About 80% of Americans believe fast food is too expensive and has become a 'luxury item.'
Fast food has always been seen as cheap and easy to eat, but with the recent rise in prices, some people may feel that they can no longer easily eat fast food. A survey conducted in the United States, the home of fast food, found that about 80% of Americans felt that fast food had become a luxury item.
Fast Food Now a Luxury, Says 78% of Americans | LendingTree
LendingTree, an online platform for financial services, conducted a survey of more than 2,000 people on their 'views and behaviors regarding fast food' from April 1 to 4, 2024. All respondents were Americans aged 18 to 78 and answered online. The survey revealed the following:
Americans are eating fast food less often
For a long time, fast food has been a low-cost option for families to fill their stomachs on busy weekdays or when they are too tired to cook. However, the rapid inflation in recent years has led to rising fast food prices, and the frequency with which Americans eat fast food is also changing.
In the survey, about 75% of Americans eat fast food at least once a week, but 62% said they eat it less frequently because of rising prices. This trend was stronger among those with lower household incomes, with 69% of those earning less than $30,000 a year saying they eat less fast food because of rising prices, while 52% of those earning more than $100,000 a year said the same thing.
In addition, about 65% of respondents answered that 'in the past six months, I went to a fast food restaurant and was surprised by the high prices of the menu items or the amount I was charged on the receipt.' This trend reached 72% among those with children under the age of 18, suggesting that fast food restaurants are no longer a 'place where the whole family can get a cheap meal.'
◆ Most people think that fast food has become a luxury item
When respondents were asked whether they agreed with the statement, 'Fast food has become expensive and is now considered a luxury item,' 78% answered 'yes,' including 83% of those earning less than $30,000 a year, 82% of parents with children over the age of 18, 81% of
Next, we asked respondents whether they agreed with the statement, 'Because I am struggling financially, fast food is a luxury for me.' About half of the respondents agreed. This means that people who consider fast food a luxury are not necessarily in financial difficulty.
'While there may always have been a small group of Americans who view fast food as a luxury due to economic hardship, the fact that a majority of Americans now feel this way is a troubling sign and a major cultural shift,' LendingTree said.
Americans are choosing to eat at home
A survey by LendingTree found that 67% of Americans believe that fast food should be cheaper than eating at home, while about 75% believe that eating at home is cheaper than buying fast food. While 28% of people go to fast food when they want a 'quick and cheap meal,' 56% of people cook their meals at home.
◆ Tipping is increasingly being requested at fast food restaurants
For a long time, it was common not to tip at fast food restaurants, but in recent years, tipping has become more common at fast food restaurants. 44% of Americans who responded to the survey said they had been asked to tip at a fast food restaurant in the past six months, and 43% of those who were asked refused to pay a tip.
In addition, there are growing concerns that
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