9 Nasty Truths About Your Favorite Foods
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Photo: Dave77459, Flickr
It's a tragicomic lament that hovers like a cartoon thought-bubble over the heads of many fast-food burger eaters these days: Why, oh why, does the Big Mac in my hand look almost nothing like the one pictured in the McDonald's ad?
If any conclusion can be drawn from a new Consumer Reports survey, it may be that customers are getting fed up with chains that tantalize with mouth-watering pictures of plump, juicy burgers perfectly trimmed with all the fixings only to deliver a pallid simulacrum in reality -- sad, gray little patties topped with a loveless smear of ketchup and sandwiched between two tasteless buns.
Because when you look at who fared worst in the survey of more than 28,000 Consumer Reports subscribers on their fast-food burger preferences, they seem to have one thing in common (other than, apparently, terrible burgers): outsized advertising budgets.
Consumer Reports asked participants to rate the burgers at 18 different chains on a classic 1-to-10 scale. With a miserable average score of 6.3, Burger King and Jack in the Box both tied, vying for second-to-last place. (Maybe that's a sign that Jack in the Box needs to pick a "CEO"/spokesman that doesn't have an oversized ping-pong ball for a head.)
And who ended up in last place? McDonald's. Guess it's safe to say that the folks at Consumer Reports, at least, aren't "lovin' it." "More greasy than beefy," is how they described the burgers at America's top-selling fast-food chain, going on to describe the bun as "airy and bland."
If you're looking for more proof of the apparently inverse relationship between the amount of money a chain spends trying to convince people that their burgers are good and actually serving up a good burger, then look no further than the survey's top three.
Fuddruckers came in second with an average score of 7.7, while Five Guys Burgers and Fries and In-N-Out tied for the top spot with an average score of 7.9.
The paradox, of course, is that McDonald's is serving more 5.3-rated burgers than ever, as the company (no doubt smugly) points out.
As a company rep told Crain's Chicago Business, "Today, we are serving more customer than we ever have," she said. "This is evident by our very positive business results."
| Burger King | |
|---|---|
| McDonald's | |
| Five Guys Burgers | |
| In-and-Out | |
| Jack in the Box | |
| Fuddruckers | |
| Wendy's | |
| Whataburger | |
| Carl's Jr. | |
| Sonic Drive-in |
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9-08-2010 @12:50PM charles wallace said... Have a burger and a cholesterol lowering pill, large fry and a bottled water! What a healthy dose of F.A.T.!
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9-08-2010 @1:02PM DALE said... SUBWAY.. is now the place i stop for my breakfast sandwitch... its made fresh, with some healthly choices ...........
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9-08-2010 @1:13PM Steven T said... LOL - We actually did a blind Hamburger Tasting competition this holiday weekend for fun. You did it blind folded and you tasted a small bite of six different burgers and then you ranked them. Over 35 people did it and the results were the following
#1 Carl's Jr.
#2 Burger King
#3 Jack in the Box
# 4 Wendy's
#5 In-and-Out
#6 McDonalds
We also asked people to VOTE before tasting to find out what they THOUHGHT was the best burger. The results were
#1 In-and-Out
#2 Wendy's
#3 Burger King
#4 Carl's Jr.
#5 McDonalds
#6 Jack in the Box
The standout was that In-and-Out was praised by almost everyone as the best burger but when they tasted it BLIND many people did not really like it.
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9-08-2010 @1:03PM Mark said... The picture in the article is PRECISELY why I DON'T eat at McDonald's..... give me BK ANY time!
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9-08-2010 @1:04PM Sal Monella said... Garbage In - Garbage Out.
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9-08-2010 @1:08PM lita said... Who set up the poll results? There is no rhyme or reason to how it is displayed. It should have been in ascending or descending percentages, or in alphabetical order by vendor. Just common sense.
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9-08-2010 @1:57PM Vicky said... Why are they including chains that half of America's never heard of? "Five Guys"? I live in the Mid-Atlantic area and have never even heard of that place. Stick with chains that are actually found all over the country, like McD's, BK, Wendy's, Hardee's, etc.
Why does McD's sell the most burgers? Cause you can get them for less than $1. People buy them because they're affordable, not because they taste the best. Sure, we'd all love to be able to afford $10 burgers, but most of us can't. Duh. And you can find a McD's on every corner in America, unlike the other chains mentioned.
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9-08-2010 @1:19PM joan said... How anyone can say Wendy's hamburgers are better than Burger King is amazing, but I guess it is all in the persons taste. Five Guys Burgers which are rated the highest are in very few areas that I am in which is the Tacoma, WA. area., so if anyone is not fortunate enough the have one where they are living, it is hard to vote for them. Wendys I find very greasy and small, but then again it may be the Wendys I have gone to. Some may better. Anyway I will still take Burger King over McDonalds, Jack in the box and Wendys any day.
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9-08-2010 @1:25PM ACS said... ...and exactly WHAT do Bush and Obama have to do with HAMBURGERS? Go vent somewhere else.
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9-08-2010 @1:26PM clive said... Well, the polsters obviously never had a 'Wimpy ' burger from England. Nothing short of diabolical.
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9-08-2010 @1:29PM Jim Fedullo said... I haven't eaten at all of these places & some of them I wish I hadn't. but WENDYS & WHATABURGERS weren't to bad. Some of these places like Mc D's , Burger King & Carls Jr are like eating SHOE LEATHER.
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9-08-2010 @1:29PM mike said... I voted Fuddruckers but don't consider that fast food.
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9-08-2010 @1:41PM SLM said... How fair is this. Some of the choices are not in all areas. McDonalds does so well because they are everywhere. Quick, cheap, consistant and easy.
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9-08-2010 @11:04PM Sam I am said... Yeah, where's Fatburger and White Castle. This is why CR can suck. They choose the products or services, and you don't have a choice in voting that's real.
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9-08-2010 @1:50PM Kate said... And, once more, living in a rural part of the corn belt has come back to bite me in the cultural arse. I've never even heard of any of the chains in the top three...
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9-08-2010 @1:51PM John Howell said... My first thought is that I'm a big Carl's Jr. fan. My second thought is to dump the burger and head for Popeye's for the world's greatest fast food fried chicken!
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9-08-2010 @2:21PM ED said... I SAY THAT IF YOU HAVEN'T HAD A WHATABURGER YOU ARE MISSING THE REAL DEAL . ALL OF THE OTHERS ARE PALE IN THE FLAVOR DEPARTMENT . I CAN'T WAIT TILL WHATABURGER COMES TO MARYLAND .
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9-08-2010 @2:02PM jetnshadow said... best burgers are those that are grilled in your own backyard and topped by home grown vegetables from the garden that are fresh, or have been pickled using your grandmothers pickling recipe.
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9-08-2010 @2:30PM val said... The last time I was starving, I purchased a Famous Star burger at Carl's, no cheese. The bun looked like they used it for a hockey puck, mayo was literally dripping out so I couldn't even retrieve the lettuce when I tried to scrape it off, and they added what appeared to be cheese anyway that was glued to the tiny beef patty. The employees look like they are out on parole, so I am not about to have them correct or customize my order. I've had similar horrificly disappointing experiences at other fast food places except for Foster's Freeze or In-N-Out. They need to pay employees who give a da*n, up the food quality, and actually think about providing healthful, delicious food for public consumption. I have to drive to the next town for a decent burger.
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9-08-2010 @2:09PM Gale said... Saw a commercial for Burger King last night. The hamburger patty didn't even look appealing, it looked fake, like something that came from a kids toy food set. The patty was perfectly uniform and smooth all over, no detail of the ground meat supposedly inside. Makes you wonder what they are really made of. I prefer homemade burger, at least I know they contain real meat and they actually look like hamburger.
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