Burger King on Bichara Blvd
 

First of all, I would want to mention that fast food prices are out of control.
I bit the price bullet and ordered a sandwich at Burger King on Bichara Blvd a few days ago. I always get a cup for water because I try not to drink anything with sugar in it and I certainly do not drink anything labeled diet because of the chemical content. The not so friendly woman behind the counter says we do not hand cups out for water anymore. Keep in mind the high menu prices and for years now the customer has to serve themselves for drinks making it less work for the employees and saving time. Are cups like a couple cents a piece? There are no other options as well. You cannot bring in your own drinks or outside cups, I'm assuming for health reasons. I'm not a big fast food person but everytime I went to one, I have always gotten a cup for water. Even after I walked out after cancelling my order, I went to another restaurant and gotten a cup for water like always.

I would avoid this restaurant. What's next, "would you like ice with your drink for 50 cents more?"

BK was at one time my favorite pig out, since Covid prices have gone up substantially, size of product shrunk , I think the Whopper now only has one P, service and quality down the porcelain fixture, cook for yourself and contend with the increase in grocery prices

I don't think it is about the cost of a cup. I suspect that the reason for not giving out cups is to prevent people from stealing drinks. Some restaurants have small cups at the drink machine for water. It is pretty obvious that there is a lot of retail theft going on and a serious lack of law enforcement. Some stores actually lock up their merchandise.

I agree. I believe that the small lose from beverage theft is incorporated into the price of food. How much is sugar water anyway? Lets make the customer happy and supply the small cups. Every other restaurant does (so far).

At the 30th anniversary celebration in Spanish Springs they were selling a cup of ice for 75 cents at the wine and beer kiosk.

Prices are very high for all food. At the grocery, at the fast food restaurants and at fancier restaurants they are extremely high. The very few times we have gone out to dinner lately in one of the Villages restaurants, we noticed sparse attendance. Is it the lack of competent staff? Is it the high prices? Is it a nefarious plot? It is certainly happening. EVERYWHERE. I am sorry you couldn't get free water.

High prices for mediocre food and service. Service has declined because tipping has become almost automatic, so management cannot control their employees, who are paid by the customers.

Then you should be happy that they are fighting theft in order to keep prices from rising further.

Interesting thread…..

My guess is that refusing to give a water cup is the policy of the franchisee and not a corporate policy over all. Sometimes the name of the franchisee is posted in the restaurant. Could be interesting to ask.

As far as prices go, eating out Is starting to make me feel stupid. Yes. There has been inflation, but it looks to me like restaurants, especially the chains, are way into price-gouging.

Inflation is coming down now, but you can bet your sweet bippy that restaurant prices will not.

Now, there is whining across the land that the Fed needs to start cutting. As one who has thought for decades that money was way too cheap, I hope the Fed holds a little longer and then takes baby steps, teeny-tiny baby steps.

Anyway, back to topic. . .If this is the franchisee’s business decision, they are going to see see even more turnover in employees — which are not easy to find anyway. Just imagine the increase in complaints, and sometimes even anger, that the people at the counter have to put up with from customers who just want water with their food.

Sure there are thieves among us who think taking pop they did not pay for is OK when, of course, it’s not and they know it. There are also things that go on in sit-down restaurants that might not be stealing but sure are rude….

(On a neighborhood outing to a restaurant in TV, I once found myself sitting across from a woman I did not know who ordered water — that part was OK — but when she said, “And bring me a whole bowl of lemons with it,” I wanted to crawl under the table.)

Price-gouging is starting to make some people think twice about where to spend their money. Add to that no water and it has to hurt the business because……Unrestrained greed is bad economics —eventually.

Boomer

Self serve is great with honest people, however, I have seen people walk off the streets into a burger king, with a cup, go directly to the soda fountain, get a drink, and walk back out the door.Therefore, the easiest way to stop inviting theft within their process is to stop handing out free cups with self serve soda at the same self serve machine as water.

Remember, its not about you when businesses make decisions, its about them and the customers and the freeloaders.

food prices are not really out of control, the pandemic has accelerated the retirement of many boomers, their move to the villages, and the expansion of the villages in the middle of nowhere has strained the limited service labor pool and competes with wages to keep the business from going bankrupt.

If you live in a capitalistic world, you live and die by capitalistic rules. The villages has been developed in the middle of rural FL, and continues to expand its population, resulting in the need for service labor for the increasing demand on current amenities. Food service is the biggest demand for service labor, and pays the least, minimum wage plus tips, and in a retirement community, tips might be hard to come by. The competition is 1 hour away in Orlando, where there are many jobs and many more than food service which pays higher.

So the local businesses have to pay either the dregs of society to work here or pay more to attract the next talent level up to staff or go out of business. And rural florida isn't full of high quality service labor looking for jobs. There are only so many service labor people who will work for retirees with higher wages and more social life 1 hour away. Likewise, if you want your service labor to live here, you have to pay a living wage, not a minimum wage, so

So pay up if you want the service business to stay in business for your business. Otherwise, maybe living somewhere else would satisfy your expectations of low prices. . .

We went to the BK on 466, the Whopper was beyond unedible, just horrible. The fish sandwich was not really much better.
My last trip ever to a BK, kinda sad but time to move along.

It is a myth that inflation is coming down. Inflation isn’t going up as fast as it did a couple of years ago but it is still going up.

It is like a flood. If the water goes up 10 feet above flood stage in one year and goes up 3 more feet the next year, the water is 13 feet above flood stage. The water is still rising.

Same with inflation.

We still have inflation but we have a lower rate of inflation. The goal of the fed is not to have no inflation but to have 2%.

Prices will not come down overall but will go up more gradually.

It amazes me how many people don't understand inflation. The only way to not have inflation is for the world to become totally stagnant. Nothing new, ever. Zero growth. Zero improvement. Tomorrow the same as today. Today same as yesterday, and the day before, as far back as forever.
Inflation is one sign of advancement or improvement. "New and improved" costs more to produce. Therefore it will cost more. Greater population means greater demand for everything. Everything will cost more. It isn't just here, it effects the whole world. It is a fact of life.
PS. And as for BK, I was never a fan. I was also creeper out by the King.

Thanks for your imformative input.

Had the same experience last time I ate at a BK, it was sometime in the 1970’s.

You are talking about 1 -2% inflation being the desired rate, the higher the rates go above that is the effect of economic distortions , supply and demand issues

One of the problems is in the calculation of inflation. Core inflation does not include food or energy - which people deal with on a daily basis.

In 2023, food prices increased by 5.8 percent. Food-at-home prices increased by 5.0 percent, while food-away-from-home prices increased by 7.1 percent.

And yet people are told that inflation is only at 3.4% and are only given a social security increase of 3.2%.

If the goal is 2%, we are 70% above the target rate.

Im sure many of us lived thru the inflation of the 1970s. Perhaps some remember when Nixon put in wage and price controls. He also had a nice little program…called WIN…Whip Inflation Now….none of that worked…took the economy to finally stabalize.

Yes, we have had inflation for the past year or two…its going down…not as much as we would like.

When inflation hits and then goes down..prices dont fall…i believe economists call it “sticky pricing”. Retailers who bought a product at a high price are reluctant to lower it even though the replacement price on that item is lower.

But I think retailers…fast foid, supermarkets, restaurants..are now just taking advantage and raising prices unnecessarily.

Read an article today..the ceo of mcdonalds is looking at their inflated prices. A big mac meal is $18 in some areas!
..

Fast food is a very competitive industry. So, I really don't think there is much room for price gouging. If you don't like the cost of a fast food meal at Burger King or McDonald's, you can eat at Wendy's or somewhere else. I think competition works well at controlling prices.

McDonald's will focus on affordability in 2024, CEO says!

Amid backlash over $18 Big Mac meals, McDonald's will focus on affordability in 2024, CEO says

Last week, a McDonald’s location in Connecticut was criticized after a customer was charged $7.29 for an Egg McMuffin and nearly $5.69 for a side of hash browns. The franchise in Darien, Connecticut was called out for charging $17.59 for a Big Mac combo.
From: McDonald's CEO says fast food chain will focus on affordability amid outrage over menu hikes

The last time my husband and I were there was probably 5-ish years ago. The service was bad.

When I paid the cashier I gave her the change part, for example if it was $7.26 I gave her $10.26. I know that people aren't taught how to make change. She gave me back something along the line of 90 cents and closed the register. When I pointed it out to her she denied making a mistake and she seemed rude about it. I was so hungry, and irritable because I was overly hungry that I told myself to keep my mouth shut, which was a mistake.

After I finished eating I decided to go back to the register and ask for a manager. I told the manager what happened and she didn't seem to care or want to be bothered. I never went back in there again. The other BK on Bichara wasn't much better. I remember going in there with my husband and we waited, and waited, and waited. Nobody ever came to the register.

Go to COSTCO, get a hot dog and a soda (or water) for $1.65.

Sorry that you had that experience but amazing how managers can care so little about losing customers.

History is going to repeat itself.
Remember as a kid, going out to eat was a treat? :icon_hungry:
Welcome back to the 40's and 50's.
These places will not survive doing business like this.

You could have considered carry out and had it your way somewhere else with a water? Sometimes there is a work around in life. I’d be interested if they had provided the water where was it coming from? Do you drink tap water at home?

so here's the reasons for the cost increases:

Why McDonald's is charging $18 for a Big Mac meal; there's no relief in sight

Amid the uproar, McDonald’s franchisees say they are being financially squeezed by the rising cost of insurance, equipment and labor. “I just got my quote for my insurance and it went up by 31% and the cost of equipment is out of this world,” griped one operator who did not want to be identified.

Experts warn that fast food prices will climb even higher as minimum wage hikes are implemented across the country.
California’s $20-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers goes into effect in April.

McDonald’s and Chipotle both announced that they would be hiking the prices of menu items at Golden State locations beginning this year.


good luck to us. .

I stopped at a 7-11 the other day for a coke ($2.89) and a snickers bar ($2.99). More than $6 with taxes!

I remember going into a Hardee's in Bemidji, Minnesota; ordering a cheeseburger, fries and a coke--and getting change back from my dollar. 'Course, that WAS back in '71...

Not to oversimplify, but I think that what people are complaining about is the result of a lack of a work ethic. And even more so, the lack of NEED for a work ethic.

Image when we were in our youth that some day we would being PAYING for water.:shrug:

Sad that a minimum wage worker typically with no skills can make $ 20 per hour. If I owned a mcDonalds would be frantically figuring out how to replace these people with machines.

Tough policy issue. As automation becomes more prevalent, there is more and more unemployed / unskilled labor and that will lead to more idle bodies fighting for jobs in a physical way. Technology will be the death of capitalism, turning the economy into a very small camp of Asset/Information owners, and the remaining looking for manual hourly labor. . . As that progresses, if taxes aren't raised on the Asset/Information owners, there will be no way to pay for UBI, Universal basic income, and the US will enter a debt spiral, from which there will be a lot of financial damage. A debt spiral is when you have to sell debt to pay for the interest on the prior debt because you don't have enough income, the downfall of the MMT proponents.

Someone recently said that we now have vibes from 476 AD now in the USA. .
I agree. .

$20 an hour is more than $40,000 a year! That is a lot of money for a job that requires minimal training. When I was in college, some of my classmates worked at McDonald's part time. No one considered it a career. Minimum wage jobs are not meant to be living wage jobs - or at least never used to be.

It’s because of dishonest people getting soda for free. I’ve heard people bragging about it. It’s theft plain and simple. Love BK !

Um no, fountain soda margin is about 90%. . that's why one gets free refills, but that is the reason to stop dispensing free cups to discourage not paying at all. .

insurance, equipment and labor per franchise owners. .

Arbys has the meats!

$20,000 - 30,000 is a living wage in many places, just not all places. . Remember that is CA which has the $20/hr rate.

I guess you aren't familiar with the loss of the middle income over the last 20 + years due to automation, which means they go to low income, which means that there are more people for fewer jobs, in both high income and low income, and definitely too many people for too few jobs in middle income. .

referencing 40 year old economics doesn't relate to today's economics. . . .

Agreed. People make $ 20 per hour and will not have an incentive to get a better job and improve their lot in life.

Your overlooking something important IMHO. Back during the industrial revolution people said machines will replace people and enough jobs were created to prevent that from happening.

Automation will create new industries and jobs in a way that nobody really understands yet.

As Yogi Berra might have said, what goes around comes around.

It doesn't really matter if the prices go up more slowly; inflation is cumulative. The damage has been done.