Posted on 04/23/2009 9:07:36 AM PDT by re_tail20
With the nation in its deepest recession in decades, why would McDonald's pick this moment to launch a $4 burger?
You may have noticed the signs that just went up on some McDonald's drive-through menus: The new Angus burger. It weighs one-third of a pound. It costs four bucks.
In its first-quarter earnings conference call this morning, the company did not say it is rolling out the Angus nationwide, but it did not say it isn't. The company was cagey.
Still, they're starting to pop up -- The Ticker saw the Angus on a menu last Saturday, at a McDonald's on the road from Washington to Morgantown, W.Va.
An upscale product in this climate? What could the company be thinking?
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
I might try one just to test-run it, but the price seems too high for regulars at the inns.
Watch for PETA protests at a Mickey D’s near you.
“McDonald’s Rolls Out $4 Burger: Why?”
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Because people like convenient delivery of hot, delicious food.
The Angus Burger has been here in New Jersey for a least a 1 and half.
Apparently it’s doing well enough to go nationwide.
Maybe cuz in a (supposed) free market companies can produce a product and see if it meets or exceeds customer demand and expectations?
BK’s had that for a while ... must have done very well with it for MickeyD to copy.
Why not?
Because Carl’s has the six-dollar burger?
An effort to win the $12.00 lunch crowd by offering an edible $6.00 lunch?
It’s actually a smart move, IMO.
Capture part of the “we used to eat a Chili’s or some such but we can’t afford it anymore but we can afford the McDonald’s premium burger” crowd.
Makes you feel “upscale” as you stretch that dining out dollar (and stretch your waistline at the same time).
Gee, I wonder how many successful businesses the author has run? I have traveled over the world and one universal, other than Chinese restaurants, is McDonald's. They must be doing something right as they are popular everywhere, and if they're launching a four-dollar burger, I'm sure they've done the market research to justify it.
If it's as good as Five Guys or even an IN-N-OUT Double-Double, four bucks is no problem for me.
A $4.00 Burger is still a better buy than a copy of the Washington Compost.
The most dangerous words in the English language-Honey are
you cookin’ tonite!
So the WP is now reduced to writing about McDonald’s hamburgers instead of reporting on the constitutional abuses of Barrack Hussein Obama.
Hey...WP..ANGUS beef is better and costs more. End of story. Get over it. Perhaps you and your lapdogs in the media can push your Messiah to nationalize McDonald’s too?
I am sure you will have no problem getting Obama and the democrats to approve of the American taxpayer subsidizing your lunch(as well as your crappy papers)!
Double cheeseburger for a buck. Best bargain out there.
It has to be their loss leader. There is no profit on that.
Actually Burger King had a Black Angus burger a few years ago and McDonald’s answered with a version that wasn’t as good. They’ve both been around for a few years. Burger King has changed theirs and now calls it something different.
Competition is quite rugged in the burger business though. Several years back your typical chain would object to publish all their ingredients. Now they all put out something like this: http://www.carlsjr.com/content/downloads/CJIngredientGuide-4-1-09.pdf
Try it when it 1st arrives
Actually it was great when it first came out here ~1½ ago (Especially the mushroom version), but for some reason it’s not as good now,
They might have used real high quality expensive meat to get people hooked, but later switched
“An upscale product in this climate? What could the company be thinking?”
Isn’t it obvious they are now targeting those in the banking, insurance, auto-making, “green” and similar industries who are the beneficiaries of trillions of dollars of Obama’s largesse? Having been essentially picked as winners by the U.S. government, such industries are effectively insulated from the normal market forces that would have trimmed their inflated compensation and benefits levels down to those of other Americans. Thanks to the U.S. taxpayer, they can easily afford $6 hamburgers at McDonald’s were the company to decide to test the upper limits of their customers’ willingness-to-pay.
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