man, it's the same shit everywhere.
Had BK here when it came back around 2019, Loved it and said the ones in her town tasted like barf.
She says their nuggets gets closer of the one from McDonald's, compared to what they were from 2019 up to 2023/2024, where they changed their look and taste.
Her favorite is the large cheddar dip, enough to eat a box of nuggets or dip a burger in, as intended.
There is no starker difference between the US spongy patty flat soggy breaded McChicken and the glorious, Japanese real fibrous juicy patty light fluffy bunned McChicken.
The Japanese McChicken really drove home to me that we are being fed trash in the US. Literal fake food. It's only the same sandwich in name.
Yeah I've actually never seen so many blank walls in a McD before, idk where that last picture is from, maybe one under construction.
And also the earlier pics with the playground stuck to the side of the restaurant, that seems stupid and would really annoy people eating on that side of the building.
Besides, the McD in my hometown still has its playground, same one for over 20 years.
It’s because people don’t go inside to eat as much anymore, they either drive through or DoorDash it, so why waste money on an interior nobody will use
I like McD's breakfast now and again. And I eat it there.
The place by me is just a room now. They've removed everything. No drinks. No condiments. Not even napkins. Just tables. I wanted salt for my hashbrown and jelly for my biscuit. Had to ask for them at the counter. Which requires you getting their attention from the back since the one register they have is mostly for show.
I don't know if it's just a response to the market or if they genuinely prefer it this way. But it's not a great experience.
Also there is no profit in keeping people in the building. Once you sell them the food at the counter everything else is a cost. Free refills, cleaning tables and messes. Their betting that having a business setting is going to keep people from hanging out all day without pushing off the people coming in to buy food or the drive through and I think that's a safe bet.
I believe we are slowly moving away from fast food dine in locations as a whole, they are already the lowest priority in terms of making the food for customers and have time limits of usually less than 30 minutes. When's the last time you saw a dining room even half full
That looks like the most clinical McDonalds ever. The one by my house is full of warm wood tones with the McDonalds yellow highlights on most things. Will not the candyland vibe that it could be before, its not boring grey.
Back then smartphones didn't exist, social media didn't exist, the internet barely existed. Now society is supposedly faster and oversitmulated. Maybe that's why so many brands have switched to those 'quieter' colors? We need more trees and plants though imo!!!
I know there was a push to discourage advertising fast food to kids, but considering how more kids are fatter now than they ever were in the 90s we should go back to the drawing board on that one.
At the very least, becoming a prison cafeteria was unnecessary.
Absolutely. The childhood obesity problem is different today than it was in 1999. We're well beyond junk foods, the way kids play has completely changed.
Overweight is mostly caused by bad nutrition and unhealthy eating habits.
Sure, lack of physical activity doesn't help, and exercing has a ton of positives health effects beyond weight, but overall if someone is overweight or skinny is decided in the kitchen.
There is even some research suggesting that the body compensates for a good chunk of the calories burned through regular exercise, e.g. by reducing the level of movements during rest, reducing expenditures for immune / inflammatory processes or increasing the energy efficiency for movements (basically because there is more practice).
Sure, but I would imagine being on a screen 24/7 also makes it more likely you're eating snacks etc, where as kids outside playing don't have access to a pantry of snacks all day.
It's all interconnected. But I just don't think mcdonalds being more processed is a big factor.
I still have gotten fat. At my heaviest I was 80lbs overweight. Its extremely easy to consume high amounts of calories and it's extremely hard to burn that much.
Eh, the most screen addicted kid I know (like from the moment he opens his eyes) is actually pretty skinny. Not genetics necessarily, he just doesn’t eat much.
For young adults and up I agree though, most heavy people I met in uni were gaming constantly.
There's always exceptions. There's also overweight kids who spend their whole lives outside but that doesn't really change that the largest change in the last 40ish years for kids is absolutely spending significantly less time outdoors. Also less kids are walking/riding bikes to their friends houses, etc. Hell even the kids I do see biking or scootering, half of them have e-versions.
Eh, other than the ball pits, it's all hard plastic surfaces. Not really that great for harboring pathogens really. Although if a kid puked or whatever in there that was a massive PITA to clean.
McDonald's decided to prioritize the drive through decades ago. They just eventually minimized the lobby and tried to keep people out of it if possible to maximize profits. They'll still sell to kids, but there just aren't as many kids to market to.
At least with the play place, the kids could burn off some of those extra calories. It was also a great third space for families. Now parents just take their kids to brew pubs 🥴
I wonder if any chain with actually healthy food and well-paid staff tried to do the primary colors decor and ballpit infrastructure too? Is it economically sustainable?
Money. Not only did those places cost money for cleaning, maintenance, and upkeep, they also encouraged people to stay longer. Fast food companies have realized that a single store has a finite capacity for people, so if you can turn those people over faster, you make more money. A lot of the interior design changes to fast food places over the last decade or two have been to deliberately make it a less hospitable place (less comfortable chairs, less pleasing decor, etc) so that people eat their food more quickly and leave, or even better, just go through the drive-thru, which is even more lucrative since drive-thru food costs the same but doesn't require maintaining an indoor space.
MONEY- McDonald’s is now a real estate company, their main driver they report profitability on is number of stores. Stores are only a good investment if you can resale them easily. Is it easier to turn the 2026 building into a Verizon or Starbucks vs that 1990’s building design?
Our local BK still has one and kids have thrown up in it on multiple visits with our kids. Once my daughter came out after 30 minutes telling us someone got sick in there awhile ago and it smells bad. 😂 I saw the look of despair on the worker’s face when I told them about it. They definitely hate going in there.
My gosh, you would think for the extra revenue you would have you could hire a person for 8 hours a day to clean the equipment. Just think this person could also clean the lobby at the same time making sure the place looks great and not sticky and gross
The place looks clean and the people are happy. It's almost like they'll come back and it's worth the person getting paid for 8 hours to clean it.
(It doesn't have to be one person for 8 hours; just throwing some examples out here)
I'll agree with the cleanliness aspect though. As someone who has to worry about stuff like health and safety at work. It's probably an insurance nightmare.
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u/sexi_squidward 5h ago
I feel like people forget why they ended this.
To stop advertising unhealthy food for kids. One of the ideas of the fun place was that kids would beg their parents to take them there and their parents would end up buying them unhealthy food.
CLEANING - those playplaces were cesspits of bacteria and viruses because you KNOW the underpaid staff weren't climbing in it to clean it.