00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600
Non -edible food, McDonald's. McDonald's is making
00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:07.719
a major move to win back budget -conscious customers
00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:11.179
by cutting prices on popular, sorry, popular
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combo meals starting this week. The new, quote,
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extra value meals, featuring classics like the
00:00:18.199 --> 00:00:22.320
Big Mac, the McCrispy, or Egg McMuffin, with
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fries, any drink will cost about 15 % less than
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ordering the items separately. To kick things
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off McDonald's is offering a Big Mac meal for
00:00:31.969 --> 00:00:34.950
just eight dollars and a sausage McMuffin meal
00:00:34.950 --> 00:00:39.030
for just five dollars in most areas though prices
00:00:39.030 --> 00:00:42.369
will now be one dollar higher and places like
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California and Hawaii kind of makes sense. This
00:00:46.549 --> 00:00:49.729
comes as McDonald's. faces a drop in traffic
00:00:49.729 --> 00:00:53.049
from a lower income customers, especially those
00:00:53.049 --> 00:00:57.689
making under $45 ,000 a year. The CEO does admit
00:00:57.689 --> 00:01:01.009
that many no longer see McDonald's as a good
00:01:01.009 --> 00:01:04.650
value, a big problem when your brand is built
00:01:04.650 --> 00:01:08.430
on affordability. Other fast food chains are
00:01:08.430 --> 00:01:11.650
likely watching this closely and will and could
00:01:11.650 --> 00:01:15.420
be. seeing the start of a broader fast food price
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war as inflation weary customers push back on
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rising costs. And this is something that I also
00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:29.140
find very interesting because about three months
00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:32.140
ago for my MBA program, I actually had to do
00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:35.579
a whole analysis on McDonald's, like who their
00:01:35.579 --> 00:01:39.120
customers were, what was their like kind of segmentation
00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:41.900
that they were focused on. And they have always
00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:46.099
been historically trying to be one of the cheapest
00:01:46.099 --> 00:01:49.519
fast food companies. And they kind of broke away
00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:53.400
from that. So what do you think, Alex? So there's
00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:55.299
there's two pieces that I find interesting about
00:01:55.299 --> 00:01:57.299
this. And I did watch his CNBC interview where
00:01:57.299 --> 00:01:59.560
he was talking about this big new initiative
00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:03.900
of theirs to drop the prices. Right. Two things,
00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:05.780
and he mentions lower income customers dropping
00:02:05.780 --> 00:02:07.659
off specifically those under $45 ,000 a year.
00:02:07.900 --> 00:02:10.139
There's another quote from that clip that I really,
00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:13.219
really liked where he very correctly identified
00:02:13.219 --> 00:02:15.560
that right now there are two different economies,
00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:18.719
right? There's an economy of everybody making
00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.620
under $100 ,000 a year and an economy of everybody
00:02:21.620 --> 00:02:24.860
making over $100 ,000 a year. And if you pull
00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:27.680
those people separately, they are seeing the
00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:31.039
economy in very different ways right now. and
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I think he's 100 % right. And the problem is,
00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:36.560
is that their core demo, as you so interestingly
00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:39.900
pointed out, is that under $100 ,000 a year demo.
00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:44.139
And the other piece that I saw in some of the
00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:46.759
commentary on this, I think Breaking Point said
00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:55.060
something on this earlier today, was that part
00:02:55.060 --> 00:02:56.379
of the reason McDonald's and everybody started
00:02:56.379 --> 00:02:59.580
getting so expensive is, They stopped doing the
00:02:59.580 --> 00:03:01.939
things that everybody criticized them for. They
00:03:01.939 --> 00:03:04.560
actually increased the quality of their freaking
00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:07.500
hamburger meat. They started paying people more.
00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:11.340
They started doing other things to get themselves
00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:14.740
out of the bad reputation they had for being
00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:18.120
absolute garbage, right? They started experimenting
00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:20.340
more and changing their menu and doing a lot
00:03:20.340 --> 00:03:23.659
of stuff. And that increased the price of their
00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:28.129
stuff, right? and so again as a child of the
00:03:28.129 --> 00:03:30.550
80s and 90s who remembers when a quarter pound
00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:32.830
of a cheese meal with fries and a small drink
00:03:32.830 --> 00:03:38.210
was a dollar 99 literally right and i have distinct
00:03:38.210 --> 00:03:44.610
memories of it being a dollar 99 um you know
00:03:44.610 --> 00:03:50.449
it's you know it's i think he's look they got
00:03:50.449 --> 00:03:55.580
to figure this out um And it's not affordable
00:03:55.580 --> 00:03:58.860
like if I go take my kid to McDonald's man, what's
00:03:58.860 --> 00:04:00.960
a happy meal like eight nine bucks now it used
00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:05.719
to be a buck 99 like And it is a huge red flag
00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:08.639
and what what the other commentaries on this
00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:11.419
is this is the canary in the coal mine Right.
00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:15.699
It's not the S &P. It's not the Federates It's
00:04:15.699 --> 00:04:17.980
what are people spending money on and and this
00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:20.040
is an area where people are really cutting back
00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:29.879
You know Yeah So you gotta know do you think
00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:31.680
this trick that somebody in the chat said it
00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:35.699
to franchise wars hashtag Taco Bell rising does
00:04:35.699 --> 00:04:39.800
do you think that this starts a price war I So
00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:43.819
I don't think so. Um, I it will with a couple
00:04:43.819 --> 00:04:46.819
maybe fast food chains, but overall like not
00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:51.439
a I don't know all -out or because Looking at
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the competition, it's got to be affecting all
00:04:53.579 --> 00:04:58.639
of them, though. Yes and no. So McDonald's took
00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:04.579
a huge hit when burger chains like five guys
00:05:04.579 --> 00:05:09.040
kind of came on the scene. It is really, really
00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:11.620
expensive, but they took a demographic of people
00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:14.779
that didn't mind waiting a little bit longer,
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didn't. Mind paying a little bit extra for that
00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:22.100
little jump in quality. Yeah a little jump in
00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:26.819
quality and McDonald's did take a little bit
00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:30.180
of a hit there and you kind of mentioned it where
00:05:30.180 --> 00:05:33.759
they McDonald's started to try to Experiment
00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:36.339
with you know, what can we do? Should we do higher
00:05:36.339 --> 00:05:39.819
quality? Another thing that people hated about
00:05:39.819 --> 00:05:42.079
McDonald's was their customer service sucked
00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:46.560
and that kind of correlates with the price or
00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.939
the salary that you're offering the employees.
00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:51.100
You're not getting high quality employees like
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now. There's no customer service. Every McDonald's
00:05:53.100 --> 00:05:55.680
I've been into in the last two years. I'm ordering
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on a fucking touch pad. Right. Oh, yeah. And
00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.060
I barely have any interactions with the employees.
00:06:02.379 --> 00:06:09.740
Yeah, definitely. But yeah, I it will with some,
00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:12.920
but some I don't know, some fast food places,
00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:17.569
they're just they're not They're in the same
00:06:17.569 --> 00:06:22.370
market, right? Fast food burgers. But they're
00:06:22.370 --> 00:06:26.769
going after different segmentations of customers.
00:06:27.089 --> 00:06:32.750
And I think they will get it, especially now.
00:06:33.110 --> 00:06:36.269
And with all the talk of the tariffs, we're seeing
00:06:36.269 --> 00:06:40.529
prices starting to go up on things. There's this
00:06:40.529 --> 00:06:43.610
freak out of AI people getting laid off from
00:06:43.610 --> 00:06:48.959
jobs. Yeah, I think people are going there's
00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:51.139
a not everyone there's a group of people out
00:06:51.139 --> 00:06:53.100
there. They're going to be looking at what can
00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:56.680
I what is the best value? Like when I'm rushing
00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:00.699
home with the kids from soccer practice Do I
00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:05.279
want to have to go into a store or into like
00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:08.779
a shop like five guys? Probably not. I want to
00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:12.139
do fast food Do I want to spend the money for
00:07:12.139 --> 00:07:16.810
Chick -fil -a? No, I want something. Is it Sunday?
00:07:16.970 --> 00:07:21.329
Can I not get Chick -fil -A? Very true. Is it
00:07:21.329 --> 00:07:25.610
Sunday? But yeah, so I think this is going to
00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:28.250
win back some of their customers that they lost.
00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:32.230
Because McDonald's was really, really founded
00:07:32.230 --> 00:07:36.850
on a very simple menu. And I believe when it
00:07:36.850 --> 00:07:39.769
was first founded, it used to just be you didn't
00:07:39.769 --> 00:07:42.689
have options. It was just one burger. You just
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got a burger. and a fry like that is it and it
00:07:46.870 --> 00:07:49.850
was just like that focus on being super simple
00:07:49.850 --> 00:07:54.930
a super simple process making it very quick very
00:07:54.930 --> 00:07:57.829
cheap very affordable and they've slowly over
00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:00.529
the years kind of got away from that so i think
00:08:00.529 --> 00:08:03.889
it's going to help mcdonald's and not necessarily
00:08:03.889 --> 00:08:05.990
everyone's going to try to lower their prices
00:08:05.990 --> 00:08:10.810
and start an all -out war so i would ask you
00:08:10.810 --> 00:08:13.920
a couple of questions right Based on the fact
00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:15.639
that you're talking about different segmentations,
00:08:16.259 --> 00:08:20.060
who do you think is McDonald's most direct competition?
00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:27.220
Is it just Burger King? No, it's not just Burger
00:08:27.220 --> 00:08:31.199
King. They're also competing with Wendy's. They
00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:35.639
do have Taco Bell. I know they don't make burgers,
00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:39.440
but they do have Taco Bell as a competitor because
00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:42.470
again, like think think college kid right that
00:08:42.470 --> 00:08:46.309
like that is a super simple market like segmentation
00:08:46.309 --> 00:08:48.950
to think about someone who is in college who's
00:08:48.950 --> 00:08:52.450
looking for super quick super easy on the go
00:08:52.450 --> 00:08:54.970
i don't have time to be here also i don't have
00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:57.409
any money what is the cheapest thing that i can
00:08:57.409 --> 00:09:04.690
put in my mouth besides dirt right so taco bell
00:09:04.690 --> 00:09:07.730
is actually a competitor there with that market
00:09:07.730 --> 00:09:11.629
segmentation I'm trying to think of the other
00:09:11.629 --> 00:09:17.289
ones that like was listed out and in the Yeah,
00:09:17.549 --> 00:09:24.370
but I it's like Wendy's Taco Bell And I would
00:09:24.370 --> 00:09:28.649
quit like Shake Shack Shake Shack's expensive
00:09:28.649 --> 00:09:31.809
too. Yeah Shake Shack my daughter and my wife
00:09:31.809 --> 00:09:34.350
both love Shake Shack, but Shake Shack So I don't
00:09:34.350 --> 00:09:37.789
put Shake Shack and taco and five guys in with
00:09:37.789 --> 00:09:40.990
McDonald's so yeah that's that's what i'm saying
00:09:40.990 --> 00:09:42.929
is they're separate they're outside of that yeah
00:09:42.929 --> 00:09:45.690
my my immediate again i go mcdonald's burger
00:09:45.690 --> 00:09:49.110
king wendy's i almost put taco bell oh and jack
00:09:49.110 --> 00:09:51.809
of the box i'll put taco bell in its own category
00:09:51.809 --> 00:09:54.669
because i'm like that's tacos right it's not
00:09:54.669 --> 00:09:59.269
burgers right um so those are the four i and
00:09:59.269 --> 00:10:00.769
again kind of going back to the price war again
00:10:00.769 --> 00:10:03.509
with them dropping their prices i do wonder if
00:10:03.509 --> 00:10:05.549
burger king wendy's can't really drop their prices
00:10:05.549 --> 00:10:12.320
anymore they already suck um But I wonder if
00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:15.799
Burger King does, right? Those two have always
00:10:15.799 --> 00:10:20.899
kind of like jostled and fought. So and look,
00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:24.559
the chat is going to kill me. So let's talk Seattle
00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:27.279
now in Seattle. For those of you who are watching
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:30.039
from outside the Seattle area on YouTube, this
00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.080
is Dix. This is a Seattle institution. We love
00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:35.740
Dix. Here's the thing about Dix. A plain hamburger
00:10:35.740 --> 00:10:39.139
is two dollars and fifty cents, right? A plain,
00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:41.100
single, eighth of a pound grilled patty, no kind
00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:44.299
of, two bucks, right? 250, okay? Plain cheeseburger,
00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:48.519
$3, right? Fries, they only have one size. It's
00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:52.399
$3, right? Shakes, one size. It's four bucks,
00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:56.159
right? This is Dick's. And going back to what
00:10:56.159 --> 00:10:59.620
Jay was saying a few minutes ago, this is kind
00:10:59.620 --> 00:11:02.919
of what McDonald's originally was, right? Super
00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.389
limited menu, cheap. Fast. If you've ever been
00:11:06.389 --> 00:11:08.330
to a Dick's and say, walk up, there are no drive
00:11:08.330 --> 00:11:10.529
-thru locations, you walk up, hey, I'll take
00:11:10.529 --> 00:11:13.429
two deluxe and a thing and you're done, right?
00:11:13.950 --> 00:11:19.210
And it is cheap, okay? It's dirt, dirt cheap.
00:11:19.549 --> 00:11:22.450
Here's the interesting thing about Dick's, right?
00:11:22.450 --> 00:11:23.830
And I actually deal with this at my job because
00:11:23.830 --> 00:11:25.450
we're talking about who compices this for labor.
00:11:26.250 --> 00:11:31.009
Dick's starts their people at $22 an hour. And
00:11:31.009 --> 00:11:34.460
it's 100 % covered health insurance. 100 % employer
00:11:34.460 --> 00:11:40.720
paid. Okay. $22 an hour and they charge $2 .50
00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:47.259
for a burger. Okay. So companies that are not
00:11:47.259 --> 00:11:54.860
there, like they're... Look, you can pay people
00:11:54.860 --> 00:11:57.740
decently, but yes, we will talk about Dix. This
00:11:57.740 --> 00:12:02.460
is the list of locations. I love Dix. It's it's
00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:07.440
it's this That's probably the closest when you
00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:13.940
talk about the the Seattle analog I do again.
00:12:13.940 --> 00:12:16.500
I think it's a canary in the coal mine. I think
00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:19.820
it's it's Them freaking out about this is telling
00:12:19.820 --> 00:12:24.399
me that we are if we're not in a recession now
00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:27.759
Right, and we just haven't called it one yet
00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:32.419
It's coming You know what I mean look man when
00:12:32.419 --> 00:12:34.500
you're drunk sometimes you just need a big bag
00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:40.220
of dicks And there's no shame In a big bag of
00:12:40.220 --> 00:12:42.679
dicks. We had a big bag of dicks at my wedding.
00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:47.360
We had so many bags of dicks at my wedding Right.
00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:56.480
It was just dicks everywhere Okay Big greasy
00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:00.389
bag of dicks This is this is the this is the
00:13:00.389 --> 00:13:10.570
actual issue that we have with YouTube Look man
00:13:10.570 --> 00:13:15.370
Just is what it is Um, yeah, I think that's pretty
00:13:15.370 --> 00:13:16.870
much what we got for this topic. Do you anything
00:13:16.870 --> 00:13:20.350
else there to add Jay? I'm just like scrolling
00:13:20.350 --> 00:13:24.210
through So I'm looking at the Harvard study that
00:13:24.210 --> 00:13:28.879
I had to like for the Harvard case study Yeah,
00:13:29.259 --> 00:13:33.519
here you go. Competition. McDonald's competition.
00:13:33.659 --> 00:13:38.000
Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell. It does actually
00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:42.019
list Chick -fil -A as a relatively inexpensive.
00:13:42.980 --> 00:13:46.720
Yeah. That's that's it. That's their main competitors.
00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:48.940
Again, I don't put five guys in Shake Shack in
00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:53.399
the same conversation. Now, I will say this on
00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:56.360
the five guys Shake Shack discussion. I actually
00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:00.259
prefer Shake Shack now. I like their burgers
00:14:00.259 --> 00:14:03.559
better than Five Guys. I think they've got more
00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:05.480
options and I could put more good stuff on there
00:14:05.480 --> 00:14:06.799
for basically the same price.