food drink
Published May 14, 2024 at 3:23 PM ET
Empty cup and empty heart.
McDonald's customers are bidding a bitter farewell to free drink refills, becoming the latest victims of a brand already facing an identity crisis over extreme pricing.
A recent customer in Pittsburgh told Marketplace.org that local stores have started charging for drink refills that were previously provided free throughout the fast-food franchise.
“What will happen to the world?” A man was recently shocked. I wrote to X.
Last year, it was reported that Mickey D's would phase out self-service soda fountains for dine-in customers by 2032.
However, a company representative told Business Insider at the time that refill fees are “at the discretion of individual restaurant owners/operators.”
McDonald's is eliminating self-serve soda machines and, in many cases, free refills. Gad (via Getty Images)
But the direction of the fast food industry, not just McDonald's, seems to be telling customers to suck it up and order another drink.
“McDonald's tends to be an industry leader, and when they make big changes, other restaurants often follow. McDonald's is very smart about costs,” says Darren, CEO of consulting firm Foodservice Results.・Mr. Tristano said.
Marketplace says Panera Bread customers and even Wegmans grocery store customers are observing the disappearance of self-serve soda machines.
Customers are noticing that they are no longer getting free refills at McDonald's locations. AP
Alex Susskind, a professor of food and beverage management at Cornell University, told the magazine that food courts in western New York and Pennsylvania are following the same trend, moving machines back behind the counter.
When McDonald's installed self-service fountains in 2004, they may have felt like the best thing since sliced buns, but Susskind believes they've become more of a hassle than they're worth these days. ing.
“The amount of cleaning and maintenance required on these visitor dispensers is quite extensive,” he said. “Ice has to be changed, messes have to be cleaned up, straw pieces have to be picked up.”
Many people are saddened to see the end of McDonald's self-serve drink machines.Getty Images
Mike Haratz, a former McDonald's chef of TikTok fame, also recently weighed in on the controversy, saying drink theft was likely part of the brand's rationale, among other factors. He added that it would be better for chains to use drive-thrus to reduce turnaround times for customers.
“Most of McDonald's business is done through the drive-thru, and it costs McDonald's more money to serve people coming into the restaurant than it does to drive through,” Harach said. He said this in a video that has been viewed more than 10,000 times.
“They would much rather have a drive-thru and buy their food, buy their drinks and get out of there than you would hanging out in a restaurant and interacting with people.”
David Henkes of consulting firm Technomic added that dine-in volume has also plummeted.
But he thinks a kind of stubborn, literal penny-pinching may be contributing to the logic of depriving people of refills.
“The price of syrup is basically a few pennies per drink,” Henkes told Marketplace. “This is good business. That's why you often see him doing business for a dollar, no matter the size.”
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