![\"McDonald's](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/McDonalds-Restaurant-1.jpg\")
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McDonald’s has a reputation for having low menu prices.<\/p>\n
Families can rely on its value menu for cheap food that only costs a few dollars.<\/p>\n
However, with food costs and other costs increasing, McDonald’s isn’t as cheap as it used to be.<\/p>\n
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![\"Big](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Big-Mac-hamburger-menu-in-McDonalds-restaurant.jpg\")
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The average price of a meal at McDonald’s is around $5.<\/p>\n
McDonald’s is expensive due to higher food costs, the pursuit of more sustainable food and ingredient sourcing, operational costs like rent and franchise fees, and its growing menu.<\/p>\n
Let’s look at these factors in more detail.<\/p>\n
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![\"Beef](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Beef-Chuck-Roast.jpeg\")
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One of the most popular meals at McDonald’s is a burger.<\/p>\n
Whether you’re going for the Big Mac or a simple cheeseburger, you can usually expect some flavorful beef patties and a number of different toppings and condiments.<\/p>\n
The quality of the beef is what makes McDonald’s a bit more expensive than it used to be.<\/p>\n
In the past, people didn’t always think about where their meat was coming from.<\/p>\n
With more farmers trying to provide higher-quality beef, more people are starting to take notice.<\/p>\n
There’s been a push to source cleaner meat.<\/p>\n
As one of the most popular restaurants in America, McDonald’s is at the forefront of this push.<\/p>\n
It started sourcing beef that lacked additives, preservatives, and fillers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Instead, their customers receive simple 100% beef.<\/p>\n It isn’t filled with anything synthetic or other types of meat to make it of higher quality.<\/p>\n The beef, itself, is the shining star.<\/p>\n The problem with using 100% beef is that it’s a bit more expensive.<\/p>\n When McDonald’s used beef with additives, it was able to spread its beef content out a bit more.<\/p>\n That meant the company could save on costs since it wasn\u2019t buying as much beef.<\/p>\n Since the company is focusing on supplying just 100% beef now, it means its beef costs are higher.<\/p>\n With higher beef costs come higher prices.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive because its beef costs are more expensive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A problem that some restaurants are starting to recognize is overfishing of the planet’s oceans.<\/p>\n McDonald’s, like many other fast-food restaurants, usually has an item or two on the menu that uses fish.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a way to offer something for those who prefer seafood.<\/p>\n Because of that, the company is aware that sourcing fish can be problematic.<\/p>\n Some fisheries tend to overfish certain species.<\/p>\n This leads to problems in the future because it means there are fewer of those fish breeding each year.<\/p>\n If fisheries remove more fish than what can reproduce each year, then eventually the species will become extinct.<\/p>\n As such, restaurants that serve seafood often try to do so through sustainable sources.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is no different.<\/p>\n The restaurant serves Alaska pollock as part of its Filet-O-Fish meal.<\/p>\n It works with a sustainable fishery that receives certification from the Marine Stewardship Council.<\/p>\n Because it uses sustainable seafood, however, means its prices tend to be a bit more expensive.<\/p>\n Sustainable fisheries keep themselves to specific quotas.<\/p>\n Once they reach that quota, they can’t fish anymore in that area until the next season.<\/p>\n This results in a shortage of fish to sell since they’re not catching as much as they could.<\/p>\n To ensure they still remain profitable, they have to sell the reduced supply of fish at higher prices.<\/p>\n McDonald’s ends up paying higher prices for the fish.<\/p>\n To cover the costs, it sells its fish meals at higher prices.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive because it buys sustainably-sourced fish.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n McDonald’s also uses cage-free eggs for all of its egg-related dishes.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is aware that people are becoming more sympathetic and sensitive to the plight of the animals that they eat.<\/p>\n Many want the animals to live in humane conditions.<\/p>\n Not only does it improve the happiness of the animals, but it can also promote healthier conditions.<\/p>\n Healthier animals lead to healthier meat and food products.<\/p>\n As such, McDonald’s has started to source its eggs from farmers who have cage-free chickens.<\/p>\n This essentially means that the chickens can roam around.<\/p>\n They’re not living in cages their entire life and pumping out eggs for the farmers to sell to McDonald’s.<\/p>\n Instead, the chickens are able to move around, exercise, and are often allowed to be free-range.<\/p>\n These types of chickens are a bit more expensive to raise, however.<\/p>\n The farmer has to have more land where they can roam, and they need to increase security.<\/p>\n Since their costs are a bit higher, they sell their cage-free eggs at higher costs.<\/p>\n McDonald’s, in turn, has to sell its egg-related products at higher prices to offset the costs it took on.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive because it\u2019s starting to use cage-free eggs which come from more expensive farms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It isn’t just food that McDonald’s has attempted to become more eco-conscious about.<\/p>\n McDonald’s has also put more effort into getting its coffee beans from sustainable sources.<\/p>\n One of the problems with growing coffee is that it has ties to deforestation.<\/p>\n Whether it’s farmers clearing more land to grow more coffee trees or farmers simply growing coffee trees on land that is already clear from previous deforestation attempts, there’s a link between coffee beans and deforestation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Considering that coffee trees need almost tropical conditions in which to grow, they’re often close to rainforests.<\/p>\n This becomes a problem because if farmers are deforesting to make room for more coffee trees, then they’re affecting vital rainforests.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is aware of the problems that sourcing coffee beans can cause.<\/p>\n As such, it has started working with coffee growers that have certification from the Rainforest Alliance.<\/p>\n Certification ensures that the farm isn’t a threat to rainforests.<\/p>\n However, because these farms likely take on higher costs or have to sell at higher prices as a result of being sustainable, it means McDonald’s is taking on higher costs, too.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive because its sustainably sourced coffee beans are more expensive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Milk prices have also increased.<\/p>\n One of the primary factors leading to higher milk costs is the cost of feed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Farmers need a good amount of feed to keep their cows healthy.<\/p>\n Without feed, a cow might not produce milk because it\u2019s not healthy enough.<\/p>\n Several different crops become animal feed.<\/p>\n Some farmers will use grains while others will use a mix of corn and soybeans.<\/p>\n All of these staples have become more expensive due to higher fertilizer costs and drought problems.<\/p>\n Since the crops, themselves, are becoming more expensive, feed is more expensive, too.<\/p>\n Farmers have to take on higher costs to keep their cows fed.<\/p>\n In order to make ends meet, they’re selling their products at higher prices.<\/p>\n That includes higher prices on milk.<\/p>\n Since McDonald’s is paying higher prices for its milk, then it’s also going to have higher prices on its milk products.<\/p>\n Buying chocolate milk or just standard milk at the restaurant is going to be more expensive.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive because of the rising price of milk.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some McDonald’s locations are also more expensive than others based on their locations.<\/p>\n Commercial real estate can become pretty expensive in areas where demand is high.<\/p>\n That’s why big cities will often have more expensive rental prices than smaller cities or towns.<\/p>\n Since there isn’t that much room to develop, the land that does exist sells for high prices.<\/p>\n Landlords also charge high rental costs for the land that they own.<\/p>\n The better the location is in terms of foot traffic, the higher the rent tends to be.<\/p>\n This makes McDonald’s expensive because some McDonald’s stores are in extremely expensive areas.<\/p>\n In order to cover rent costs, restaurants in popular, high-traffic areas may need to charge slightly more expensive prices than other McDonald’s restaurants.<\/p>\n That can potentially double for McDonald’s restaurants that have a play place.<\/p>\n They need more room than restaurants that don’t have a play place.<\/p>\n Since their square footage is larger, their rental costs are higher.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive when it’s located in a high-rent area.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n While meat is popular at McDonald’s, there’s nothing quite like McDonald’s fries.<\/p>\n Since fries come from potatoes, McDonald’s also has its share of vegetable-related costs.<\/p>\n Normally, potatoes are among the cheapest crop to produce.<\/p>\n However, that isn’t the case recently.<\/p>\n Potatoes, and many other crops, are experiencing problems that are either making them more expensive to grow or reducing their supply.<\/p>\n Fertilizer costs are one of the biggest problems.<\/p>\n Because there isn’t much fertilizer coming out of Europe, farmers have had to pay high prices for the little fertilizer that they can get their hands on.<\/p>\n Since fertilizer is more expensive, they have to sell their crops at higher prices to make up for their losses.<\/p>\n Drought is another problem impacting many crops from grains to potatoes.<\/p>\n Since drought can destroy a farmer’s yield, there are fewer vegetables on the market.<\/p>\n That means shortages and higher prices.<\/p>\n Since McDonald’s is facing higher prices for its vegetables, it has to sell its menu items at higher prices to make up the difference.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive because of the high price of vegetables.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another expense that every McDonald’s restaurant faces is franchise fees.<\/p>\n Each McDonald’s restaurant that you see is operated by an individual.<\/p>\n While the parent company might help them in some regards, by and large, it’s up to the owner of the franchise to run the ship.<\/p>\n The individual owners have to pay a fee to the parent company.<\/p>\n It essentially gives them permission to operate the McDonald’s restaurant in that area.<\/p>\n Depending on a few factors, some restaurants\u2019 fees might be higher than others.<\/p>\n To stay afloat, a restaurant may need to charge more for menu items.<\/p>\n It obviously can’t charge high prices on certain menu items that the parent company forbids it to raise prices on, but it can get away with higher charges elsewhere.<\/p>\n Franchise fees cut into a restaurant’s profit.<\/p>\n To ensure they still make a good amount of profit, franchisees sometimes charge more expensive prices.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive because of franchise fees.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is never a lack of options when it comes to eating at McDonald’s.<\/p>\n It has something for everyone.<\/p>\n While this is great for customers, it isn\u2019t as great for McDonald’s in regard to cost.<\/p>\n Because McDonald’s has such a large menu, it means that it has high food costs.<\/p>\n It needs to supply lots of different types of food.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just a \u201cburger and fries\u201d joint.<\/p>\n It has chicken and fish items, too.<\/p>\n It has desserts and shakes and coffee.<\/p>\n It\u2019s juggling a lot of different menu items.<\/p>\n This makes food costs higher.<\/p>\n If a particular part of its food costs becomes high, then the restaurant might need to charge more for its menu items to offset those costs.<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s is expensive because of its large menu.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A final reason McDonald\u2019s is expensive is inflation.<\/p>\n Inflation is behind a lot of high prices.<\/p>\n It’s making resources expensive which is driving costs higher across the board.<\/p>\n Even energy is more expensive.<\/p>\n As such, it becomes more expensive for McDonald’s to buy the food and tools it needs as well as operate its restaurants.<\/p>\n With higher operational costs come higher prices.<\/p>\n McDonald’s is expensive because of inflation.<\/p>\n The post Why Is McDonald\u2019s So Expensive? (10 Reasons)<\/a> appeared first on The Cold Wire<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" McDonald’s has a reputation for having low menu prices. Families can rely on its value menu for cheap food that only costs a few dollars. However, with food costs and other costs increasing, McDonald’s isn’t as cheap as it used to be. Why Is McDonald’s So Expensive? (10 Reasons) The average price […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Sustainable Fish Sourcing<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Pink](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Pink-Salmon-in-fishing-net-1024x683-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n3. Cage-Free Eggs<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"hands](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/hands-holding-raw-eggs-in-basket.jpg\")
<\/p>\n4. Sustainable Coffee Beans<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Cup](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Cup-of-coffee-with-smoke-and-coffee-beans-in-burlap-sack.jpg\")
<\/p>\n5. More Expensive Milk Costs<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Woman-pouring-milk-into-glass-jar-closeup.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n6. High Rental Costs<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"McDonald's](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/McDonalds-Restaurant.jpg\")
<\/p>\n7. Agricultural Problems<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Hands](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Hands-harvesting-fresh-organic-potatoes-from-soil.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n8. Franchise Fees<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/People-walk-by-McDonalds-restaurant-in-Chicago.jpg\")
<\/p>\n9. Large Menu<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"McDonalds](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/McDonalds-and-McCafe-fast-food-restaurant-inside.jpg\")
<\/p>\n10. Inflation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Person](\"https:\/\/choicehard.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Person-Hand-Showing-Inflation-Concept-With-Dollar-Chart-And-Hourglass-Drawn-On-Blackboard.jpeg\")
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