/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.18280294]

Everyone talks about how some fast food chains have gotten worse/fallen off but what are some fast food chains that have actually gotten noticeably better over the years?

[Anonymous No.18280299]

>>18280294
canadian a&w

[Anonymous No.18280300]

>>18280294
Little Caesar's.

[Anonymous No.18280304]

>>18280300
they've gotten marginally better but I think its more a case of all the more expensive pizza places falling off until they're on par with a hot n ready

[Anonymous No.18280305]

>>18280294
Domino's did get better after their revamp but that was a long time ago now. Domino's used to be utter shit. Now it's okay.

[Anonymous No.18280335]

Things don't get better they only get worse because of capitalistic entropy

[Anonymous No.18280369]

>>18280335
>oh no the newest commie buzzword is coming to get me!!!!

[Anonymous No.18280643]

>>18280294

nothing

literally fucking nothing has gotten better. i went to look at 50 biggest fast food chains and they're all shit. on the other hand there's been an increase the number of as we as the product quality of mom&pop/independent fast food places.

[Anonymous No.18280675]

>>18280643
Depends where you are. Sysco delivers 100% of the ingredients to independent restaurants in my city and it reflects in the product. Every place tastes the same because every place is the same and no one's putting in effort. I don't think I'll ever eat out in this town again.

[Anonymous No.18280702]

>>18280675
>Sysco makes all the food and they're not just a distributor

[Anonymous No.18280711]

>>18280675

i'm in NYC, so i think we have a bit more variety in suppliers but not as much as i'd like. i think the further you get away from the coasts the more sysco is dominant. i don't eat out a lot anymore and when i do it's just for cravings of staple food like sandwiches/rice dishes/etc. so tasting the same is fine to me.

[Anonymous No.18280789]

>>18280643
oh come on, some of those are alright

[Anonymous No.18281997]

>>18280789
Many of them are OK in quality for at least a few items, and some either don't have direct competition in the exact quality they offer or even compete with local alternatives, like Culvers around here vs diners. From what I've seen it's mostly long-standing national chains that are getting worse on average, which I can imagine has a lot to do with having to balance investment in experimentation with retaining their revenue stream on crowd favorites, franchise or not.

But I think most people factor in the cost for the grub over the quality, even more so than the average, given how many threads involving brands focus on deal and rising prices over what is good or bad independent of price. It's why Five Guys gets so much hate compared to something like Little Caesar, it's usually not the quality of either. I don't think there's any deep reason beyond plenty of /ck/ being 20-30 somethings who eat enough fast food and have a small enough expendable income that the price is a pain point for them.
Besides price, I also notice a really strong "I know what I like and I like what I know" mentality that makes anons really quick to shit on anything that's outside of what they grew up with, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails and is largely accepted. It's why changes in both the building and product design of McDonalds are bemoaned despite it being a success on both parts for the company, and why they still have their regulars, like the Quarter Pounder patty revamp a few years ago and a reduction of items that really didn't bring people in. It's also why things like food trucks, which vary a lot but have established a place if they can get a following at a location, are written off as a meme or a ripoff.

And none of this is intended to shit on or rile up anyone, just speculation on why people have so little to say about what has succeeded or improved within the last decade or so.

[Anonymous No.18282048]

>>18280294
Whataburger goes up in quality whenever they release a special burger I like, and their patty melts are consistent.

[Anonymous No.18282063]

>>18282048
Culvers does this as well, and while I don't like them all the ones I like I tend to like more than the regular items. I really like pic related, though with a cursory online search it seems others don't. I don't eat a lot of fast food actually, but if it is still being offered it makes me more incentivized to choose them over other places if I'm traveling and they're an option.

The biggest thing is whether the chain puts in the effort to actually get special ingredients for it that make it stand out from the rest of the menu. Those self-assembled meals from McDonalds and that taco pizza thing form Taco Bell hardly count, and is one thing I miss from a lot of the larger chains that I think is a sign of decline.

[Anonymous No.18282079]

>>18282063
Whataburger sends out ads for free sandwiches whenever they do a special so that's when I get fast food, and sometimes it works for me and I go back a few more times, but most of the time I try the new stuff and then wait for the coupons.
The "self-assembled meals" thing was when I quit McD for good, and even then I'd only go once a month at most, Taco Bell I hadn't visited in years.

[Anonymous No.18282140]

>>18282079
>The "self-assembled meals" thing was when I quit McD for good, and even then I'd only go once a month at most, Taco Bell I hadn't visited in years.
I'm the same with Taco Bell, since there are local mexican-american places with sloppa dishes several times more delicious than Taco Bell at like double the price for what you get, pic related. But when I do litter pickup I notice a lot of Taco Bell bags when there isn't even one for 12 miles, so either they get the commuter market or people really do like that food if it is at that price.

I rarely choose mcdicks if there is a choice, and just for their fries and the quarter pounder. But if I'm craving that at home I'll just make a better copycat. Bored so I'll lay out the recipe:
I get a cheap pound of 80/20 ground beef and then add a bit of beef tallow, some tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of MSG and 2 tsp salt (or 2+ tsp fish oil and less salt, gives it more bite), >1 tsp of liquid smoke, and then going ham on the ground pepper (no exact amount, needs a lot to stand out). By any standard it isn't the BEST way to season burger patties, but it does a good job of satisfying the craving for the processed, excessively sweet-and-salty taste that Mcdicks seems to have perfected. Steam-warm up some sesame buns for authenticity, and for the toppings just use the most popular brands or fresh veggies except for the onions, which should be rehydrated.
If someone sold that at a local place or a food truck I'd probably be lazy enough to get that instead.

If I ever get a home fryer I'll experiment with the tallow fries meme as well, but oven fries are just as good in taste and texture at the cost of time and being a bit finicky.

[Anonymous No.18282208]

>>18280294
McDonald's® Quarter Pounder® with Cheese

Fresh ground beef, with the coupon in their app for 2 for $5. There has never been a better deal in all of history.

[Anonymous No.18282502]

None, 90 percent of fast food has gone downhill after covid
But if i had to choose one id say jimmy johns. A couple years ago i ate a sub with sprouts on it and had wicked explosive shits for 3 days straight. Since then theyve taken them off the menu so i can comfortably order from there without the fear that a careless wagie will use their diseased sprout hands to make my food.

[Anonymous No.18282518]

>>18282502
Ah, I liked the sprouts. No wonder the Turkey Tom felt like it was missing something last time I got it.

[Anonymous No.18282533]

>>18282208
There were better deals at mcdicks. 1 dollar mcdoubles were king if you found a good place. I do agree that the quarter pounder improved in quality and is the only thing I'll get there anymore as everything else just isn't worth it. As much as I hate fast food now adays I sometimes get a craving for a good double QP.

[Anonymous No.18282592]

>>18280294
mass regional food poisoning incidents used to be a monthly occurrence at jack in the box but I haven't heard of one recently. so ... jack in the box, i guess.

[Anonymous No.18282598]

I'm actually not joshing but Brüger King has gotten better. It was never awesome but it hasn't gotten worse. Best nuggos out of the Big 4™ chains, great fries, onion rings ffs (!), and good sauces and they haven't compromised their core offerings at all; I literally went like 19 years between Whoppers and it still felt, looked, and tasted exactly the same. Took me back bros.

I get why BK/HJs gets shit on because it's just not as good as it could be, but they do consistent really well and the only changes they allow are improvements. Almost everyone else is fucking shit up all the time. Everyone except....

Arby's. Yes Arby's fell back in the 70s when they switched from roast beef to roast beef loaf™ but otherwise their changes over time have been amazing. They do buns better than anyone, they do fries better, their deli sandwiches make Subway look like a fecie.

[Anonymous No.18282615]

>>18280675
my wife used to work at sysco hq. it was depressing how often we'd go out to eat and she'd rattle off the sysco skus for everything in the restaurant including their decor and menu items. eventually we found a decent set of sysco-free restaurants but most of them are $$$/person. downside was the weekly date night became a monthly date night, upside is it was worth every penny.

[Anonymous No.18283007]

>>18282598
>BK
>great fries
What. This might be different because I'm a Leaf, but BK by far has the blandest, mushiest fries out of every restaurant I've ever been to.

Arby's is actually good though, it's just there are pretty much no locations around here.

[Anonymous No.18284562]

>>18280299
>a&w
That might be true actually, bloods expensive though.

>>18280335
>>18280369
>capitalistic entropy
kek

>>18282592
kek

[Anonymous No.18284579]

>>18280294
The ones that have gone out of business and closed down. All of these chains are a net negative by existing and can only improve by disappearing.

[Anonymous No.18284833]

>>18280675
>retarded sysco poster strikes again
Get some new material. It was a dumb article when it came out years ago and you're still posting about sysco every chance you get even though you completely misunderstood the point.