This is why fast food restaurants have introduced a takeaway fee

By: Trademagazin Date: 2022. 09. 08. 10:42

From September, McDonald’s introduced a takeaway fee for takeaway orders that are not consumed locally, placed in person or at McDrive. In response to Telex’s question, the company justified the introduction of the takeaway fee with “increased additional costs for takeaway purchases”.

A takeaway fee has appeared at several fast food chains

Since it is not necessarily clear why it is cheaper for a fast food restaurant to eat locally (which, for example, has higher overhead costs per person, since the restaurant has to be cooled or heated all year round, guests eating locally can use the washroom, and even more recently, the restaurant employees take out their order), we contacted several fast food chains to clarify this issue.

When contacted by Telex, Burger King stated that, like McDonald’s and KFC, it means additional costs for the company if a customer does not eat locally at the restaurant, but instead requests takeaway. Yesterday, KFC primarily referred to paper packaging, Burger King added another aspect, the company’s reasoning reads as follows:

“The additional cost consists of many items, such as, for example, the cost of extra packaging materials and the extra time of the labor performing the packaging.”

Unlike McDonald’s, Burger King does not yet charge a takeout fee, but, like KFC, they ask for the price of a large paper bag, HUF 100 per piece. In any case, it cannot be ruled out that “following market trends” Burger King will also introduce “some kind of take-out fee” in the future, the company said in response to Telex’s inquiry.