people woho regularly go to fast food chains like Burger king - why?

Sometimes I channel my spirit animal

And I hunger for a pile of garbage.

Hi, that's me. I get an hour for lunch during the week, and there are a handful of fast food places minutes from my work. I drive through, and sit in the parking lot eating my lunch and playing games on my phone. It's my quiet time for the day.

There's a bit of a game for some of these fast food places. Most people just roll up and order a #1 or whatever was in the commercials. That's how they get ya!

Sometimes you need to download the app, or check the menu for a budget meal. A slightly smaller burger and less than a pound of fries is an adequate meal for around $5-7.

Well, you see, the combination of mayonnaise and melted cheese creates a chemical chain reaction in my brain that makes me feel good.

Lack of time, lack of energy, or both. Cooking is exhausting and difficult when you're already tired from working.

Before the pandemic I was on the road sometimes and it surprised me how many towns / tiny cities would have 1 grocery store and then a couple fast food chains as the only (obvious) to-go food options.

Many seem to have one particular mini-mart or gas station that has surprisingly good food, but you tend to need some local knowledge to find that.

Lovers of asparagus, how and why do you eat it? No matter how it is cooked, I don't enjoy it. There's something about the taste I do not like. I had some again recently, and it was just as bad as I remembered it.

Why do you eat a food I don't like?

I visit some fast food chains but I avoid Burger King at all costs. Some of the worst burgers I have ever seen and eaten in my entire life have come from that dump.

Prices are getting out of hand, though. Fast Food is quickly reaching price parity with actual quality restaurants which is insane.

All the answers will be the same:

1. I have limited choices and this is all I got.

2. It comfort food. I have fond memories.

3. Don't yuck on people's yum.

4. The King is holding my family hostage unless I order two whoppers a week please send help

I like tasty gourmet food. But I also like junk.

I genuinely like a big Mac or a domino pizza. Are they as good as a gourmet burger or a wood oven pizza? Not even close. Can I enjoy them regularly? Absolutely.

Some people like the taste and don't mind paying for the convenience - full stop.

Also the vegetarian option at most fast food places is generally more expensive and worse tasting

Fast food is pretty gross if you don't eat it regularly. I think a lot of it is how addictive it can be. A hit of caffeine, sugar, salt, and fat when you are hungry and tired hits the spot.

People get stuck in these routines, and the companies have apps and reward programs to gamify people into coming back.

I know this is a bad reason, but I'm lazy and don't feel like cooking, so it's convenient.

We have not gone to a fast food in the last fifteen or twenty years, if not more. Why would we? It's not welcoming, the food taste like... cardboard, it's rarely a pleasant place to eat, and people are often noisy. When we want to eat a burger, we cook it ourselves with fresh food. Yep, when we want to have some, even the fries are handmade. There is just no comparison.

Same. I've only had fast food once since 2020, and the experience was like yours: gross and expensive.

Before I went WFH, I ate FF pretty regularly. Mostly because it was, well, fast and offered a variety (there's at least 8 or 9 places within walking distance of my office).

My job only gives a half hour for lunch. I used to pack a lunch, but that gets tedious after a while and takes extra time out of my morning to prepare. Then if I want to heat it up, there's always a line to use the microwaves or to get to the refrigerator in the break room. By the time my packed lunch is prepared, I've got just enough time to wolf it down and head back to my desk.

Going out for FF at least let me take a walk, get some fresh air, and gave me a variety over the handful of things (or leftovers) I would pack from home.

If I ever have to RTO, that's the aspect I'd be most upset about.

Sometimes a Culver's cold custard just hits different.

Especially hits your wallet that shit makes burger king look like it's still the 70s.

I think most people only have shit fast food near them as a convenience food. I traveled through the south a lot last year and realized that most of the country must just be massive suburbs separated by strip malls and fast food buildings. Even brand new developments are all banks and Culver’s or some crap.

It’s a stark contrast to urbanized areas. We get so much more in options for convenience food that I don’t even consider fast food as existing.

You get tired of eating microwave meals, and anything that leaves dishes I have to clean later is certainly not easier than going to fast food

When I used to it was because it was cheap, and I didn't have time, energy, or money for cooking very often. When you work 12 hours of physical labor and then commute, there's not much time or energy for anything other than fast food and bed.

You have a point about it being expensive. It used to be really affordable, which made it a convenient option for a quick lunch or something, especially if you didn't have any lunch prepared on a workday.

As far as the taste, I think this varies from location to location around the country. I don't think the food is gourmet or anything, but it's not inedible and the taste of junk food really does set off all the feel-good chemicals in my brain.

I find that Burger King's biggest flaw is that there's zero consistency across their franchise locations. This in in stark contrast to McDonald's franchises that are really well standardized. I can go to one BK location and the food will be shit, and the next will taste pretty good. Even the same location can vary depending on the day of the week and whose shift it is. It sucks, because I am in the minority group of people that think people are sleeping on BK's french fries - they are leagues better than the competition when made correctly, but I get such inconsistent results whenever I go that I honestly can't recommend that anybody try them over an alternative with a more consistent quality. When they are made right, they are golden, crispy, fluffy, and somewhat salty. But sometimes they are undercooked so they aren't golden brown and crispy on the outside, or they are overcooked so they aren't fluffy on the inside, or they don't have any seasoning so they taste bland.

Anyway, I used to go there regularly, but I'm cutting down on calorie-loaded foods and so I will only get to go to get fast food once in a while, and I sure as hell don't waste it on a trip to BK unless I really have a craving for it or someone else I'm hanging out with wants to go there specifically. The cost just doesn't justify the quality you get, even when it does turn out really good.

I feel slightly less dirty afterwards than at McDonald's...

I eat fast food on every road trip. I don't really travel for the food in random small towns on the way. So if I get hungry, I get either gas station food or fast food.

It's not because it's good, it's because it's fast.

BK is always trash though. Bucc-ees is relatively good, so is Quik Trip. And Dunkin makes pretty good iced coffees for a decent price.

Pre-pandemic it was cheap and fast and 24/7 and there were genuine quality items you could get if you knew them and as long as you're not some moron who buys fries/meals and only solo main items, like chicken legend at McDonald's.

I would walk for 5 min at like 3AM or whenever felt right in central London and have a £4 meal back at my flat. Cheap, quick and easy.

Now it's all gone, it's three times as expensive, all the good items have been removed like the aforementioned example and they shut at 6pm. It's just worthless.

Now I WFH rurally, used to go to subway for a quick breakfast on busy days because it was a 10 mins walk, but they shut too and now it's some shitty asian restaurant and/or german kitchen retailer.

I used to "love" running in to McD when I was in a hurry and ask "what burgers do you have that are ready?" and just take whatever was available. More often than not, it was a cheese/double cheese.

Now I have to wait 5-10 minutes before its ready, and its more expensive.

The trade off of cheap and fast vs quality have disappeared.

They‘re everywhere and while the quality isn’t great, it’s a known quantity. McDonalds is never amazing but it’s very rarely terrible. A random hole in the wall is always unpredictable and a proper restaurant usually much slower and more expensive. Also, I’m weak for the Big Tasty sauce.

I've stopped going to fast food chains. Local fast casual or Sheetz/Wawa is better food, faster, and cheaper. McDonald's et al don't have any fucking value prop left.

Because when its good, its so fucking good. They spend literal millions developing their menu to give you a dropkick to the balls of dopamine. FAT! SALT! MSG! HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP! REPEAT!

But that requires the stars to align. You need the buns and salad items to not be stale, the chips and meat for the burger to be hot and fresh, the burger to be assembled by someone giving half a fuck, the postmix machine to be set up correctly and give you the right mix, actually fizzy and ice cold. You rarely get the whole meal "just right" but when it is, that one perfect meal sticks in your brain like a catchy song and will carry you through the next half a dozen so-so feeds while you chase the dragon.

These days I only allow myself one trip to KFC a month and I go in and sit down in the restaurant because if something isnt right I go complain and ask for a remake because I spend 29 days a month counting every calorie and tracking every macro because you are not gonna fuck up my blowout meal.

I consumed fast food regularly when it was cheap. Maybe today someone consumes fast food regularly, because it can still be cheap, but only if you collect points, coupons and such.

On top of that, they're always around you and you know what they offer, if you get used to it. Sometimes I want a satisfying safe bet instead of an unknown experiment.

Every time I eat a mcD cheeseburger I get a tummy ache. That shit is concrete.

Also a vegetarian. I love the salt, the fried and the fast. I hate cooking enough that I’ll work and exercise more to outrun as many of the negative aspects as possible.

I eat it on occasion. I actually really like the taste of Burger King burgers, but I have internalized the fact that the burger I like is 1800 calories by itself, with another 400-500 for the fries, and for that reason, I don't eat it often. I also have to take into account that, yes, it's expensive stuff now.

My parents raised me on fast food so I probably enjoy it more than most due to the aspect of being conditioned to it.

The quality depends on locations and staffing, etc. Also vegetarian options at fast food joints are a guaranteed way to have crappy food. The big name fast food places have never had good choices for vegetarian/vegan stuff.

I'm vegan and we have a local vegan fast food joint. Sometimes I just want some. It's a small business so I'm supporting them.

It's fast and McDonalds is one of the only places in my city that is open 24/7

I don't go there regularly anymore after I stopped working as a service technician who had to travel a lot.

The only one I typically go to these days is taco bell because I like the flavor and homemade any of it doesn't taste the same no matter how hard I try. I do make tacos at home often, it still isn't exactly the same (good but different). With the mobile app that I run in a sandbox the prices also aren't the worst in the world and the rewards for free food stack fast.

But burger king is garbage, and I say that as a former BK customer. I think it has gone extremely downhill in the last 5-10 years and the prices have also gone up. It just doesn't make sense anymore. I got a griddle at home and can relatively easily cook up some tasty frozen patties seasoned just how I like.

Same for KFC, Wendy's, Arby's, and Carl's Jr. KFC flavor and quality seems to have gone downhill. Wendy's is exceptionally expensive typically. Arby's is not only expensive but I feel the quality has also gone down. Carl's Jr seems to be roughly the same, but the prices have gone up and the one near me is typically slow so you can tell the patty you end up with has been drying under a heat lamp for hours.

Everything at McDonald's tastes too processed and sugary to me, unsure why (and one would think I'd have a similar response to TB...)

Anyway...long story short I probably go when I go because of an attempt at nostalgia or fast convenience - but not to save money or for quality.

I can get two whoppers for about 5 dollars and they are full of flavor over here (Brazil).

People go to fast food places because while it isn't good, you know what to expect. It's going to be mediocre food for a relatively quick wait.

You just need to figure out your meal quickly without too much effort or thought? Fast food.

You could always go to a new restaurant but you don't know if they will take forever to serve you, if the food will be good, etc. But everybody knows what to expect from fast food brands.

I don't go to BK regularly, but can confirm my experience with their Impossible burger was also disappointing.

I haven't been to Burger King in years, but I have been feeling the call of the void the past few times I've been traveling and needed a place to stop and grab some food.

I stopped eating at "BK" for the better part of a decade after I got terribly sick from eating one of their "Rodeo Burgers". It was basically the low-end burger option, except they replaced the onion with onion rings and used ketchup-based barbecue for the sauce.

The onion rings must've been the previous day's unsold rejects or something. I remember having the worst heartburn I've ever experienced in my life and then feeling so terribly sick for the next 2 days.

I'm 99% sure I have had BK since then, but it was breakfast-only.

Back in the day, it was the only fast food option for onion rings where I was growing up. They sucked compared to the real thing, but despite that they had their appeal. Now my stomach turns just thinking about them.

The only thing I get at Burger King is the original chicken sandwich or chicken nuggets. Their chicken is better than their burgers and I like to say they should change their name to Chicken King cuz the burgers suck.

i eat at mcD once every 2-3 years just to remind my how awful it is. used to eat there multiple times a week, and i dont know how. all the burgers taste like they were dipped in the dead sea.

I don't go to our only city with KFC and stuff a lot, so when I go I usually get a vegan burger there even tho it's mad expensive

As far as fast food goes, it's actually pretty good here where I live. Granted, there are better options, and sometimes way better options, but BK isn't bad.

We eat pretty healthy at home. Sometimes I need to indulge in eating terrible for me junk. BK is the only fast food that I do this with because it’s absolutely the best, at least to me.

Their chicken sandwich is like crack. No one else gets the melty fat flavor just right.

McDs is hit and miss with their milkshake machines. If I want a shake I go to BK now, so far havent been disappointed.

Because it taste good? Also McDonald's gets old sometimes

Not everyone knows how to cook, and fast food is the cheapest (if not necessarily cheap) option. This is kind of a weird question to me.

Stop calling it food