The rise and fall of great fast-food brands has become a story all too familiar to American consumers. Once upon a time, an intrepid entrepreneur and artisan perfected a recipe, opened a restaurant, figured out how to scale the business, opened more locations, and quickened service without sacrificing the quality recipes and ingredients that made the restaurant popular to begin with. But just as families are always rising and falling in America, so are its fast food chains.
Long after the founder has passed away, the chains are eventually sold off to big corporations or private equity groups. Although new locations crop up in every corner of America and even the globe, the quality plummets dramatically. The meal you ate as a kid becomes something else entirely. The service, too.
More and more Americans have taken notice of this dispiriting trend in the restaurant and fast-food industries, a process commonly referred to as “crapification.” As the list of private equity-backed and corporate chains continues to grow, consumers are seeing (and tasting) the negative effects of what happens when a company engages in short-term thinking and tries to squeeze out every last cent of profit for its Wall Street investors.
One Wendy’s fan recently remarked on Reddit, “Worst fries in fast food. Worst customer satisfaction in fast food. Even the chicken nuggets are hollow. I used to get a big thick juicy burger here, now its paper thin sad looking sandwiches. What in the hell happened?!” The popular burger joint Whataburger, originally based in Texas, has experienced a decline — at least to some disgruntled consumers on Reddit. Some are beginning to question whether the chain’s 2019 sale to the private equity firm BDT Capital Partners, based in Chicago, had anything to do with it.
But thankfully, not all American fast-food chains have allowed themselves to be devoured by private equity. As it happens, these chains continue to steadily grow while still churning out delicious and affordable meals. It might actually be their stubborn, admirable refusals to get sucked into the crapification trend that sets them apart from their competitors.
Continue reading to learn about:
In-N-Out: Why its owner refuses to sell out to private equity and is determined to preserve what makes the chain special.
Chick-Fil-A: How the family-owned chain continues to grow conservatively without compromising its commitment to customer service.
Raising Cane’s: Why its founder believes private equity is destroying the quality of American fast food.