I wonder if the one Steve keeps complaining about is on the list?
intercst
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Two of the four in my immediate area closed this year. I was in the one I keep barking about the other day, It was freezing cold inside.
Steve
They closed a Wendy’s abut a mile down the street from me about a month ago. It has a McDonald’s maybe 100 yards away, and a Burger King directly across the street. Strangely, the Wendy’s always had more traffic than the Burger King, but heck, what do I know about these things. The service at the Wendy’s was poor, at least at the counter; thankfully they hadn’t installed kiosks yet but you still had to get someone’s attention to get an order in. They were always busy handling the drive thru.
The McDonald’s has the kiosks, so I don’t go there anymore. Haven’t been to a Burger King in years. Burger joints is a business that has pretty much fallen off my radar, though I do go to Chick FilA once in a great while.
I see that mid-level restaurants are dying, too. Everybody knows Red Lobster went bankrupt a few months ago. H00ters and Dennys are closing a slew of locations, and Friday’s just declared bankruptcy yesterday. Among the largest franchise groups of Arby’s and Popeye’s also went toes up a couple months ago.
Not a good time to be selling food, I guess.
Red Lobster fell into the hands of PE. iirc, the cadence went PE takes control. PE has the company sell all the restaurants, then lease them back. PE pockets the cash from the sales. Restaurants are buried by the lease payments that they had not had before.
Steve
The restaurant business is usually the worst of all (worst in the sense that they fail quicker than almost all other businesses). With item inflation plus wages having gone up over the last few years, apparently, they can’t raise prices quickly enough to keep many of the stores afloat. And like the law of gravity, there are economic laws, if a business can’t produce profits, it can’t exist for very long.
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I think 100% of the fast food in Singapore now is either order through kiosks or app though there is usually a counter it likely is rare you seem somebody use it. What is the resistance to a kiosks? I walk by a high traffic McDs when I go to the office and it would be horrible experience to wait in line to place an order vs having the kiosks.
Chick-fil-a just announced they will open their first Asia branch here in late 2025
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This may not be a perfect recitation (given that I avoid kiosks) but here goes:
Order to human: “I’d like a Big Mac meal, large fries, no salt, extra ketchup. Medium Coke Zero.”
Order from screen: Screen says “Welcome!” And has pictures of burgers, chicken sandwiches, drinks, fries. [I choose burgers and push “next”].
next screen Every possible iteration of burgers: BigMac, Double Burger, Single burger. [I choose BigMac and push “next”] Some where at the bottom of the screen is says “Would you like to make that a meal?” But I haven’t seen that, so now I’m on the wrong screen. I find the “back up” arrow and return. I scan the screen and find the “meal” option and push that. Now I push “next” - again.
next screen Hunt all over for the fries screen. Finally find it. Can’t find the option for “no salt”. I call someone from behind the counter, who grudgingly comes out and says “Oh yeah, that’s not the on the screen. I’ll tell them when you order.” [I push “next”]
next screen Drinks. I find Coke Zero and push it. The screen is slow, though, so I push it again. Now I’ve ordered two Coke zeros. I figure out how to remove one of them, and push “next”
next screen Pay. Would you like to pay with a credit card, cash, crypto, or the slave labor of a refugee in Ethiopia? (Just kidding). I choose credit card, I am told to pick up a table marker and enter the number of the marker. More number pressing on a screen that isn’t perfectly responsive, I mis-enter once, but correct it and then get along.
Nowhere has it asked me if I want extra ketchup, which I do, and I have to ask because in the relentless zeal to cut costs they no longer leave ketchup packets out for the hoipoloi, and unless I specifically ask for them I will be brought exactly NONE.
My order is now complete, and after waiting 5 minutes at a table, because they are busy servicing the drive thru lane, my order arrives. I say “Thank you”, and a grumpy teenager or elder who needs a job says “No problem.” Before he leaves I notice that there is salt on the French fries, and there is no ketchup.
——————————————————————————————-
Now, I am old enough to remember when you stepped to the line, they had the food already waiting, maybe it was under heat lamps and not piping hot off the stove (it still isn’t, it comes out of “warmer ovens”) but it was decent, cheap, and fast. It is no longer any of those things.
I seriously wonder if there isn’t a Ray Kroc or Sam Walton or somebody who runs one of these major corporations who actually uses the product and say “Wow, this totally sucks! I must get back to headquarters and fix this!” No, I no longer doubt it. I’m sure there isn’t.
Side note: I eschewed Chick-FilA for the longest time because of their contributions to anti-gay organizations. After some pressure they stopped doing that, and while I’m sure they still think that gays are going straight to hell, at least they’re not overtly trying to ruin lives, so I give them occasional patronage. I was convinced by a poster here on the Fool (JLC, I believe) to give them a try, and I must say it’s a revelatory experience: fresh faced, scrubbed, pleasant teenagers waiting at the counter, taking your order on the first try, always with a “Please” and ”Thank you” (or more likely “My pleasure”). The food arrives quickly, hot, and as requested. Skip the nuggets, go for the spicy chicken sandwich. It’s actually quite good. I have visited 3 of the locations just to be sure the one near my house isn’t an outlier, and they are all the same. It’s amazing, really. I wish they were open on Sundays. 
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The biggest issue is there is no way to ring up a coupon, or order a “senior” drink on the kiosk. I have gone into the Wendy’s near my home, with a coupon, and be told flat out that I can’t use a coupon inside, I need to go to the drive-up. The kiosks also don’t like me, do not register my touch, frequently. I struggle with the darn thing for several minutes, before I finally get the order in, or I give up and go somewhere else.
Steve
Which is why I carry a stylus. Used for my phone (keeps screen clean AND makes it easier to hit the correct key) AND any other device that wants me to push onscreen buttons. Got a packet of 10 different colors for cheap from Amazon years ago. Still using the first two I selected (keep one on the fridge door so I can sign the bleeping pad for UPS, FedEx, and other delivery services).
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You are being too kind. Most kiosk attempts by me make yours look like fun.
Mike
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i doubt a Ray Kroc can emerge from a big corporation.
But maybe these guys:
Good, (not “fast” but not slow), no trash, and they have kiosks but they are at the counter with a cashier at at least one of them to just take your order.
Mike
My fast food experience is relatively low, 2 or 3 times a year. But most of them had moved to Kiosks years ago so mostly found the first 1 or 2 experiences annoying but after that it its very simple to click through what you want and customise. Though can’t speak to no salt or extra ketchup options, can’t remember if they fall into the standard choices. But if if doing the simple changes, I find the Kiosks easier and more reliable to get the order right. I find the likely hood of a screw up more if I order through a person but maybe it is just my accent…
They will never give you ketchup either here but will always give you packets of Chili which is the preferred choice. I even know locals that carry chili packs to the US as they are confused why McD doesn’t offer them for the fries.
…and I carried chili packs and bottles of Cholula to Spain for my current visit. One woman wept when I gave her an entire bottle. However, a clever Mexican immigrant family here on island of Mallorca has opened a small factory!!!, and it is damn good.
d fb
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Wendy’s is opening about as many new locations as they are closing. I don’t think eliminating poor performers is a bad thing.
“We anticipate that total closures in 2024, including additional closures in the fourth quarter, will be offset by new restaurant openings this year, leaving our net unit growth approximately flat compared to the prior year.” https://www.fastcompany.com/91220996/wendys-closing-locations-list-2024-outdated-restaurants-silver-lining-fast-food-fans
Same with Japan. The best McDonalds I’ve ever been to is in Kyoto. Ordering is through a kiosk with many more variations of burgers than in the USA with lots of pictures and language options.
At many sit down restaurants I was given a tablet from which I made my order electronically. Much reduced waiting staff. Went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant frequented by a lot of college-aged folks. Each station has a screen from which you order and the freshly made entree shows up in a few minutes by conveyor belt. Very efficient.
As populations age and birth rates decline, this will be the only way low- to mid-priced restaurants will be able to stay in business. This is the future of working class dining unless the nation is willing to open the border and limit minimum wage.
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Alright. You made me post this. Remember, it’s all your fault!
The gonniffs cut out the part where Mulder goes around to the kitchen to complain about what was impersonating his meal, but the kitchen staff was robots, who stared at him like “what are you going here, human?”
Mulder decides to give up, pay, and leave.
iirc, Mulder and Scully had to smash the door to get out of the sushi place. Dana took a robotical car home (no more of those greedy Uber drivers that want to be paid?)
Nah. Ration education by ability to pay, and there will be millions with only a bantu education, barely literate, who will clamor for menial jobs.
/sarcasm
Steve
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Reminds me of the SNL sketch in a former Prohibition speakeasy where the food was put on long sticks (?–you get the idea) and passed through holes in the wall. Everyone took bites from the same same stick of food.
Soon, you can place the order by talking to kiosks are coming.