The video correctly identifies the death of the budget meal, proving that fast food chains have finally pushed prices past the breaking point for average consumers. By matching sit-down restaurant prices, these brands have traded their core identity for short-term profits they are now beginning to lose.
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Fast Food Raised Prices Way Too Far… Now They're Paying the PriceAdded:
Whoa. It's a beautiful day to do these reactions, man. Listen, like it before you light it. Hit the sub before you hit the but join the team before you hit the green. And >> you understand what I'm talking about?
>> Say, bro, look, the people have spoken.
They saying that these fast food prices then got crazy, bro. You know what I'm saying? We got we you got McDonald's money. That's what my mom used to say.
You know what I'm saying? When she did say, "Yeah, I remember them times cuz it was not often, bro." Let's get into it, man. Is it just me or are fast food, fast casual places just getting so out of hand? Tell me how we just left Jersey Mike's. I got one sandwich, a giant sandwich, the biggest one they have, but double meat and two bags of chips. It was $32 for a sandwich. $32.
>> Nah, man. For real. Somebody talk to me, bro. Real talk. I got to get some understanding, bro. Is Jersey Mike's like that? They got one in me. I ain't never been to it. But it are they like that? Is it good? I don't know, dog.
It's just some like sandwiches and stuff, man. Like I'm a old school Subway type of dude and I barely eat that.
That's once in a blue moon. Is it worth $32 for the extra meat? That what she said.
She want extra meat and extra big. That what she said. I'm not putting words in her mouth. She said that. Do you understand how bad the economy has gotten? I need you to understand that 10 years ago, that's not a long time, by the way. 10 years ago at Chick-fil-A. At Chickfil-A, okay, >> Chickfil-A, >> they used to have a meal, a combo meal.
I think it was like I think it was either the number one or the number three. The entire meal, the sandwich, the drink, the fries, the large. By the way, >> I'm going to take your word for it.
>> Large drink, large fries, sandwich.
>> How much was it? together cost $6.66.
>> Once they realized that, and they were like, "Oh, no. Jesus Jesus don't like that. We can't do that." They made it 1 cent more.
This combo cost $667.
>> It makes sense. 666. They wouldn't want that. They got to add You still down and dirty. Why go up? You could have went down to 665.
Nah, y'all ain't getting a pass for that one, bro. I was almost with y'all and then I thought about it. They could have went one cent the opposite way. They weren't showing love like you really thought they was.
>> Six $6.67.
Two days ago, I attempted to go to Chick-fil-A and get that exact same meal. It was $17.
This is the bad Damn. So, in other words, every 3 years that [ __ ] went up like $6, bro. Because $18, that's what 17 is close to. How many times does six go in 18 class? Let's remember our times tables. That's why I always tell my kids, man. Listen, bro. If y'all master your timetable, well, this they've mastered this since, but if you master your timetable, division becomes easy.
Foundation, baby. We got to I built these kids brick by brick, dog. But nah, we were we really becoming our parents, bro. Complaining about how [ __ ] used to be cheap, man. We I think once you get into your 30s, that's when you really get the experience like, damn, bro. [ __ ] used to real like real life be cheap back in the day. Rent.
>> Just went to KFC, got a small potato wedge, and a small story. What the grand total, you might ask? $6.40. Hm.
>> What are you?
>> Who don't I need to contact about this?
$2.99 for the wedge. Reasonable. $2.99 for the drink. Unreasonable. Oh, I see the problem. I asked for a small start.
They gave me medium.
MD. Uh-uh.
I don't like overpaying for stuff, y'all. It puts a bad feeling in my bones. I don't like it.
Especially Okay, let me go a light woman. I got to put the wedges.
>> And let me see if the Let me taste the starry first cuz this is a million dollars right here.
>> Not worth it. I would say worth $1.50 at best.
Worth $3. No, I'm going to give these $2.50. That means my grand total should have been $4.
>> See, bro, >> what do y'all think?
Fast food is getting ridiculous. I remember one time I went to McDonald's and I ordered a double cheeseburger meal, right? She says the total eight $8 and something. I said, "Oh, no, no, ma'am." I said, "I ordered a double cheeseburger meal. Not a Big Mac, not a not a quarter pounder." I said, "I order a double cheeseburger." She said, "Ma'am, that is a double cheeseburger price."
>> [ __ ] I'm somebody. Child, I don't deserve this treatment.
>> What? Anyway, >> say, "Dog, you know what? The other day when I did the black uh business is getting expensive video and all that kind of stuff. People was like, "Man, but you'll go to you'll go to Applebee's and spend money over there and spend $30." Man, [ __ ] do you know Applebee's is running a $9.99 special? You get a drink, a burger, fries. [ __ ] go get that same meal at McDonald's. You going to pay 20, man, for a Big Mac.
I know they got a special going on. Two for 25 deal. Look, two for 25. You and your girlfriend can't even go to Burger King and get two Whopper meals for this price, dog. Look. $11.99. Can y'all see that? Look. $11.99 for this burger, bro.
You get two for 25, [ __ ] Man, if I just go to Watch this. Watch this. I'mma mess your head up, man. On average right now, if I wanted to get a Big Mac with a large fry and a large drink from McDonald's in 2026 April, how much would that cost me?
Bro, it shouldn't even be close to the price that Applebees is charging. That's a whole full service restaurant. You go in, order your food, you get tips, you get I mean, you get uh service, they come and refill your drink, they clean your table, they give you silverware, they give you everything. You go through a drive-thru at McDonald's and you paying the same. Come on now. Make it make sense, bro. Food too expensive now.
So, I really think we're entering the era of the end of fast food because with the prices nowadays, who is going to justify who's going to continue to justify being able to eat food that you already know is not good for you, >> right?
>> And also pay a lot for it.
>> We need to talk about how much a 6-in Subway sandwich costs because apparently I've been living under a rock. This weekend, we went to the mall in Illinois to go to the Nike clearance store because it's the cheapest place to get shoes for kids. Please, like, don't take that from me. I need it. We're going to make like a special thing. We're going to have lunch at the food court. I have three very young kids. I pay for three kids in daycare. We don't go out to eat.
Like, all right, let me just get a turkey sub. Like my fave. I'll go to Subway. Subway ruined themselves with a $5 foot long because now that's what everyone expects. But I'm like, okay, it used to be $5 for 12 in. So surely it's going to be $5 for 6 in, right?
Inflation can't be that bad.
>> Oh no, it's bad.
>> That's 6 in sub. I just got a sub. No drink, no chips, nothing. A turkey sub.
>> $10.
>> Turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mayo.
>> Oh, you put the whole ball in there.
>> $10. $10.
10.
>> She put every ingredient on there.
>> 10. I'm choking up just thinking about it now. See you never, Subway. See you never. I'm never coming back. One, because it's not even that good. two $10, you're out of your mind.
>> And look, and look, I'mma keep it real cuz y'all scared to say it. I ain't scared to say it, bro. Let's be real, bro. When you go in there, though, the Indian people be stingy as hell with the with the ingredients, bro. I swear they act like Come on now. You can put another tomato on there, brother. You put one tomato in the center of a 12in sandwich, bro. FILL THE DAMN [ __ ] up with some Then they take a attitude with it, bro.
And you know it ain't it ain't me being nothing, bro. Every time you go into a Subway, bro, it's all Indian people that own it, dog. Let's be real. You don't see no white and black people working.
Not where I live. I don't know about y'all, but man, they got the Subway franchise off the hook. And they selfish with them ingredients, too, boy. They not playing no games. You know what, bro? I'mma take it further, man. When I used to sell cars, man, I had to deal with two or three Indian men. Boy, they the worst to deal with, cuz guess what?
They don't give a [ __ ] about your commission. Oh, no. The Indian dudes, that's why I got a lot of respect for them. They going to negotiate, negotiate, negotiate until somebody kick their ass out the dealership. They get kicked out of dealerships a lot because the dealership can't make no money off them [ __ ] man. It is what it is.
>> Becoming so irrationally expensive that even I'm starting to question the prices. And I say that as someone who lives under the guise of, well, I got to get it anyway, right? So like if it's gas or food, I really don't question it because it's a necessity for me to live.
What am I going to say? I'm not going to eat food. And I just got food from Popeye's. And although that's that's not necessarily a necessity.
Three chicken tenders aside and a drink is $18, >> man. No way.
>> $18.
>> Can someone explain to me?
>> That's why I'm glad I got a Popeye's plug. God damn it. I I get Popeyes for free. [ __ ] I'm playing for got a I ain't paying for it.
>> Cap to five guys. I went there the other day for two people.
>> 70.
>> Hamburger, fries, drink. It was like 60 bucks.
I'm not paying $30 per person unless you're bringing that food to my table and refilling that drink.
>> And honestly, at that price, I should be able to get a single of whiskey in there and you all don't even have a liquor license.
>> Prices are out of control. But five guys are on they're on extra cocaine.
>> You know, something I think should be illegal. I just went to Taco Bell. I got a soft taco.
And when they gave me my total, they said, "Would you like to round up by 50 cents for the Taco Bell scholarship fund?" Uh, no, I don't. I mean, like, in my heart, sure. But, uh, that doesn't make any sense because Taco Bell last year reported $1 billion in profit. Like if I had a billion dollars and I spent $100,000 a year, it would take me 10,000 years to spend a billion. 10,000 years.
Why do you need my 50 cents that you're then going to say was a charitable contribution and use it as a tax rate?
>> Exactly. I'll be telling people that.
>> And all of your workers make minimum wage. You stupid if you donating any money to any corporation. Meaning like when you go to Walmart and you check out and they ask you do you want to donate to St. Jude, you you stupid if you do it. Let Walmart donate to St. Jude on their behalf. And if you want to donate to St. Jude, do it yourself so you can reap the benefits of your uh hardearned money being given away to charitable um things. Y'all be tripping, dog. Y'all just give y'all money to these corporations. They greedy, bro. Doesn't sound right.
>> What happened to Panera Bread? $7162 for three sandwiches. Two of them that were grilled cheese and two soups.
>> How y'all just 162? Are you kidding me?
Like I know guys, the Chipotle video, the McDonald's video, all these other videos of these places going crazy, but like Panera Bread was something where you could go and get like a half a sandwich, a little cup of soup, and a drink for like under 20 bucks. Is this how completely out of touch these companies have gotten when it comes to pricing this stuff?
>> Have these f >> You know what it is, bro? They got to send their kids to private school. They got to go to Mara Lago to play golf with Donald Trump. They got to travel Europe for 3 months in the summer. All that stuff don't come cheap, man. They got to charge you $70 for grilled cheese sandwiches to make it work, bro. They got shareholders they got to please, you know, investors that they got to uh appease. They they they got real money coming out, bro. And unfortunately, we got to pay for that [ __ ] if we want fast food, bro. It is what it is, man. We we paying for the Lambos, the the private jets, you know what I'm saying? in the boarding schools that rich white folks send their kids to cuz they don't really love their kids. You know that type [ __ ] We paying for that, bro.
>> Food restaurants lost their damn minds.
We're out running errands, door dashing, doing some things today. We pull into Burger King and I get a junior Whopper.
My husband gets a Whopper. Why is just a Whopper, not the meal, just a Whopper.
$9.
I can go to a damn restaurant, get a better quality hamburger with French fries for probably $9.99.
>> What that say right there, y'all? $11.99 OM cheeseburger. I mean I mean I mean she just said that, dog.
For real.
>> Why the hell is anybody eating at fast food restaurants right now? I mean, we don't eat out at fast food restaurants very often, so I had no idea that a Whopper was $9 by itself. By itself.
Never again. We will not be coming back to Burger King. $9 for a flipping Whopper. That's just >> say, bro. She said she was looking for a different type of BBC. She wasn't looking for no barbecue bacon cheeseburger. She want something else for $11.
>> I'mma chill y'all. I got to relax.
>> Insane.
>> Chipotle is saying if you're broke, then Chipotle is not the place for you.
>> Chipotle.
So many words. Um, basically he's saying that their core customer base, 60% of their core customer base are people who make over $100,000 a year. Yeah. So, basically they're saying that the majority of their customers, 60% make over $100,000 a year. Therefore, they won't mind the 1 to 2% price increase because they can basically afford it.
Um, and those are the people they are targeting for their as their core audience regarding their new price increase. Um, so basically if you're broke, Chipotle, Chipotle is not the spot for you. Do not go to Chipotle. Um, their core customers are at $100,000 a year. Um, they are confident that they can lean into that group a more meaningful way.
>> This is the craziest.
>> No, I'm not buying that. You know why?
Because most people that I know who are like high income earners, they track every dollar and they're more likely to not eat [ __ ] like Chipotle. You know, most of the rich people that I know, dog, and I know a lot of them because I used to say, well, I still do real estate, but a lot of these people are eating organic [ __ ] only. I'm talking about they are meticulous about what goes into their body. And a lot of them not eating Chipotle, bro. They eating [ __ ] like quinoa. You know what I'm saying? Waking up in the morning eating granola and and and oatmeal with no sugar, no merc, none of that [ __ ] bro.
They they eat healthy, dog. You know who keeping Chipotle in business? people who shouldn't even be spending their money on it because it's really not worth it.
You making, you know, $2,000 a month after taxes. Those are the people that's buying Chipotle. It It's really not the 100 $300,000 a year people, bro. I'm telling you, man. You go to Chipotle, look around, bro. You ain't seeing a whole bunch of Let's be real, dog.
>> [ __ ] ever. So, I'm here at Chipotle and I just want to show you guys what I ordered. This is literally all that I ordered.
>> $100. Just this.
And this [ __ ] cost me $20.
19, but that's basically 20.
$19 for one person. That That's literally some an hour of works for a lot of people in the world. This is crazy. And I'm only here cuz I'm starving. But this some bull.
>> I just paid $19 for this sad little sack of Taco Bell. Who remembers the glory days when you could roll through with your car full of all of your friends get the entire menu practically for like seven bucks?
>> I got Starbucks last week for the first time in a while and was absolutely floored by how much money it was to the point where I think I finally reached my threshold of Starbucks actually being worth the money anymore. And over the past 5 years or so, there have been quite a few things that have reached that threshold for me and my husband where we're trying to save money to do things that actually matter to us. So, we've been really cutting back on the things that don't matter. And I've created certain rules for myself when it comes to spending money on things that I don't necessarily need. So, for one thing, now I am literally just getting McDonald's iced coffee for a dollar or I'm going to support a local business if I want coffee. I'm not spending $6 on a medium iced coffee anymore at Starbucks.
A long time ago, Panera reached this threshold for me. It is just so expensive to eat there and I feel like they give you less and less food every single time. I cannot remember the last time I went into a Panera. They are highway robbery. Couple summers ago, my husband and I like went to a restaurant, like a a pretty like standard restaurant. I'll say mediocre. Um, and it was literally $60 for us to get lunch, like no alcohol. So, we like drew a line in the sand that we were only doing like fast casual like Jersey Mike's or Five Guys or we were going to a nice restaurant. We're not doing any of the in between.
>> You going to be mad when you bought this? It's >> just not worth it to us at the end of the day. And alcohol. This is a huge one for us. We're both not big drinkers in general. And I will say when I lived in South Carolina for college, it was so much easier for me to justify getting a drink because it was $4.25 for like a mixed vodka drink. here. It's like $15 for a cocktail on the cocktail menu.
It's just not worth it to us at all.
Like I think my husband got a canned cider one of the last times we went out and it was like legitimately $11. I was like, >> "Oh, she said a wife got a canned cider.
That's crazy.
Why would he drink a canned cider?"
>> Like I I can't I can't deal with this anymore.
>> When did that >> Hey, but you know what's crazy though?
Back in the day when we was covering like uh race relations for instance, you had a lot of black women talking about, "Yeah, man. Go get you a white man. You know, he going to have a soft life. Man, she trying to budget so she don't got to spend money at Taco Bell and and these type of places and Starbucks, man. She tripping about a $6 coffee, bro. What happened to the soft life, man? Y'all y'all was out there cooking us black men like we sending y'all to these concentration camps and [ __ ] whole time.
She trying to budget so she can buy a $6 Starbucks. Come on, man. Stop playing with us like that, bro.
Food costs just as much as a sit down restaurant. We are at Chick-fil-A and it costs $60 for four of us to eat.
>> You could have cooked that chicken.
>> That is a sitdown restaurant with a drink for the both of us in a kids meal.
>> Two kids meal.
>> Two kids meals. And that we're spending that fast food. That's crazy to me.
>> Fast food has turned into sitdown restaurant prices.
>> I guess so. You know, when you go to get fast food now, you might as well go to a regular sitdown restaurant because it's almost equal in price. Basically, >> it really is crazy. In fact, I really think that this year, 2026, we're going to see a lot of fast food establishments closed down. In fact, there are already talks of quite a bit that are closing down. But I think the trend is going to continue, especially as the year goes on because they're not lowering their prices. I know they're coming out with more deals, you know, in terms of uh maybe children eat free or, you know, they're trying to say, "Oh, you get more on a on a value menu." They're really trying to get customers, you know, their attention. And I've seen other healthier options like, "Oh, they're they're trying now like protein bowls and stuff like that." But I think because the line has been crossed at, you know, with with the price point, I think that's just it because that was the reason why people would go and get fast food. Otherwise, you know, what's the point? So, it is um it is what it is. I think they're going to continue to see more and more closures. People just can't afford it anymore. Uh the buy now pay later programs that they've been offering even for fast food. Like, what where are we?
What world do we live in that we've come to that fast food already is not good for us? So, you know what? Maybe this is for the better. But let me know your thoughts down below. What do you think?
Do you think that fast food is going to continue to thrive or do you see that uh these businesses are going to be closing down because right now the demand's not there? Um the consumers are disappearing. You know, people don't have the money for that. So, >> you know what, bro? Little uh little experiment I want to do right quick.
All right, I need a question answered.
Between these three fast food uh franchises, McDonald's, Burger King, and Chick-fil-A, can you give me the last 5-year reported um profit for all three of these companies? And I want to know if it's trending upward or if it's trending downward. Because if they making more and more money each year, dog, what are we doing? What are we talking about here, bro? Okay, guys.
Trend overall upward. Yeah, they're they're making money hand over fist at McDonald's. Bro, look look look. In 2025, approximately 8.56 billion. For you people who don't know how big a billion dollars is, just wrap your mind around this. A million dollars is a big number. But it takes 1,000 millions to make 1 billion. And then you got to multiply that by 8.56 to get to what they made in 2025. Goddamn it.
[ __ ] They making that money, man. Look, they went down slightly in 2022, and that could be because of uh you know, you know, the 19 situation.
All right. Well, look, here go Burger King, bro. Uh let's see what they talking about, bro. They they trending downward, but they still making money hand over fist. You know what I'm saying? Chick-fil-A. Oh my god, y dog. I did not know Chick-fil-A was cooking like that, bro. Chick-fil-A reported 23.9 billion in revenue in 2025.
How is that even possible that they McDonald's had 8.5? I thought there were way more McDonald's customers in locations than there were Chick-fil-A.
Bro, that is crazy, man. But y'all keep making them rich, man. They likes they they they they like your money in their pockets more than they like your money in your pockets.
>> Oh, you want a hot take? Why the [ __ ] is fast food so expensive now? I was a fully grown adult when I could go to Taco Bell and get two tacos, a chips and cheese, and a cup of water for $169.
It was 59 cents a taco and 59 cents for the chips and cheese. This wasn't even that long ago. Now I can't get out of Taco Bell without spending like $17 myself. What the [ __ ] is that?
>> Yeah, man. When you can go to Taco Bell and get what he was talking about, that was peak life. That was peak life.
>> Y'all be like, "Get the tenders. Get the black and tenders. Get the black and tenders." Do y'all know how much that is at Popey?
>> About 20.
>> I legit spent $25 just for a six- piece black and tender with a side.
>> Highway robbery.
>> Times have changed. Mind you, I used to work at Popeye's. $25 hairs.
>> No.
>> Hey, fun fact about me, dog. I used to work at Popeye's, too, man. Bro, I used to be so greedy at Popeye's, dog. I used to be eating all the food in the cooler, bro. Let a let a piece of chicken come out hot and I'm hungry. [ __ ] Put that [ __ ] clean in a napkin. Put it in my shirt. Go in the cooler.
Hey boy, I used to be No, one time I was throwing a chicken. They they they made me drop like a little 16 or whatever.
I'm throwing a chicken in the grease, dog. I must have got a little too careless, dog. Grease splashed up and hit my [ __ ] right here, boy. Sound like fajita sizzling, boy. I'm telling you that [ __ ] burn. But, you know, I was eating it for free.
>> I think we're getting to the breaking point where fast food employees are fed up and fast food prices are just getting out of control. It's 11:00 p.m. I just pulled up to a McDonald's. Uh 24-hour McDonald's, by the way, uh because I was hungry and they say they're closed.
There's There's nobody in there. Mind you, this is a 24-hour McDonald's. I've been there before. The person on the intercom says that there's nobody there to serve any food. There's nobody there making any food. So, either a somebody quit or b they all just decided to leave. been reading a lot about the fast food industry recently because these are things that just spark my curiosity. I like to read weird things. And not only is fast food getting more expensive, but people are no longer opting for the Door Dash option. They're actually willing to make the drive because delivery fees have just gotten out of control. Are starting to see trends of more people actually buying real food at the grocery store because economically it makes more sense to buy real food than it does to buy fast food. I'm going to date myself here, but I remember when it was 2017 summer. I was a freshman in college and I went to McDonald's to buy a Big Mac, a 10piece nugget, and a large fry and probably a McFlurry. And I kid you not, that must not have been any more than $10 to $12. That's not including the deals that they have on McDonald's app.
By the way, I've now seen people that are clocking the order time for ordering through a drive-thru versus ordering through an app versus ordering through person or in person versus ordering in by parking in one of the spots and having somebody bring it out to you.
Studies have shown that it's taken longer for pickup orders uh done through the app with the discount codes and it's also taken longer for orders uh when you park in the spot to have somebody walk it out to you.
>> That's all.
>> First window.
>> Thank you.
>> Look at that, bro. Look at that. Back in the day, that should have that that would have been less than $10 when I was in college for sure. That is wild. And you know what else is crazy? They not paying the uh employees nothing. And that's how they able to keep those um those profits so high. You saw Chick-fil-A, man. They made like 25 25 billion in revenue. I wonder I don't even know how much a profit that is, but I bet it's a is a lot. [ __ ] That one family that said they spent $60 on Chick-fil-A, bro. With was $60. You know how many chicken sandwiches you could have made at the crib. That probably tastes better than Chick-fil-A, too. And less chemicals, less death, less cancerous.
Anyways, guys, I hope y'all enjoyed this video. I'm out this thing.
Hype me up.
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