rolling new food laboratory inventions for american chain restaurants thread

Actually I’ve never been to that one!

And you never will, at least with that concept. https://chicago.eater.com/2017/12/14/16778726/chicago-rock-roll-mcdonalds-closing-remodel

Do Maccas in Chicago have bathroom attendants? I remember that being the case in Paris when I went years ago.

So how much are you Londoners tipping the people bringing out your meal?

“maccas” smdh

Australian slang for 30+ years mh

Sorry about that. Is this where I point out what the equivalent of Burger King is called?

Burqa’s?

australia smdh

it was british slang for 50 years but it took an extra 20 for literate inmates to bring it in amirite

that was uncalled for, I experienced online bullying from a rude australian youth in my teens and I default to disrespect. many apologies

I'm kinda hoping it is a drink.

Imagine how refreshing it would be on a blazing summer's day to visit your local convenience store and pour yourself a big cup of ice-cold liquid pizza. Walking out onto the street, big fat drops of condensation form on the side of the cup and you hold it to your forehead, relishing the feeling of the cold, cold fluid against your heat-prickled skin and savouring the scent of pepperoni and oregano drifting from the cup's open top. Finally, you can't restrain yourself any more and you bring the liquid pizza that you've been craving all day to your lips and take a big hearty gulp. Liquid tomato, cheese and onion surge down your throat and you feel the chill of it hit your stomach and radiate out across your torso.

You're standing there on the baking sidewalk in the midday sun, liquid pizza in hand and your thirst quenched. Life is good. Life is good.

― bizarro gazzara, Wednesday, June 12, 2013 10:44 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/06/news/companies/mcdonalds-quarter-pounder-beef/index.html

McDonald's (MCD) announced Tuesday that Quarter Pounders in every US store except for ones in Hawaii and Alaska will have fresh beef without added preservatives starting in May.

McDonald's Signature Crafted Recipe burgers will also have fresh beef patties. The switch does not apply to Big Macs and regular hamburgers and cheeseburgers.

"The switch to fresh beef quarter-pound burgers is the most significant change to our system and restaurant operations since All Day Breakfast [in 2015]," said McDonald's USA President Chris Kempczinski.

that's like the opposite of food laboratory

counts, imho. bold new experiment in an uncharted direction. i wish burger business were still around to react to this bombshell.

Operators likely to lose their shit over margins I have to suppose

yeah it's funny to cite the all-day breakfast rollout as a precedent; close followers of industry news know it was chaos and near rebellion from the franchisees

https://www.qsrmagazine.com/exclusives/call-it-comeback-roy-rogers-recharges-future

Plamondon believes that Roy's food is a cut above typical fast food. “I think there's a niche that is between fast food and fast casual that Roy Rogers represents in terms of our quality, the variety, and choice,” he says. “We're the only quick-service restaurant that has roast beef, fried chicken, and burgers all under one roof. Nowhere else can you do that in the fast food or the quick-serve world. And then choice: we've got nine side items to choose from,” including cole slaw, mashed potatoes, baked beans, baked apples, a side salad, and mac and cheese. “Then the biggest choice that our guest has, that definitely nobody else has, is the Fixin's bar. The guest is in control, and they can build their own burger the way they want it with fresh lettuce, freshly sliced tomatoes, freshly sliced onions, pickles, salsa, or banana peppers. You can load up all you want and it's all in their control, so it really does hit what today's customer is looking for.”

The current company plan is to open up four to six new Roy Rogers restaurants per year. They are also seeking the right operators for their brand and to bring them in more in the franchising world rather than on the corporate side. “We're still going to open corporate restaurants, but not at that clip—maybe one of those four might be corporate every year,” Plamondon says. “We would be franchising it in a way for us to expand in markets that we're not close to like Long Island and New Jersey. We've got to find the right people and find the right operators, and that's easier said than done.”

man i loved roy rogers. maybe i should try to open one.

Went to one in MD recently, for old times’ sake, and boy did it suck. I think everything was microwaved.

hmm that stinks! i wonder if it hadn't been upgraded yet

Meanwhile...

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/eat/innout-pop-up-in-melbourne-sells-out-of-burgers-in-30-minutes/news-story/66d7e6e9d5a16184c8212191633228ed

This series is a few months old, but it has good hyperlinks:

https://www.eater.com/2017/10/3/16395490/tgi-fridays-death-of-middle-class

https://www.cnet.com/g00/news/pizza-huts-new-shoes-order-pizza-and-pause-your-tv/?i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8%3D&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=13

Pizza Hut created a marketing stunt of specialized sneakers last year that could order a pizza (Pizza Hut only, of course) with a press of a large button on top.

This year, these shoes have returned: Pie Tops II, as they're called. As a wearable tech reviewer, I was naturally curious.

I got a chance to wear them, and I took a peek at how they work. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that they're a little less high-tech than I imagined. Basically, they're shoes with smart buttons tucked inside velcro-sealed pockets on each tongue.

Pizza Hut created a marketing stunt of specialized sneakers last year that could order a pizza (Pizza Hut only, of course) with a press of a large button on top.

That is the stupidest thing I have –

Pie Tops II, as they're called.

Ok, I'm in.

reading that Fridays thing and it makes sense that people want to be home more and can order takeout and generally have better options for local delivery and younger people don't want Fridays they want Five Guys or Chipotle or whatever BUT ALSO the thing that really makes the difference to me and which is spelling doom for these places is that SO MANY chains are complete shitholes now with a bare minimum of service/good food and even people who don't give a fuck about anything can't help but notice how gross these places are AND that they aren't even that cheap! i went into a Mcdonalds in town here recently around dinner time and it was completely empty and the floor and tables were covered in food and trash. i can go to the local supermarket and get decent fast food to go. i don't need to go look at a garbage dump while i'm paying for poison that doesn't even taste good.

yeah otm -- I think you wrote a similar thing on the Olive Garden thread.

cuz it's a slow day at work I read the Yelp reviews for the Olive Garden a mile up the road from me; eight out of ten complained about indifferent if not hostile service, wine glasses left on tables, and the smell of bleach by the entrance.

When you're here, you're our neglected family.

"yeah otm -- I think you wrote a similar thing on the Olive Garden thread."

haha, every time i make the mistake of going in one of these places it brings it all back. i was probably ranting about the funereal pall at the local Friendly's on that thread.

they have REALLY decent pizza at the Big Y supermarket down the road. for real. you can get a slice for like two bucks. supermarket fried chicken is still pretty nasty in most cases. but there is lots to choose from at our three local markets and the one kinda more expensive co-op market. all still cheaper than the death at Friendly's or one of the other chains.

i randomly looked up Yelp reviews for TGI Fridays in Ohio. they all complained of having to wait 20 minutes or more to be seated in half-empty restaurants. that says it all. who has time for that? and the end result is greasy potato skins?

in order to save money they probably have just enough staff working to keep the doors open.

I worked at an Olive Garden in high school. I went to the one near my work a couple of years ago in Times Sq. It was below mediocre. I think everyone has just gotten used to better food and these old chains never kept up. Also, yeah they have always only scheduled the number of people according to time of day/day of the week. I remember people walking in for a meal at 4pm and our one server already had 3 new tables so we couldn't sit anyone in the empty restaurant until the server caught up. Fridays is gross. I never saw the appeal. Although again, I only went very late in life.

TGI Fridays closed a store in a suburb of Des Moines. If you can't keep a boring-ass chain restaurant alive there, you can't do it anywhere imo

all these places started out better. but if you open up a zillion locations there is no way to supply that much crap food without making it cheaper and crappier. i'm actually old enough to remember when subway and kfc made edible food.

all these places started out better

did they?

Fridays was decent in its late '80s heyday as The American Bistro but this is when middle class people still went to these places so my memory might be skewed.

yes. even mcdonalds. they didn't start out as garbage heaps. kfc was dope in the 70s. you wanted that bucket of chicken for real.

x-post

Friendly's used to be friendly! their burgers were decent. they are totally gross places now. like bus stops that sell hot fudge sundaes.

I worked at Subway for a year when I was 15/16. I can only imagine it's better now.

its been shitty for years and years. i'm just old.

when i was a kid i thought of wendy's as the "fancy" mcdonalds. ooh, baked potatoes and chili. they made good stuff. now its a toss-up as to which is more disgusting in my town. wendy's or mcdonalds. both so gross. everything smells like chemicals. benzine or something.

Friendly's used to be friendly! their burgers were decent. they are totally gross places now. like bus stops that sell hot fudge sundaes.

― scott seward, Thursday, March 15, 2018 12:52 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

A google image search for Cone Head Sundae turned this up:

https://cdn.someecards.com/posts/bernie-sanders-cone-head-e1HLlP.jpg

I'm not going to look any further into whatever point someone was trying to make with that.

xpost this was in the early/mid 90s. It was just deli meat and soooo much mayo.

But food can be a potent form of shared culture, even from a giant multinational chain — mozzarella sticks, cheese biscuits, and buffalo wings form a common culinary ground — so having these touch points with one another is not so immaterial: We lose something if we lose TGI Fridays, and it’s more than just the Loaded Potato Skins.

I've been thinking about what "white culture" is, & maybe this is part of the answer? if so lol

KFC definitely has suffered the most serious drop in quality, and I don't think it's just childhood nostalgia talking. It was actually a viable source of yummy fried chicken and sides at one point, if not serious competition for Mrs. Winner's. Now it's just glop and salt in a truly dismal and sad environment; Popeye's has completely supplanted it in the fast-food chicken hierarchy.

just gotta pray that popeye's doesn't get any bigger. that's when the slide happens. they are already pretty big. but tiny in comparison to a mcdonalds or subway or dunkin donuts. i also remember when dunkin donuts made tasty donuts...

popeye's is finally opening here in france this year so maybe they are getting too big now. kfc has been here a long time I think

speaking of ohio and blasts from the past:

http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2018/03/arthur_treachers_fish_chips_is.html

h/t former ilxor yeti mike...

Popeye's is doing heavy TV advertising down here, I've noticed. Is their national profile expanding?