r/interestingasfuck • u/Charming_History7423 • 11d ago

/r/all McDonald's in the 80s compared to today

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u/dalgeek 11d ago

Probably wanted to charge more and also cycle customers through faster. Most people don't want to visit a place with a bunch of screaming kids running around, and if a family is taking up a table for an hour then that's fewer customers who can use that able. Bigger menu, higher prices, more customer traffic = way more money.

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u/Ok-Donut-8856 11d ago

I have never seen a mcdonalds with all the tables full in over 20 years. It's about the brand imagery and their customer base.

Mcdonalds actually has less customers a day than they did say 10 years ago. Which is part of why the price went up

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u/Val_Hallen 11d ago

Ah, yes, the vicious cycle of capitalism.

  • The ever persistent need to make more profit
  • Raise prices
  • Lose customers because of raised prices
  • Raise prices again to make up for revenue from lost customers
  • Rinse, repeat

Eventually, you file Chapter 11, get bought out by a hedge fund, then your company no longer exists

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u/yunivor 11d ago

Enshittification.

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u/youhavenosoul 11d ago

Not McDonalds, though. Their primary business is in real estate, which has all but guaranteed their success no matter what they serve.

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u/FinancialLemonade 11d ago edited 11d ago

have never seen a mcdonalds with all the tables full in over 20 years.

I rarely see one that isn't full lol

Even at night it is full with all the drunk people trying to sober up and the mcdrive with insane queues

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u/densetsu23 11d ago

Here in Canada, it feels like >90% of the people just use the drive thru.

If you go in to sit, there's tons of tables and the employees prioritize the drive thru times versus serving customers indoors. 10 cars will go through, easily, before you get your food.

But there's always exceptions, like places in small towns along major highways that serve as a stop for people on road trips, or locations downtown without a drive-thru that are crazy busy at lunch but dead otherwise.

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u/FinancialLemonade 11d ago

I am in Europe which explains the difference.

A large part of McD don't even have drive-through since they are in the middle of the city

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u/UnfitRadish 11d ago

Here in the US it sounds similar to Canada. I'd guess that 90% of their customers are drive through. I rarely see the lobby with more than 2 groups of people in it. It's usually either teenagers or retired seniors.

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u/Own-Source-1612 11d ago

Kind of depends. I moved around a lot and areas that tend to have more sidewalks and people jogging tend to have less people at their McDonalds than say the deep south.

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u/shakkyz 11d ago

Couldn’t find coffee before 8 AM on a Sunday while on the road in Denmark and figured McDonalds would be open with coffee. It was 100% packed. We were shocked.

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u/rockstar504 11d ago

Yet... i can never find a table when I'm traveling bc everyone is always camping on the free wifi. Most people aren't even eating.

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u/OutrageConnoisseur 11d ago

and if a family is taking up a table for an hour then that's fewer customers who can use that able.

This would make sense if people actually went to McD's and sat inside. Go inside one, the drive thru can be jammed but the inside is dead.

It's not about cycling people through faster inside because that's not an issue. It's about making it uninviting and getting you to use the drive through because in a perfect world, and honestly the next step of this evolution is an entire elimination of the inside for customer use.

When McDs "remodels" stores it often means nuking the whole building and starting fresh. The next iteration will be crew only insides, and multiple separate drive through lanes (not just multiple ordering screens) with ordering powered by AI and dynamic pricing.

Yay capitalism bby

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u/cmaxim 11d ago

My guess is that they were probably leaning hard into efficiency and speed. Less seating and hard chairs means people won't lounge all day. Automated kiosks and computerized service systems means faster sales and rotation on sales. McDonalds is not aspiring to be a relaxing warm place, they're aiming to get you in and out as fast as possible so the next guy can get served faster. I kind of miss that older vibe of it being an actual restaurant to sit down and relax at for a while.

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u/glowingmember 11d ago

Yeah the mcdick's near us has a big sign near the counter with "30 MINUTE LIMIT, MANAGER PATROLLED"

like cool okay fuck i just wanted a mcmuffin on my way to work chill out

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u/PapaBorq 11d ago

It'll kill em in the long run though. Remember Pizza Hut? They used to have small parking lots, intentionally. That way it always looked packed, and it was cause everyone was like 'we better go now or we'll never get in! " Now is a shell of its former self.

I stopped in McDonald's last week and there were maybe 3 tables with people. At lunch. It's a ghost town now.

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u/varangian_guards 11d ago

now the problem will be, less people go there, kids dont grow up with nostalgia for your food and dont go as adults. they also dont take their kids there.

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u/obiwanjabroni420 11d ago

Now it’s smaller menu. They cut way back on options when COVID hit and never went back (breakfast has gotten more options again). I wish they at least had a grilled chicken option again.

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u/SolomonGrumpy 11d ago

It's funny because that's exactly what people wanted in the 70s, 80s and 90s.