McDonald’s Is Spending Billions to Figure Out Why People Stopped Coming — an X Post Says the Answer Is the Playground They Removed

McDonald's has declared that it will be investing 8.5 billion through 2036 to update their business model and better understand consumers and why people have "stopped coming."

Still, on X, a post by Selene Mariposa offers a theory as to why people stopped coming, and it has to do with McDonald's "[taking] out the playground."

The post, which drew more than 15,000 likes, argued that the McDonald's 'Next' initiative was unnecessary because the reason customers stopped coming was already obvious. This X user says that it was mainly parents who used to eat at McDonald's, not the children. "You went because your kids could run screaming through a plastic tube for 40 minutes while you sat with a coffee and experienced silence," the post explained.

What the post said, and what several people in the comments agreed with, was the fact that McDonald's was never really a place where people go to eat good food for its taste. The main attraction was the fact that the children's toys and play area give parents some time to decompress and not think about having to cook at home. The poster said that, as of now, while McDonald's has slowly phased out its playgrounds and children-focused equipment, Chick-fil-A seems to have stepped up.

The poster also says that the automated touchscreen at McDonald's is still making you do the work instead of getting to relax. The poster contrasted this with Chick-fil-A, which she said earns significantly more per restaurant by having staff hand food directly to customers.

Comments also agreed that there is no need to spend billions of dollars just for more AI tools because that money could be used to train and pay servers and workers who would take care of the community. And naturally, sales would once again go back up.

The poster also noted that at one point there was only a $1 price difference between Chili's and McDonald's. But the real difference was that McDonald's also gave a free toy, crayons, and something for the kids to colour. Plus chips, salsa, drinks, French fries, refills, and table service. More than that, she looked forward to the human interaction. "What would I do for dinner with two kids and my husband?" she asked rhetorically.

Commenters said today's McDonald's locations looked like 'hospital waiting rooms' or 'prisons,' according to some in the thread. Another commenter said that though the food was not that great, they finally stopped going because of the touch screens that required people to order for themselves and that ticked them off. "I won't go back even if they get rid of [the touch screens] even if I am desperately hungry," they said.

Some other customers spoke of restaurants failing in the same way, for example, the Cracker Barrel franchise. Others said that people also wanted natural foods and not "chemical soup." A third was a grandpa who used to take his grandkids to the McDonald's near his home because it had a nice play area. But just as the Mariposa said, this comment said the same thing: after 2020, the play area closed due to hygiene and health issues. But now, even though things have changed and it is safer for kids again, these facilities are not opening back up.

"The playground was the product; the burger was just the cover charge," wrote one commenter.