Fast food! Doesn’t everyone love it? Now we’re going to compare the four most tasted fast food burger locations in the state of California. In order to figure all this out, we need to look at various factors involved including: 1) Taste 2) Branding 3) Mascots 4) Costs 5) Customer Service 6) Menu Options 7) Profits 8) Business Image
Factor 1: Taste
Which one tastes the best? This is clearly a subjective question, but I’m sure I can accurately answer it for everyone based on my personal opinion. Points will be allocated based on how it ranks on the grand spectrum of taste.
1. In & Out [+4]. Made Fresh. In fact, you can see them cooking it right in front of you. Tastes amazing. Fries are a little weird, but still edible.
2. Jack in the Box [+3]. Ever since Jack in the Box’s E.coli disaster in 1990, it has really gotten it’s act together. The food still tastes as delicious as you would expect it to taste.
3. Mcdonald’s. [+2]. Bleh. It tastes good for how relatively inexpensive it is, I suppose.
4. Burger King. [+1]. Burger KING YOU FAIL. You make the food right of front of your customers, and you microwave it right in front of us. CAN’T YOU SEE HOW BLATANTLY OBVIOUS YOU ARE?! Anyway, you get 1 point though since you’re open 24/7 on UCSD Campus for those late night BK runs.
Factor 2: Branding
In order to entice customers to come eat their food, they can’t just rely on taste. Instead, these multi-million dollar companies need to engage in various acts of advertising in an effort to get people to come.
Let’s take a look at all the logos of all the companies and allocate points on how pretty it looks.
For some reasons, all of these companies have decided to incorporate red & yellow into their logos. Subsequently, they look relatively the same. I would say based on all these logos alone, it is very hard to judge which one is the best, because they all are relatively attractive.
Subsequently, we must look at the slogans of each company.
Mcdonald’s: “I’m loving it”
Burger King: “Have it your way!”
Jack in the Box: None presently, but used to be “We don’t make it till you order it'”
In & Out: “Quality you can Taste”.
The two most unfamiliar slogans in this case would be the Jack in the Box one, and the In & Out one. By that logic, Mcdonald’s and Burger King will both receive [+4] points for having recognizable slogans to the general public. Jack in the box gets [+2], In & Out will receive [+3] however because everyone recognizes the In&out Song which goes…. “In and Out. In and Out. That’s what our hamburger’s all about.”
Factor 3: Mascots
Some would argue that In & Out is so great that it doesn’t need a mascot. This is probably true, but we have to realize that In&Out would probably be a bigger brand if it had one. Let’s look at the other three companies’ mascots.
“Jack” from Jack in the Box is probably the most likable out of these three company mascots. By that logic, he gets [+4] points because of his charisma and charm. I almost cried when he died in that Superbowl commercial 2 years ago.
Meanwhile, “The King” from Burger King and Ronald Mcdonald are probably two of the creepiest mascots I’ve ever seen. Because of that reason, they score quite lower on the scale, Mcdonald’s getting [+2] points simply because it’s more recognizable than Burger King’s [+1]. They’re both creepy though, if I must reiterate again.
Factor 4: Costs
This is not really a factor, because fast food is relatively inexpensive. With the economy currently in a recession however, prices have started to rise for all the companies. However, I will allocate Jack in the Box, Mcdonald’s, and Burger King all [+1] point for having a value menu ($1). In & Out, though, as I must reiterate tastes great, does not have a dollar menu, and might not able to accommodate the poorer parts of the world (although, it’s not really a global corporation to begin with).
Factor 5: Customer Service
Based on personal experience, In & Out has the best customer service out of all these places simply because it accommodates long drive-thru’s while at the same time being very respective to its customers so it gets [+4] points. Jack in the box, after it’s E.Coli scare also has good customer service so it gets [+3] Points. Burger King and Mcdonald’s tries, but most of its employees typically are teenagers/high school drop-outs who don’t care about the world, so it only gets [+1] point.
Factor 6: Menu Options
Mcdonald’s: Sells Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, Chicken Products, French Fries, Breakfast Items, Soft Drinks, Shakes, Desserts, Salads, Wraps, and Fruit
Burger King: Burgers, Fries, Sodas, Milkshakes, Chicken, Fish, Salads, Breakfast
Jack in the Box: Jumbo Jack, Potato Wedges, French Fries, Chicken Sandwiches, Cheeseburgers, Hamburgers, Egg Rolls, Tacos, Breakfast food, Deli Style Pannidos, Terikayi Bowls
In & Out: Hamburger, Cheeseburger, French Fries, Shakes, Veggie Burger, Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Animal Style, Secret Menu
Jack in the Box clearly has the most. [+4], followed by Mcdonald’s [+3], followed by Burger King [+2], finally followed by In & Out [+1].
Factor 7: Profits
In the United States, Mcdonald’s revenue is roughly 22.6 billion.
Burger King’s is roughly 2.54 Billion.
Jack in the Box: 578.4 million
In & Out: 465 million.
Is it fair to critique these companies and judge them on their profits? Well, no. Mcdonald’s has clearly been around the longest and had the most time to globalize their markets, but still, money makes the world go round. So this will be a factor. By that logic Mcdonald’s gets [+4], Burger King gets [+3], Jack in the Box gets [+2], and In & Out gets [+1].
Factor 8: Business Image
Mcdonald’s has a fairly NEGATIVE business image, brought forth to it by its dominance in the global market (through imperialism), and their business practices (which includes their slaughter of animals). It also didn’t help that “Supersize me” made the health effects of the fast food place evident, although.. that movie personally made me very hungry.
Burger King has faced controversy too from PETA and other animal rights groups because of its….. consumption and usage of meat.
To assume either of these companies is evil though because of its slaughter of animals is a fallacy, because without it, most parts of the world would have less access to food. The ends justifies the means, subsequently. This is just based on the public’s perception of it.
Jack in the BOX has a relatively positive image, except for it’s E.Coli outbreak in 1990, which helped it to change its business practices over the years.
In&Out also has a relatively clean image, although that might be because it hasn’t gotten as big as Mcdonald’s.
Subsequently, points will be allocated accordingly:
In & Out [+4]
Jack in the Box [+3]
Burger King [+2] and
Mcdonald’s [+1]
In the end, after adding up all the points, the ranks becomes:
Jack in the Box: 22
Mcdonald’s: 18
In & Out: 17
Burger King: 15
Jack in the Box clearly is the best of the four, simply because it’s the biggest without being mentally perceived as evil by society as Burger King and Mcdonald’s is. As much as I would love for In & Out to be number one on the list, Mcdonald’s surpasses it simply because it has more money. Money really truly makes the world go round, and truly dominates the force of this blog, even though I tried my best to skew it personally to make In & Out win. Burger King’s clearly last, because Burger King is clearly gross!
If you asked me which place I would go to though, I would say In & Out. Sorry, but my taste buds trump everything.
What do you think?
Have you tried in-n-out fries medium well or light well? MMMN<3
animal fries and burgers with grilled onions mmmmmm
Although the best has to be the ciabatta burger from Jack, which they don’t offer anymore I think 🙁 That was a heart attack waiting to happen