Some things seemed as if they would always be part of the McDonald's experience, but for a variety of reasons they have gone away or changed greatly.
Nobody ever expected Happy Meals to include apple slices as an option and push milk or water over soda.
For most of its existence McDonald' (MCD) -) got a health pass. Everyone knew that eating there wasn't good for you, but it was okay because nobody ate there all that often. In the 2000s, however, the film "Super Size Me" put an added focus on exactly how bad the chain's food was for you.
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That forced McDonald's to address some of its impact on children and at least offer some healthier choices -- even if kids didn't want them and parents mostly weren't having that fight.
The chain also mostly phased out the McDonaldland characters. It's hard to know whether that was because it was worried that using kid-friendly characters like Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese was now taboo or executives thought they no longer resonated.
Now, of course, McDonald's has brought back Grimace, its purple monster who started as a lovable sidekick to Ronald McDonald. But instead of being aimed at kids, Grimace now speaks to their parents, who have a nostalgic fondness for the smiling purple creature.
Kids might have wanted the Grimace Shake — who doesn't want a purple shake? — but that probably wasn't because of a character they don't know who hasn't been around in decades.
Now, McDonald's is making a more serious change that's happening so slowly you may not notice it, but by the time it happens, there will be no way to roll it back.
McDonald's dropping self-serve drinks
Selling drinks helps a chain lack McDonald's pad its bottom line. The chain carries Coca-Cola (KO) -) products, and it's generally believed that the cup your drink gets served in costs more than the beverage inside.
Whether that's true or not, a soda costs much less than what you pay. It's the widest-profit-margin item on the menu.
When a restaurant offers free refills via self-serve stations, however, those margins thin out. Customers help themselves to multiple drinks, spill more than employees would, and treat the beverage machines roughly, adding to maintenance costs.
At the same time, people aren't visiting McDonald's because it offers unlimited soda. The chain's franchisees are very aware of this, and many have noticed that some of their fast-food rivals used the covid pandemic as cover to get rid of theirs.
McDonald's did not make that move, but now social media is ablaze with reports that the days of the chain's self-serve machines are numbered (although the number is pretty big).
McDonald's self-serve drinks are being phased out
Essentially, the chain has given franchisees the option to phase out self-serve drinks. As machines break or need to be repaired, they will simply be replaced by staff-served options.
The beverage station, however, will get a long goodbye, according to media reports.
"McDonalds will eventually remove self-service soft drink stations in its restaurants, the company says, though you have another nine years to squirt your own Sprite: they can remain out until 2032," BoingBoing reported.
"In a pure example of corporate doublespeak, the line is that ditching the self-service option is for customers' convenience," the website reported, based on comments from McDonald's franchise owners.
Self-serve drinks used to be seen as a way to cut down on labor costs. Now, with chains wanting to squeeze every bit of margin out of their customers, franchise owners would prefer to have employees serve customers to reduce waste and take in revenue from the occasional paid-for refill.
The slowly implemented change comes as McDonald's Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski noted that the company faces extended profit-margin pressure.
"Our company-operated margin performance for the first half of 2023 is in line with our expectations and remains hampered by continued cost pressures," he said during the chain's second-quarter-earnings call. "As we look to the remainder of the year, we expect macro headwinds will continue."
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