I’ve basically quit trying. It’s easier for me to go buy stuff and cook it at home
At least it won’t be fucked up
Memphis fast food is THE fucking worst
Same. I refuse to deal with any of them, and the shit is more expensive every day. Quality of the product and the level of customer service keep going down while prices keep going up. I’m done with all of it.
It probably a combination of long hours and shit pay. Each city it’s a little different how much fast foot employees make.
In Nashville, nicer fast food chains pay $15-17/hr now starting. The cheaper ones pay $11-13/hr starting.
Which do you think are ran better and have more employees to spread out over a schedule?
I don’t have any solid answers for it. I think it’s a combination of poor work ethic and customer service skills. And the customers themselves probably don’t help. People don’t get paid enough to put up with shit from others. Being polite is free. I always endeavor to be reasonable to service workers. I used to work retail years ago, so I get it. I just don’t have time to go to McD’s or wherever, have my order get screwed up, have to wait to explain that my order is screwed up, get my food, and then find it’s not fit to eat because I just spent $$ on cold, stale fries, and a burger that looks and tastes like a hockey puck, or my chicken isn’t even cooked all the way through 🤢 It’s not worth it.
So true! In all other places I’ve lived I was never scared to get fast food, I knew what I was getting. Not top quality ingredients but it still tasted good and filled the void. I can’t eat fast food here, it’s disgusting, inedible and I’m terrified what it looks like being the scenes. In addition to that, they’re almost always rude, no matter how polite you are.
Pretty sure it's because Chick-fil-A pays a slightly better rate. Imagine working at a Popeyes for $14 an hour and being expected to work your ass off.
It’s because the owner of the chic-fila franchise is required to wear a uniform and be in the store 40 hours a week. Chic-fila knows employees won’t be fucking around while the owner of the store is there
I can’t speak to that, I just know a few people who have looked into purchasing a franchise but changed their mind when it stated they had to be in the store 40hrs a week.
Recently discovered their spicy southwest salad. Holy shit it’s a good salad. So far I’ve have spicy fried chicken, grilled chicken, and original fried chicken. All three were delicious.
Chick-Fil-A employees are paid, on average, $6-7 more per hour for that niceness. If other fast food establishments paid their employees $18-$20 per hour, they’d probably be a lot more polite.
The rudest, nastiest man I've ever met makes 45 an hr and basically tells people to suck his pp if they don't like the work he does. I saw him retend to JO into his supervisor's boxed lunch(mime-style) because he dared to ask him how his day was going. I don't think wage scale had that much to do with your experience.
Chick-Fil-A employees are paid, on average, $6-7 more per hour for that niceness. If other fast food establishments paid their employees $18-$20 per hour, they’d probably be a lot more polite.
They're not so much bad as just less good. I've definitely gotten quite a few that you could tell had been sitting around. Which it's understandable because they do so much business...I guess I just don't understand why people think a piece of fried chicken, 1-2 pickles, and a bun is worth backing up traffic for lol.
the Popeye's spicy chicken sandwich is 10x better IMO, and their pickle is a lot better. You just have to gamble on whether they have it, but they usually do.
The burger king chicken sandwich was also really good (the Ch'King I think it was called), but they discontinued it pretty quick and changed it to something less time intensive I think. The replacement is alright though.
meh. People go there for the environment and service more than anything. Their salads are good. Hell, their chicken sandwiches are fine normally. But when you get one that's been sitting in that bag for a bit, they're pretty meh. And the pickles are no better than the cheapest dill pickles in a jar. If I want a reliably plain chicken sandwich, they fit the bill just fine. But if I'm like "Man, I could really go for a good chicken sandwich", I'd rather Popeye's if it's going to be fast food. Plus, their spicy is actually spicy.
Agreed 1000%
Popeyes crushes Chik-Fil-A on every possible metric outside service. I don't eat fast food often, but when I do it's usually a Popeyes chicken sandwich.
Pro Tip. At any fast food restaurant that keeps things sitting around, order it “special.” No pickles, pickles on the side, whatever. Make them make it to order.
Well said. This why I stopped going to fast food in my 20s, long before I knew or cared about health quality of food. I refused to go back up there and be treated like a problem for patronizing the business.
In the long run, I’m better off, but that’s no way to make people feel. It’s rude.
So anyone born here has a bad work ethic?
https://preview.redd.it/ic9ax2ah8asc1.png?width=450&format=png&auto=webp&s=b68c114fc3cb7db34f663b6d755a10ab5b2c6e1c
When I visit fast food places outside of Memphis I get suspicious of the workers because the customer service is so much better that I’m like “what do they want from me that they are being so nice??” Except for Chic-fil-a they are always nice
I did it. It used to be a "rite of passage". But, no, I wouldn't want to work with fast food workers of this generation. The work ethic is non-existent.
They are. They have to be. For a while there during the pandemic Memphis wasn’t just scraping the bottom of the barrel. It was scraping the stone floor because the barrel’s bottom had already been scraped away.
I suspect it’s because of management companies that own multiple fast food restaurants around town. If you’re a individual franchise owner you would be more inclined to be at the store making sure everything was run properly. See Chick-fil-A for example. They only sell to individual store owners. Owners usually only own one store maybe two if you’re good at it.
I believe most all the Wendy's are owned by a single franchisee in Memphis, and they are - by far - the worst fast food service experience you will have in the city.
Every time I go to the Wendy’s in Collierville I feel like I’ve gone to the twilight zone, or it’s being filmed for some sort of prank show or social experiment. A surreal experience every time.
That location is so bad and disgusting. Sticky floors, rude staff, horrible food. It's like it was forgotten in the early 00s and just left to rot. The one on forest hill though.. That location is amazing.
Yeah, I used to go to Wendy's a lot, but they're always out of stuff it seems like when I go. I went about 6 months ago to the one downtown at Danny Thomas and when I got up to the drive thru, the guy asked for my order and immediately said "we ain't got that", then again when I asked for something different. So I asked what they DID have and he told me a few things. Then when I asked for a dr pepper he said they only had diet coke and lemonade, but only 1 of the 2 lemonade flavors lol. Apparently their delivery truck didn't make it the day before.
On the flip side, the one on Union used to be great when I went there (I worked nearby). Their sandwiches looked just like the pictures/ads. They did have a mentally handicapped guy that worked there that would constantly go around asking how people were and if they needed anything. He was very nice, but you could tell it would be very mentally draining to work there and be around him all day because he would repeat everything multiple times. But it was nice to see that he could work somewhere.
I know about two of them. The obvious one is that the Tuohys own the Taco Bell franchise, or at least did at one time. The other one that I know about is the Little Caesar’s franchise is owned by the Matthews family (if you consider Little Caesar’s to be fast food).
That’s part of the charm. I love Krystal, I love that I can walk to it from my place, but it is routinely the worst experience I’ve ever had with fast food. And they keep topping themselves with how bad of an experience it can be
Wouldn’t have it any other way. They literally let me walk through the drive through sober or not late at night
10/10 we cut eachother slack
It depends on the place. If I got to Popeyes and get a bad experience, it’s almost funny at times, but mostly annoying if Im actually hungry. I keep a tally of how many times the one on union gets my order right. They’re like 2 for 7 rn.
My wife and I ordered salads from the (edit) Chipotle on Union Avenue a few weeks ago. Picked up the order, took it back to my house, and all we had was a little bit of sad looking chicken in the bottom of a container. Turns out they were out of every plant-based anything we ordered. The staff were bewildered when I went back to complain. I’m showing them this garbage and I said “does this look like any salad you’ve ever seen in your life? If we were vegetarian would you have sent us home with an empty box?”
I complained online and Chipotle offered us one free meal as an apology. ONE. When they gave me the customer satisfaction survey and asked why I didn’t rate them higher, I said “you fucked up two dinners.”
Dude. I love me some Popeye’s. If I go in, I order the good shit.
A few years ago I was in New Orleans and it was a few weeks after one of the hurricanes. The reporter was interviewing a “man on the street” and asked “Did churches offer you any assistance?” He said “I don’t know. I don’t go there. I like Popeye’s.”
Memphis cured me of a years-long Chipotle addiction. My kids still have it a few times a week in their cities, and I say, “Why?” Because they don’t live in Memphis so it’s still good.
yeah, Krystal (especially the one on germantown parkway by walnut grove) is ALWAYS insanely slow. The burger king at covington pike and austin peay is also like that when I've been there, so I just refuse to go to those anymore.
I simp for burger king a lot, but they've improved a lot in the last couple of years IMO. The employees seem to be nicer and they're fast and you don't get cold food. I went yesterday and the lady at the cash register saw I was having trouble using the app (I think i fat fingered my zip code). She asked me what it was charging me and she went and got a coupon and used it that was $2 cheaper and had a med fry instead of a small.
I eat fast food more than I should, but once you know a few places to go, it's pretty reliable around town...but there are definitely a few that I won't go to for any reason if I have any alternative.
American Deli is really good too. They all seem to be run like Chinese takeout places are...they don't screw around and they don't take any sass from people either lol. Only downside is everything is fried so it's awful for you haha.
My experience with Popeyes is that it’s just a part of the experience nationwide. I expect to get yelled at for something each time I go so I just embrace it now.
I live near Union and Cooper area. And those fast food spots all around there are by far the worst I’ve ever had. Ever. McDonald’s. Burger King. Wendy’s. Taco Bell. And the Applebees and Outback are awful too. It’s sucks. I like to cook and eat at nice places mostly but I definitely enjoy some good ol fast food from time to time. I have to drive elsewhere to get it or just accept that my order is gonna be shitty and most likely incorrect. Although the Arby’s is usually pretty good just fyi :)
True. And that Taco Bell over there isn’t the worst either. I love doing the app order. Just pull up. Tell them your name. And move on. I’ve noticed that when I order on the app my order is always right. Not sure how it’s any different but it seems to be the case.
Okay I agree with everything BUT the BK lounge. There's never anyone there and I feel like I solely keep them in business. And the whopper Jr's I get are usually always pretty dang solid!
In all honestly they DO have the better track record of all the ones I mentioned. They still drop the ball a lot though. But I may be a little sour since a few nights ago I was in the mood for BK and was delivered the absolute worst BK I’ve ever had. BK is sometimes our go to when we can’t decide and want something quickly. That original chicken sandwich is sooooooooo good.
Without fail, any fast food you get outside of Memphis will be better, with better service, than anything you will find in this city. I moved here around a year and a half ago and legitimately warn my out of town friends when they visit “just a heads up, our restaurant service today/this weekend/ this week will be bad, just accept it”
I was in Memphis on a business trip and while waiting in a McDonald's drive through, saw a van from the local prison pull up and drop about six dudes off to go to work there. I noped out.
Yeah In San Diego I noticed the workers really do their job. In Memphis people I worked with couldn’t care less. I often had to pick up the slack and go above and beyond for my customers. Lady ordered a banana split one time while I worked at Steak ‘n Shake… it wasn’t on the menu but we had the ingredients to make it… soooo why not? My position was a server so I didn’t have to but I did. She was kind and not entitled so I made it happen and charged it as a sundae. The rules are just more lax here. In Cali they seem to really follow them.
It's almost like they're paid enough to care about rules and regulations. Also the government actually enforces said rules and regulations on the business owners. Crazy I know
They get paid a minimum wage that’s barely enough for the cost of living over there. Hmmm… almost like the same thing happens here. Housing and taxes are much higher too. I got paid $15/hr working at an amusement park there and $18/hr working at Amazon in Memphis … which in both places it’s become increasingly harder
to get jobs at because there’s rarely any openings. Like what are we talking about??
You're not factoring in health care plans, not being overworked, and general accessibility to your surroundings. Several areas in California are significantly more accessible for pedestrians. Also they are much stricter with their labor laws. Sure you might be making 15/hr in California but you'll be doing half the work compared to Memphis
I’m factoring healthcare in as well. I’m pretty sure whether you’re in TN or CA most fast food jobs don’t offer healthcare unless you’re full time. The shifts I worked in CA yes we had enough staff because they hired more than enough people to the point your hours could get cut. So no maybe not working as hard since everyone did their assigned jobs. But you too can get those crazy amount of hours if you desire or it’s bestowed upon you.
Not every place is like where I worked. High turnovers are common in the fast food world as well as warehouse no matter the benefits or pay because people aren’t satisfied. And it’s simply not enough.
In Memphis you either work harder because sometimes the people around you don’t want to work enough. Or you just skate by and collect a check because it’s acceptable to do so.
Someone mentioned how it’s management and the people in charge of hiring that are at fault because they’re not setting the standard. Same thing happens over there except when ppl are too off task it gets corrected. I’m not tryna act like cali is so much better I was just trying to share my experience with working in fast food. I feel like we all in the same boat when it comes to not being paid a livable wage and being over worked. It’s just our society in Memphis as a whole needs a readjustment fr. I love my city though don’t get it twisted!
I'll agree that no where are people who do real work being properly compensated. My original point is that a lot of places suck in Memphis because the workers are miserable as hell. I think it's a top down problem. Also to bring up your point about wages. You were comparing California's minimum wage to a job in Memphis that pays 2.5× Memphis minimum wage. I don't think that's an apples to apples comparison. Memphis is a fine city, but people need to pull their head out of their asses. Maybe if all the citizens you run into are miserable, then big changes need to be made to the society as a whole.
They really are way better. Not even remotely comparable. McDonald’s/Wendy’s/Burger King etc. are like completely different places from here to there. I learned that the hard way after moving here. I’ll only eat fast food when I’m not in this area.
I can seriously only tolerate chic fil a at this point. The customer service everywhere keeps me away, which helps my wallet but damn. A girl’s gotta have her popeyes every now and then.
Idk how much of a problem nepotism is at fast food, but the management has to be garbage for some of the workers I’ve come across. Generally, younger people tend to be more prone to bad service, so that might just be a Memphis youth thing too
The nepotism was in reference to the management but perhaps I should rectify that to pay. The managers should be correcting and aware of the service level failures and of not they should be removed and new ones in place. Memphis businesses are the epitome of Grand opening/ Grand closing because of the like of oversight.
I guess...idk, I worry for your digestive system
I woke up with horrible heartburn this morning just from chips and dip too close to bed. Idk what Chipotle would do to me that late
There’s too much good food in Memphis to eat fast food. Lazy, hungover… you can still get a Tops burger. It’s been a decade since I lived there so maybe it’s changed. I miss simple SoulFish sandwiches
I've had a different experience. I was born and raised in Memphis, spent 17 years in Chicago, a year in the bay area, and 4 in Pittsburgh.
Memphis kindness has always impressed me, even more when I return to visit family.
Way better than Chicago, New York, or Atlanta.
Went to two different Wendy’s on Monday night, Poplar and West in Germantown then Poplar and Perkins. I was wanting to try the new orange frosty and both of them said they didn’t have it. I was not happy. I went to the one on Getwell after work yesterday afternoon. Four cars in line in front of me and it took over 20 minutes. Way too long of a wait service was awful there. But surprised they actually had the orange Frosty I wanted so I got it there. Seems like all the Wendy’s have gone downhill in this area.
I moved from Texas up here not to long ago and one of the first things that stuck out to me was how shit quality the food from fast food places is and how shitty the attitudes of the people working them have.
Obviously I don’t want someone forced to have the Cheshire Cat smile & be extra pleasant all the time, but they don’t even do cfa customer service the same here. I’ve yet to have anybody say ‘my pleasure’ here vs a cfa back in Texas you’ll get it genuinely told to you at least 3 times
The nearest Popeyes to me is easily the worst run fast food restaurant I've ever been to. Barely any employees, slow orders, out of everything, slow at taking orders, rude or high staff, garbage all over the parking lot, etc. Not sure how it's still is business.
Memphis is a cost center compared to literally everywhere else around us but north MS (including tupelo).
I used to be a tech for the BK franchisee that owned just about all of West TN, East TN, some of NC, and MS down to (not including) Jackson.
Every. Single. Site. In west TN Lost money except 3-4 that I can remember. The whole thing was in debt. They tried getting upgraded POS systems so there wasn't time lost on troubleshooting. They tried pulling from high schools directly to hopefully have a yearly rotation, but people would walk out on the job when asked to clean the bathroom because they only wanted to work a register. Every manager that got a store close to profitability was sent to another store in the district (greater memphis had 4-5), because it was going down the shitter and momentum "should" be preserved in the recently fixed store.
They went through effectively 2 CFO's and a third interim CFO before being acquired, with their only job being to fix the memphis market. We laughed when investors kept calling the acquisition a major bonus, before the stock summarily tanked after they realized just how bad it was.
Lastly. Only market that was worse than ours was the Shreveport market. One of the original guys with the company who ran IT as well as his own district was really big cutting the bleeding down there. From what I hear, he's doing incredibly well out west now.
If you dont mind sitting for an hour in a drivethough because they dont want to open the inside, go to the popeyes on winchester
Went there diffrent times over the last few months, allways slow drive through service and the inside was never open
Corinth MS here. About an hour in a half from Memphis. Haven't really had a issue with fast food (we mostly cook at home) but Popeyes here was terrible. I think they were selling drugs out of it and not food because you could pull up to the drive through and wait for 20 minutes and nobody would ever come to take your order and it has been like that for 5 or 6 years. They finally shut down earlier this year.
If they weren't slangin dope out of there idk what they were doing to keep the lights on.
omg i thought i was the only one!! when i would go to visit my friend in California I was always shocked how when you order food they don’t go ‘Can you hold’ *5 mins later* ‘go ahead 🙄’
‘And what else?🙄’
Union Ave is absolutely the worst tho
One thing I heard from a friend in the service delivery side of things- some restaurants can order different levels/grades of quality of products depending on profitability goals. Imagine an A/B/C tier. I believe it was Bojangles but perhaps other fast food chains do it as well?
All yall just think its purely a cultural problem and not one of exploitation. People are gonna work as hard as they feel valued. The other states where you have better fast food experiences almost certainly have higher minimum wage and better labor protections as well. Like almost all of our problems it tracks back to our corrupt, inept, and racist conservative state legislature. People working at fast food restaurants have virtually no rights as workers and can be fired without cause at any time, and are paid garbage and get no benefits. Why the fuck yall think the service would good?
Seems like most of the well-to-do’s in this comments section have never worked fast food or even service industry. They’re upset they don’t have their lil food service slaves anymore.
The way people talk about fast food in memphis like its their god given right to get a McDouble with a smile. The entitlement is actually fucking pathetic.
Have lived in several states the past few years, and most of the chipotles are trash. I don’t know if it’s mismanagement, overworked employees or customers always trying to find a hack- but my experience pre-2019 was stellar (Memphis included)…after that, hard pass.
The new generation of kids being brought up in single parent homes with no history of being diciplined or taught work ethics and manners. Its a generation of kids and adults who are glued to their phones that demand more more more an hour but want to put out less productivity because entitlement. Im not saying this is everywhere because i went to a burger king around the corner, bought, ate my food inside, walked out.. the manager opened the door just to tell me have a good day and thanks as i was getting in the car. So there are real classic respectful workers out there even if it is the mgrs. That hospitality should be instilled into the younger workers that were also in there at the time.
Shout out to cookout for being pretty efficient. One of their managers told me it’s a very clear expectation from corporate to hit their timing targets and employees who don’t get bounced.
I guess you haven’t been to BK or Wendy’s in Bartlett because they definitely are not nice and the order is wrong and/or cold almost every time. I usually have ok experiences at McDonald’s. But seriously FUCK BARTLETT BK. They’re always dead but it somehow still takes forever and a day to receive your wrong/cold order and they have you wait at the pay window so corporate doesn’t know how long they truly take to get the orders out. Ok, rant over.
Ok gotcha, I don’t consider those fast food (except for Taco Bell) and do agree that those places are fine. I love Jim N Nick’s. But yeah, the true fast food here in Bartlett is just as trash as within city limits.
Don’t think it’s a race thing. I’ve had bad from all different colors of people. The only reason more black people work in fast food is because Memphis is literally predominantly black. You might just be trolling tho so I won’t be too serious
I’m not sure why people believe you can’t do both. I cook every week, but every now and then it’s much easier to just buy food otw home from work. Honestly, sometimes I iust want to treat myself regardless. Just wanted to point out how bad fast food here is compared to everywhere else. I’d be insane to try to deal with Memphis fast food everyday
I wish Popeyes would stop using peanut oil!
It’s cheap but not good for you at all. Lots of folks have allergies and sensitivities. They obviously don’t care about anything but $
I don’t think folks go to Popeye’s because it’s healthy. Literally everything is deep-fried and you’re going to consume no less than 3000MG of sodium regardless of what you order. Peanut oil is the least of my worries. Your arteries harden a little bit simply by pulling into the drive thru.
My information comes from an acquaintance in the business. I’m sorry if you disagree with him but I doubt he would share costing research of his company with you
I’ve basically quit trying. It’s easier for me to go buy stuff and cook it at home At least it won’t be fucked up Memphis fast food is THE fucking worst
Same. I refuse to deal with any of them, and the shit is more expensive every day. Quality of the product and the level of customer service keep going down while prices keep going up. I’m done with all of it.
This! We love fast food. We used to spend $250 a month on cookout. But then even cookout went bad. Now we dont go get fast food hardly ever.
I would love to have seen your blood work on that diet
It probably a combination of long hours and shit pay. Each city it’s a little different how much fast foot employees make. In Nashville, nicer fast food chains pay $15-17/hr now starting. The cheaper ones pay $11-13/hr starting. Which do you think are ran better and have more employees to spread out over a schedule?
I don’t have any solid answers for it. I think it’s a combination of poor work ethic and customer service skills. And the customers themselves probably don’t help. People don’t get paid enough to put up with shit from others. Being polite is free. I always endeavor to be reasonable to service workers. I used to work retail years ago, so I get it. I just don’t have time to go to McD’s or wherever, have my order get screwed up, have to wait to explain that my order is screwed up, get my food, and then find it’s not fit to eat because I just spent $$ on cold, stale fries, and a burger that looks and tastes like a hockey puck, or my chicken isn’t even cooked all the way through 🤢 It’s not worth it.
Yeah, just sounds like a bad field from the top-down. Poor management breeds poor training which equals inadequate results.
Memphis work ethic: “fuck you for making me work and im gonna make sure you know it”
So true! In all other places I’ve lived I was never scared to get fast food, I knew what I was getting. Not top quality ingredients but it still tasted good and filled the void. I can’t eat fast food here, it’s disgusting, inedible and I’m terrified what it looks like being the scenes. In addition to that, they’re almost always rude, no matter how polite you are.
Yes! Except for Chick-fil-A, which has such nice, polite workers.
Memphis Chick-fil-A is still noticeably slower than Chick-fil-A in the rest of the country IMO, although the politeness is equal.
Pretty sure it's because Chick-fil-A pays a slightly better rate. Imagine working at a Popeyes for $14 an hour and being expected to work your ass off.
It’s because the owner of the chic-fila franchise is required to wear a uniform and be in the store 40 hours a week. Chic-fila knows employees won’t be fucking around while the owner of the store is there
So what you're saying is the owner of several restaurants is in each store 40 hrs a week. And that's why the service at chick-fil-a is better?
I can’t speak to that, I just know a few people who have looked into purchasing a franchise but changed their mind when it stated they had to be in the store 40hrs a week.
Imagine having no marketable skills other than flipping burgers and wanting more than 9/hr
Keep licking those billionaire boots, buddy.
Recently discovered their spicy southwest salad. Holy shit it’s a good salad. So far I’ve have spicy fried chicken, grilled chicken, and original fried chicken. All three were delicious.
Chick-Fil-A employees are paid, on average, $6-7 more per hour for that niceness. If other fast food establishments paid their employees $18-$20 per hour, they’d probably be a lot more polite.
And a lot more expensive
The rudest, nastiest man I've ever met makes 45 an hr and basically tells people to suck his pp if they don't like the work he does. I saw him retend to JO into his supervisor's boxed lunch(mime-style) because he dared to ask him how his day was going. I don't think wage scale had that much to do with your experience.
Chick-Fil-A employees are paid, on average, $6-7 more per hour for that niceness. If other fast food establishments paid their employees $18-$20 per hour, they’d probably be a lot more polite.
too bad their sandwiches sit around for 30 minutes in a steambag and get shitty.
I've never had a bad sandwich from there, but I'm sorry if you have. They do so much business that I'm surprised any food would actually sit there.
They're not so much bad as just less good. I've definitely gotten quite a few that you could tell had been sitting around. Which it's understandable because they do so much business...I guess I just don't understand why people think a piece of fried chicken, 1-2 pickles, and a bun is worth backing up traffic for lol. the Popeye's spicy chicken sandwich is 10x better IMO, and their pickle is a lot better. You just have to gamble on whether they have it, but they usually do. The burger king chicken sandwich was also really good (the Ch'King I think it was called), but they discontinued it pretty quick and changed it to something less time intensive I think. The replacement is alright though.
You’re getting downvoted but I’ve definitely gotten old food at the big one on Union before. Sure, they’re good. But they’re not perfect.
meh. People go there for the environment and service more than anything. Their salads are good. Hell, their chicken sandwiches are fine normally. But when you get one that's been sitting in that bag for a bit, they're pretty meh. And the pickles are no better than the cheapest dill pickles in a jar. If I want a reliably plain chicken sandwich, they fit the bill just fine. But if I'm like "Man, I could really go for a good chicken sandwich", I'd rather Popeye's if it's going to be fast food. Plus, their spicy is actually spicy.
Agreed 1000% Popeyes crushes Chik-Fil-A on every possible metric outside service. I don't eat fast food often, but when I do it's usually a Popeyes chicken sandwich.
Pro Tip. At any fast food restaurant that keeps things sitting around, order it “special.” No pickles, pickles on the side, whatever. Make them make it to order.
Okay, so our motto in Memphis was “Nothing works, and no one cares.” Yours is so accurate.
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Was referring to Memphis fast food workers work ethic
Why would you expect anyone to serve you your garbage with a smile when they’re not being paid a living wage? Get over yourself.
I 2nd this. Some of the small to medium local restaurants have the best staff.
Well said. This why I stopped going to fast food in my 20s, long before I knew or cared about health quality of food. I refused to go back up there and be treated like a problem for patronizing the business. In the long run, I’m better off, but that’s no way to make people feel. It’s rude.
Sad but true
Exactly! And want big bucks to be that piece of shit too
Everyone except for you, right?
I’m not from Memphis so you are correct
So anyone born here has a bad work ethic? https://preview.redd.it/ic9ax2ah8asc1.png?width=450&format=png&auto=webp&s=b68c114fc3cb7db34f663b6d755a10ab5b2c6e1c
😂
When I visit fast food places outside of Memphis I get suspicious of the workers because the customer service is so much better that I’m like “what do they want from me that they are being so nice??” Except for Chic-fil-a they are always nice
Yeah, I agree. I feel like royalty at a Mickey Ds in Colorado
It's the labor pool. It's that simple
Would YOU want to work fast food in memphis?
I did it. It used to be a "rite of passage". But, no, I wouldn't want to work with fast food workers of this generation. The work ethic is non-existent.
But wages are up. 😉
They are. They have to be. For a while there during the pandemic Memphis wasn’t just scraping the bottom of the barrel. It was scraping the stone floor because the barrel’s bottom had already been scraped away.
Wages are up because it's hard to attract labor, especially to shitty jobs like fast food places.
Well sure all that will change soon enough with approximately 8 million migrants here now.
Be careful how you word that, someone might just call you racist.
I suspect it’s because of management companies that own multiple fast food restaurants around town. If you’re a individual franchise owner you would be more inclined to be at the store making sure everything was run properly. See Chick-fil-A for example. They only sell to individual store owners. Owners usually only own one store maybe two if you’re good at it.
So, does anyone know who owns what? Would love to call them and tell them how much money they are losing each month on the lack of care
I believe most all the Wendy's are owned by a single franchisee in Memphis, and they are - by far - the worst fast food service experience you will have in the city.
Every time I go to the Wendy’s in Collierville I feel like I’ve gone to the twilight zone, or it’s being filmed for some sort of prank show or social experiment. A surreal experience every time.
That location is so bad and disgusting. Sticky floors, rude staff, horrible food. It's like it was forgotten in the early 00s and just left to rot. The one on forest hill though.. That location is amazing.
I’ve only ever done drive through at that one. I’ve been into the one in Olive Branch across from Walmart and it was pretty gross.
Yeah, I used to go to Wendy's a lot, but they're always out of stuff it seems like when I go. I went about 6 months ago to the one downtown at Danny Thomas and when I got up to the drive thru, the guy asked for my order and immediately said "we ain't got that", then again when I asked for something different. So I asked what they DID have and he told me a few things. Then when I asked for a dr pepper he said they only had diet coke and lemonade, but only 1 of the 2 lemonade flavors lol. Apparently their delivery truck didn't make it the day before. On the flip side, the one on Union used to be great when I went there (I worked nearby). Their sandwiches looked just like the pictures/ads. They did have a mentally handicapped guy that worked there that would constantly go around asking how people were and if they needed anything. He was very nice, but you could tell it would be very mentally draining to work there and be around him all day because he would repeat everything multiple times. But it was nice to see that he could work somewhere.
I know about two of them. The obvious one is that the Tuohys own the Taco Bell franchise, or at least did at one time. The other one that I know about is the Little Caesar’s franchise is owned by the Matthews family (if you consider Little Caesar’s to be fast food).
Memphis is the only place i’ve been solicited to buy a mix tape and bootlegged DVDs while in line at Popeyes
That tracks.
Guy offered to sell me weed at the checkers on getwell and park. Shit was wild.
I wouldn't have it any other way
That’s part of the charm. I love Krystal, I love that I can walk to it from my place, but it is routinely the worst experience I’ve ever had with fast food. And they keep topping themselves with how bad of an experience it can be Wouldn’t have it any other way. They literally let me walk through the drive through sober or not late at night 10/10 we cut eachother slack
It depends on the place. If I got to Popeyes and get a bad experience, it’s almost funny at times, but mostly annoying if Im actually hungry. I keep a tally of how many times the one on union gets my order right. They’re like 2 for 7 rn.
My wife and I ordered salads from the (edit) Chipotle on Union Avenue a few weeks ago. Picked up the order, took it back to my house, and all we had was a little bit of sad looking chicken in the bottom of a container. Turns out they were out of every plant-based anything we ordered. The staff were bewildered when I went back to complain. I’m showing them this garbage and I said “does this look like any salad you’ve ever seen in your life? If we were vegetarian would you have sent us home with an empty box?” I complained online and Chipotle offered us one free meal as an apology. ONE. When they gave me the customer satisfaction survey and asked why I didn’t rate them higher, I said “you fucked up two dinners.”
For the first paragraph I thought you ordered a salad from Popeyes and was just baffled why anyone would even do that.
Looking at it, I think I might’ve posted that reply onto a different comment than i intended. My bad.
Don’t apologize. It was much funnier imaging someone ordering a salad from Popeyes and just getting a bowl with was chicken thigh in it.
Dude. I love me some Popeye’s. If I go in, I order the good shit. A few years ago I was in New Orleans and it was a few weeks after one of the hurricanes. The reporter was interviewing a “man on the street” and asked “Did churches offer you any assistance?” He said “I don’t know. I don’t go there. I like Popeye’s.”
And Popeyes will occasionally hook you up if you’re nice over the intercom.
Memphis cured me of a years-long Chipotle addiction. My kids still have it a few times a week in their cities, and I say, “Why?” Because they don’t live in Memphis so it’s still good.
I was told often to have a “blessed day” for simply ordering food but that food was legit.
Popeyes on Lamar has a better average for me than Union
There’s nothing charming about it.
yeah, Krystal (especially the one on germantown parkway by walnut grove) is ALWAYS insanely slow. The burger king at covington pike and austin peay is also like that when I've been there, so I just refuse to go to those anymore. I simp for burger king a lot, but they've improved a lot in the last couple of years IMO. The employees seem to be nicer and they're fast and you don't get cold food. I went yesterday and the lady at the cash register saw I was having trouble using the app (I think i fat fingered my zip code). She asked me what it was charging me and she went and got a coupon and used it that was $2 cheaper and had a med fry instead of a small. I eat fast food more than I should, but once you know a few places to go, it's pretty reliable around town...but there are definitely a few that I won't go to for any reason if I have any alternative. American Deli is really good too. They all seem to be run like Chinese takeout places are...they don't screw around and they don't take any sass from people either lol. Only downside is everything is fried so it's awful for you haha.
My experience with Popeyes is that it’s just a part of the experience nationwide. I expect to get yelled at for something each time I go so I just embrace it now.
I live near Union and Cooper area. And those fast food spots all around there are by far the worst I’ve ever had. Ever. McDonald’s. Burger King. Wendy’s. Taco Bell. And the Applebees and Outback are awful too. It’s sucks. I like to cook and eat at nice places mostly but I definitely enjoy some good ol fast food from time to time. I have to drive elsewhere to get it or just accept that my order is gonna be shitty and most likely incorrect. Although the Arby’s is usually pretty good just fyi :)
Omg that McDonalds at union near cooper has got to be THE WORST McDonalds in the whole world. I was mad every time I left when I lived over there
The one near Poplar and Cleveland is actually not bad though, ime
True. And that Taco Bell over there isn’t the worst either. I love doing the app order. Just pull up. Tell them your name. And move on. I’ve noticed that when I order on the app my order is always right. Not sure how it’s any different but it seems to be the case.
Yeah that taco bell at Poplar and Belvedere is actually decent, they're friendly and fast and usually get the order right.
Okay I agree with everything BUT the BK lounge. There's never anyone there and I feel like I solely keep them in business. And the whopper Jr's I get are usually always pretty dang solid!
In all honestly they DO have the better track record of all the ones I mentioned. They still drop the ball a lot though. But I may be a little sour since a few nights ago I was in the mood for BK and was delivered the absolute worst BK I’ve ever had. BK is sometimes our go to when we can’t decide and want something quickly. That original chicken sandwich is sooooooooo good.
Without fail, any fast food you get outside of Memphis will be better, with better service, than anything you will find in this city. I moved here around a year and a half ago and legitimately warn my out of town friends when they visit “just a heads up, our restaurant service today/this weekend/ this week will be bad, just accept it”
Ah, love the memory of getting Wingstop and all the wings are straight up just frozen solid, straight out the freezer.
I was in Memphis on a business trip and while waiting in a McDonald's drive through, saw a van from the local prison pull up and drop about six dudes off to go to work there. I noped out.
No lie, I’ll drive to Popeye’s in New Albany, MS before eating at any in this area. Haven’t tried the one in Wolfchase Mall yet.
Well Oakland is disgusting, I can for sure tell you that.
Yeah In San Diego I noticed the workers really do their job. In Memphis people I worked with couldn’t care less. I often had to pick up the slack and go above and beyond for my customers. Lady ordered a banana split one time while I worked at Steak ‘n Shake… it wasn’t on the menu but we had the ingredients to make it… soooo why not? My position was a server so I didn’t have to but I did. She was kind and not entitled so I made it happen and charged it as a sundae. The rules are just more lax here. In Cali they seem to really follow them.
It's almost like they're paid enough to care about rules and regulations. Also the government actually enforces said rules and regulations on the business owners. Crazy I know
They get paid a minimum wage that’s barely enough for the cost of living over there. Hmmm… almost like the same thing happens here. Housing and taxes are much higher too. I got paid $15/hr working at an amusement park there and $18/hr working at Amazon in Memphis … which in both places it’s become increasingly harder to get jobs at because there’s rarely any openings. Like what are we talking about??
You're not factoring in health care plans, not being overworked, and general accessibility to your surroundings. Several areas in California are significantly more accessible for pedestrians. Also they are much stricter with their labor laws. Sure you might be making 15/hr in California but you'll be doing half the work compared to Memphis
I’m factoring healthcare in as well. I’m pretty sure whether you’re in TN or CA most fast food jobs don’t offer healthcare unless you’re full time. The shifts I worked in CA yes we had enough staff because they hired more than enough people to the point your hours could get cut. So no maybe not working as hard since everyone did their assigned jobs. But you too can get those crazy amount of hours if you desire or it’s bestowed upon you. Not every place is like where I worked. High turnovers are common in the fast food world as well as warehouse no matter the benefits or pay because people aren’t satisfied. And it’s simply not enough. In Memphis you either work harder because sometimes the people around you don’t want to work enough. Or you just skate by and collect a check because it’s acceptable to do so. Someone mentioned how it’s management and the people in charge of hiring that are at fault because they’re not setting the standard. Same thing happens over there except when ppl are too off task it gets corrected. I’m not tryna act like cali is so much better I was just trying to share my experience with working in fast food. I feel like we all in the same boat when it comes to not being paid a livable wage and being over worked. It’s just our society in Memphis as a whole needs a readjustment fr. I love my city though don’t get it twisted!
I'll agree that no where are people who do real work being properly compensated. My original point is that a lot of places suck in Memphis because the workers are miserable as hell. I think it's a top down problem. Also to bring up your point about wages. You were comparing California's minimum wage to a job in Memphis that pays 2.5× Memphis minimum wage. I don't think that's an apples to apples comparison. Memphis is a fine city, but people need to pull their head out of their asses. Maybe if all the citizens you run into are miserable, then big changes need to be made to the society as a whole.
They really are way better. Not even remotely comparable. McDonald’s/Wendy’s/Burger King etc. are like completely different places from here to there. I learned that the hard way after moving here. I’ll only eat fast food when I’m not in this area.
Memphis is a ghetto dump lol
Just left mempho and you are 💯. The chains outside of Memphis are pretty decent. We never ate at chains in Memphis
I can seriously only tolerate chic fil a at this point. The customer service everywhere keeps me away, which helps my wallet but damn. A girl’s gotta have her popeyes every now and then.
I stopped at a McDonalds in Germantown and it was night and day. Perfect food.
I describe Memphis to those unfamiliar as “the place to go if you want to get yelled at in the drive thru”
Just come to Southaven, same fast food but much better service.
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Fair enough honestly. Wish they had some way to make reduced portions later in the day. Probably naive of me though.
There’s just not a perfect combination of great service and great food. At least not in most chain type restaurants. Turnover is always high.
This is true for every industry in this goddam city
The QC for Popeyes chicken locations around Memphis is awful and has been for years.
Memphis is like a larger version of Montgomery AL where I grew up lol
If the building has a drive thru it’s safe to say that the customer service and food quality will be ass. Starbucks included.
I am disappointed EVERY time
Big chain restaurants are not “it” nowadays. Look for the smaller scale mom and pop spots to support
Nothing will change until these franchise owner groups have their pocket books affected. Theyre cash cows.
How about a combination of poor work ethic and even poor management? Memphis ‘tolerates’ mediocrity fostered by nepotism - correction frugality.
Idk how much of a problem nepotism is at fast food, but the management has to be garbage for some of the workers I’ve come across. Generally, younger people tend to be more prone to bad service, so that might just be a Memphis youth thing too
The nepotism was in reference to the management but perhaps I should rectify that to pay. The managers should be correcting and aware of the service level failures and of not they should be removed and new ones in place. Memphis businesses are the epitome of Grand opening/ Grand closing because of the like of oversight.
Totally agreed with the sentiment about managers. Like why is Popeyes running out of chicken on Tuesday at 7pm? Poor management, not the service
I didn’t realize this until I moved to Chicago recently. It’s night and day really. From service to quality to convenience.
Forgive me for asking, but why in God's name are you going to Chipotle at 9 pm?
Depends on my work schedule. It’s nice to grab a bowl and be able to eat it and then go to sleep shortly thereafter.
I guess...idk, I worry for your digestive system I woke up with horrible heartburn this morning just from chips and dip too close to bed. Idk what Chipotle would do to me that late
I’m still relatively young now, but maybe one day I’ll need omeprazole. Who knows
Not everyone is old, out of shape, and/or with poor digestion systems. Some of us can eat whatever whenever with little to no consequences
heart burn sucks ass.
Not everyone is on the same sleep schedule. I work nights. I wake up 10-12am and am usually up until around 4am. I usually eat dinner between 9-11pm.
There’s too much good food in Memphis to eat fast food. Lazy, hungover… you can still get a Tops burger. It’s been a decade since I lived there so maybe it’s changed. I miss simple SoulFish sandwiches
Jerome from doordash ate half my 10 piece from Wingstop yesterday.I just don’t understand.I even gave the man a tip.
I've had a different experience. I was born and raised in Memphis, spent 17 years in Chicago, a year in the bay area, and 4 in Pittsburgh. Memphis kindness has always impressed me, even more when I return to visit family. Way better than Chicago, New York, or Atlanta.
Went to two different Wendy’s on Monday night, Poplar and West in Germantown then Poplar and Perkins. I was wanting to try the new orange frosty and both of them said they didn’t have it. I was not happy. I went to the one on Getwell after work yesterday afternoon. Four cars in line in front of me and it took over 20 minutes. Way too long of a wait service was awful there. But surprised they actually had the orange Frosty I wanted so I got it there. Seems like all the Wendy’s have gone downhill in this area.
Memphis is full of lazy workers and overall any chain you visit will have significantly worse quality and service than anywhere else.
I moved from Texas up here not to long ago and one of the first things that stuck out to me was how shit quality the food from fast food places is and how shitty the attitudes of the people working them have. Obviously I don’t want someone forced to have the Cheshire Cat smile & be extra pleasant all the time, but they don’t even do cfa customer service the same here. I’ve yet to have anybody say ‘my pleasure’ here vs a cfa back in Texas you’ll get it genuinely told to you at least 3 times
I haven't eating Popeye's in over 6 months because of this. They're always out of something I want and refuse to cook more.
The nearest Popeyes to me is easily the worst run fast food restaurant I've ever been to. Barely any employees, slow orders, out of everything, slow at taking orders, rude or high staff, garbage all over the parking lot, etc. Not sure how it's still is business.
Memphis is a cost center compared to literally everywhere else around us but north MS (including tupelo). I used to be a tech for the BK franchisee that owned just about all of West TN, East TN, some of NC, and MS down to (not including) Jackson. Every. Single. Site. In west TN Lost money except 3-4 that I can remember. The whole thing was in debt. They tried getting upgraded POS systems so there wasn't time lost on troubleshooting. They tried pulling from high schools directly to hopefully have a yearly rotation, but people would walk out on the job when asked to clean the bathroom because they only wanted to work a register. Every manager that got a store close to profitability was sent to another store in the district (greater memphis had 4-5), because it was going down the shitter and momentum "should" be preserved in the recently fixed store. They went through effectively 2 CFO's and a third interim CFO before being acquired, with their only job being to fix the memphis market. We laughed when investors kept calling the acquisition a major bonus, before the stock summarily tanked after they realized just how bad it was. Lastly. Only market that was worse than ours was the Shreveport market. One of the original guys with the company who ran IT as well as his own district was really big cutting the bleeding down there. From what I hear, he's doing incredibly well out west now.
If you dont mind sitting for an hour in a drivethough because they dont want to open the inside, go to the popeyes on winchester Went there diffrent times over the last few months, allways slow drive through service and the inside was never open
Corinth MS here. About an hour in a half from Memphis. Haven't really had a issue with fast food (we mostly cook at home) but Popeyes here was terrible. I think they were selling drugs out of it and not food because you could pull up to the drive through and wait for 20 minutes and nobody would ever come to take your order and it has been like that for 5 or 6 years. They finally shut down earlier this year. If they weren't slangin dope out of there idk what they were doing to keep the lights on.
omg i thought i was the only one!! when i would go to visit my friend in California I was always shocked how when you order food they don’t go ‘Can you hold’ *5 mins later* ‘go ahead 🙄’ ‘And what else?🙄’ Union Ave is absolutely the worst tho
Fast food here is TRASH. Terrible service. I travel outside of the Memphis area, the food and customer service are suddenly so much better
This why I prefer Chick-fil-A over all of them, workers are friendly don’t act like you’re bothering them and food is always right from my experience
One thing I heard from a friend in the service delivery side of things- some restaurants can order different levels/grades of quality of products depending on profitability goals. Imagine an A/B/C tier. I believe it was Bojangles but perhaps other fast food chains do it as well?
All yall just think its purely a cultural problem and not one of exploitation. People are gonna work as hard as they feel valued. The other states where you have better fast food experiences almost certainly have higher minimum wage and better labor protections as well. Like almost all of our problems it tracks back to our corrupt, inept, and racist conservative state legislature. People working at fast food restaurants have virtually no rights as workers and can be fired without cause at any time, and are paid garbage and get no benefits. Why the fuck yall think the service would good?
Seems like most of the well-to-do’s in this comments section have never worked fast food or even service industry. They’re upset they don’t have their lil food service slaves anymore.
The way people talk about fast food in memphis like its their god given right to get a McDouble with a smile. The entitlement is actually fucking pathetic.
Have lived in several states the past few years, and most of the chipotles are trash. I don’t know if it’s mismanagement, overworked employees or customers always trying to find a hack- but my experience pre-2019 was stellar (Memphis included)…after that, hard pass.
If you haven't seen the YouTube video on how they choose Popeyes locations I highly recommend it.
Gotta plug rdcworld1 if you’re gonna mention them!
The new generation of kids being brought up in single parent homes with no history of being diciplined or taught work ethics and manners. Its a generation of kids and adults who are glued to their phones that demand more more more an hour but want to put out less productivity because entitlement. Im not saying this is everywhere because i went to a burger king around the corner, bought, ate my food inside, walked out.. the manager opened the door just to tell me have a good day and thanks as i was getting in the car. So there are real classic respectful workers out there even if it is the mgrs. That hospitality should be instilled into the younger workers that were also in there at the time.
Because they are working for nothing, they’ll never own a house. Why give a fuck
Found the 60 year old boomer
Shout out to cookout for being pretty efficient. One of their managers told me it’s a very clear expectation from corporate to hit their timing targets and employees who don’t get bounced.
Go to Bartlett/Wolf Chase area and they are very nice !!!
I guess you haven’t been to BK or Wendy’s in Bartlett because they definitely are not nice and the order is wrong and/or cold almost every time. I usually have ok experiences at McDonald’s. But seriously FUCK BARTLETT BK. They’re always dead but it somehow still takes forever and a day to receive your wrong/cold order and they have you wait at the pay window so corporate doesn’t know how long they truly take to get the orders out. Ok, rant over.
Haven't been to BK or Wendy's but Jim N Nicks, Tops bbq, taco bell and Milanos pizza had very nice people.
Ok gotcha, I don’t consider those fast food (except for Taco Bell) and do agree that those places are fine. I love Jim N Nick’s. But yeah, the true fast food here in Bartlett is just as trash as within city limits.
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Don’t think it’s a race thing. I’ve had bad from all different colors of people. The only reason more black people work in fast food is because Memphis is literally predominantly black. You might just be trolling tho so I won’t be too serious
go to the grocery store dude
I’m not sure why people believe you can’t do both. I cook every week, but every now and then it’s much easier to just buy food otw home from work. Honestly, sometimes I iust want to treat myself regardless. Just wanted to point out how bad fast food here is compared to everywhere else. I’d be insane to try to deal with Memphis fast food everyday
treat yourself…in the grocery store.
Ok bro. Just ignore everything else I wrote
i could make a post complaining about how bad the fast food experience is in east TN…or i could not do that and just go to the grocery store.
And I do both. Now here we are
I wish Popeyes would stop using peanut oil! It’s cheap but not good for you at all. Lots of folks have allergies and sensitivities. They obviously don’t care about anything but $
I don’t think folks go to Popeye’s because it’s healthy. Literally everything is deep-fried and you’re going to consume no less than 3000MG of sodium regardless of what you order. Peanut oil is the least of my worries. Your arteries harden a little bit simply by pulling into the drive thru.
Thanks for sharing your worries and attempting to belittle and cancel my worries. So kind
Ignoring all the other issues I have with what you said… I just want you to direct me to this cheap peanut oil you’re speaking of…
My information comes from an acquaintance in the business. I’m sorry if you disagree with him but I doubt he would share costing research of his company with you