Would you buy a burger for 29 cents? A medium pizza for $5? As much as you might want to, these fast food deals are dead and gone — and they're probably never coming back.
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00:00Would you buy a burger for 29 cents, a medium pizza for $5?
00:05As much as you want to, these fast food deals are dead and gone, and they're probably never
00:09coming back.
00:11It's impossible to hear the words $5 footlong without also hearing Subway's famous jingle
00:15in your head.
00:16The earworm advertisement promoting the international sandwich chain's beloved $5 footlong deal
00:21was played in near-constant rotation during the late 2000s and early 10s.
00:26The promotion was so popular that even our favorite characters on TV shows were getting
00:29in on it.
00:30We don't have a substance abuse problem.
00:32If anything, we have a Subway abuse problem.
00:34We destroy $5 footlongs.
00:35Yeah, we do.
00:36Of course, we can't help but lament the full-time discontinuation of Subway's $5 footlong in
00:412016, a decision that was announced on the company's Twitter feed.
00:45There is no real mystery as to why the deal ended.
00:47While it certainly helped Subway reach corporate heights, it was unlikely to achieve otherwise
00:51and was a hit with consumers.
00:53It ultimately fell victim to its own success.
00:56Frankly, it was simply too difficult for franchisees to turn a profit over time with
01:00the $5 price tag.
01:02And if $5 was too low for individual stores to consider the deal's reintroduction in 2020,
01:07the odds are high that it's disappeared forever.
01:10Taco Bell makes a pretty compelling case for the best fast food chain.
01:13From Baja Blast to Nacho Fries to the incomparable cheesy Gordita Crunch, the home of the late-night
01:19fourth meal holds a place near and dear to our hearts.
01:22Of course, Taco Bell's wide range of offer deals has certainly added to the restaurant's
01:26number of devoted fans.
01:27This includes the formerly-available $2 meal deals, introduced on a limited-time basis
01:32in 2010, and seemingly gone forever as of 2022.
01:36The $2 meal deal offered a fairly substantial amount of food for its cost, especially considering
01:41that it was launched a decade into the 21st century.
01:44Customers had their option of an entree, a double-decker taco, chicken burrito, Gordita
01:49Supreme, or beefy five-layer burrito, a bag of Doritos, and a drink for a mere $2.
01:55It's crystal clear why this feast was such a beloved option for consumers, but that
01:59doesn't make it any more likely to return.
02:01For now, we'll just have to remember the good old days of discounted tacos and burritos
02:05and try not to tear up.
02:07Eric, he started crying in Taco Bell.
02:11He tried to play my taco sauce.
02:14Dave Thomas didn't open a charity when he created Wendy's, but if you consider the fast
02:18food chain's formerly-offered Super Value menu, it seems the founder and CEO really
02:23did care about his customers' wallets.
02:26After all, the Super Value menu offered a plethora of individual items for just 99 cents
02:30each, including a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, a Frosty, fries, chili, a baked potato, chicken
02:36nuggets, and a salad.
02:37Now we're talking about the original 99-cent Super Value menu from Wendy's, as in the one
02:42touted by Thomas in an early-90s commercial.
02:45Introduced in 1989, a full decade before the McDonald's dollar menu hit the market, the
02:49Super Value menu sort of feels like a dream in hindsight.
02:53Considering a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger costs twice as much in 2022 at $1.99, it's easy
02:57to see why we're so sad this deal disappeared.
03:00If you didn't know anything about the former Whopper Wednesday deal from Burger King, where
03:04customers could purchase the chain's signature sandwich for a single dollar, you might assume
03:09it's a relic from the 1980s or 90s.
03:11In reality, the $1 Whopper deal was only introduced in 2020 as an app-exclusive deal, making it
03:17one of the shortest-lasting fast food deals on this list.
03:20Not that longevity was required to develop an appreciation for this incredibly cost-effective
03:25deal.
03:26A Whopper costs upwards of $4 as of 2022, so it's no wonder folks were flocking to BK
03:31on hump day to take advantage of the whopping discount.
03:34Of course, because nothing lasts forever, and because of profits and inflation and all
03:38that, the short-lived Whopper Wednesday deal is now a thing of the past.
03:42As Jose Sill, CEO of Burger King's parent company, Restaurant Brands, told Yahoo in
03:46August 2022, the restaurant has no plans to bring back the steeply discounted Whopper
03:51Wednesday deal.
03:52Anything's possible in the future, but for now, we're left with only our memories of
03:56the delicious discount.
03:58Memories we could never forget.
04:00Dr., thank you for calling me back.
04:02Did anyone leave a bag of Burger King in your office?
04:05When someone discusses the alleged dollar menu at McDonald's nowadays, it's a bit infuriating.
04:10After all, while the company was the best-selling fast food chain in 2018 by a wide margin,
04:15the dollar menu we all know and love hasn't been around for quite some time.
04:19Even though ever-rising inflation makes it obvious why the deal ended, that doesn't make
04:22its loss any less tragic.
04:24One of the more recent casualties in the fast food world was also one of the saddest — the
04:28removal of McDonald's $1 any size soft drink deal.
04:32Gone are the days of ordering a large Dr. Pepper and not thinking twice about it.
04:36Then again, that's just the way life works sometimes.
04:39You can't always get what you want, although we're not sure why this beloved fast food
04:43deal had to be the one to disappear.
04:45We wouldn't blame you if you're just now learning that Dunkin' Go-To's are no longer available.
04:49Like so many menu changes that have been made by the breakfast chain, its decision to remove
04:53this promotion wasn't done with any sort of fanfare.
04:57In fact, outside of an internal Dunkin' memo indicating the permanent removal of its Go-To's
05:02deal, there's virtually no other publicly available information from the chain regarding
05:06the disappearance.
05:08For the uninitiated, the Dunkin' Go-To's was a series of escalating 2-4 deals offered
05:13by the restaurant.
05:14Introduced in 2018, the promotion included two egg and cheese wake-up wraps for $2, two
05:19sausage egg and cheese wake-up wraps for $3, two bagels with cream cheese for $4, and two
05:24bacon egg and cheese sandwiches for $5.
05:27That's some serious value for your gift card.
05:29That's good for five bucks at Dunkin' Donuts.
05:32Any Dunkin' Donuts.
05:33The appeal of buying two items at a discounted price is obvious.
05:37McDonald's has indefinitely understood this as well and recognized the discontinuation
05:40of its beloved Go-To's deals might cause an uproar among customers.
05:44As a result, we don't have much to go on when it comes to why this deal disappeared.
05:48We can only mourn the loss.
05:51Our apologies to McDonald's for harping on their decision to essentially discontinue
05:55its beloved dollar menu, but we can't help but be annoyed.
05:59After all, Mickey D's continues to rake in huge profits in 2022, despite inflation impacting
06:04everyone's dining budget.
06:06Frankly, we don't feel any real guilt for complaining about the fast food burger chain's
06:10decision to end its $1 McDouble deal in 2013.
06:14It's easy to forget that the McDouble wasn't a part of the original dollar menu when the
06:17new prices debuted in 2002.
06:20Given how strongly the single-cheese-sliced double patty burger has been associated with
06:24the glory days of the dollar menu, it may be a shock for some to learn that it was only
06:28added to the menu in 2008.
06:30Still, in only five years of availability, the $1 McDouble made a massive mark on the
06:35fast food industry, with fast food customers still pining for its return.
06:39We can't help but concur with those disappointed that the $1 McDouble is no more.
06:43We understand the rationale behind it, of course, but that doesn't mean we have to like
06:47it.
06:48Fast food is supposed to be fast, right?
06:50Of course it is, but there's a limit to what the physics of time allow humans to accomplish.
06:55That's why, of all the beloved fast food deals that have disappeared over the years, Domino's
06:59decision to rescind its 30 minutes or less guarantee is the one we most understand.
07:05After all, it was a safety issue, and it had become impossible for delivery drivers to
07:08meet the company's lofty promise without some fairly reckless driving techniques.
07:12Wise men say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.
07:18I gotta get a new route.
07:21The decision to guarantee delivery in 30 minutes or less wasn't seen as controversial upon
07:25its introduction in 1984, but a series of accidents and lawsuits involving desperate
07:30Domino's drivers led to its downfall.
07:33The final straw came in 1993, when a woman who had sued the pizza chain after being injured
07:38by one of its delivery drivers several years prior was awarded $79 million to be paid by
07:44Domino's.
07:45Even for a successful company, this settlement was surely a hefty blow to the popular pizza
07:49chain.
07:50As a result, the promotion was discontinued on a national level, though the memory of
07:54it remains.
07:55The notion of a cheeseburger for 39 cents or a hamburger for 29 cents may conjure images
08:01of the very first McDonald's, but this sorely missed deal was actually a promotion from
08:05the 1990s.
08:07Not that Mickey D's was offering its burgers for less than two quarters without restrictions.
08:12After all, you don't serve 100 billion customers without some business savvy.
08:16As a commercial for the deal indicated, each offer was only available on certain days.
08:20On Sundays, cheeseburgers could be purchased for 39 cents apiece, while on Wednesdays,
08:25hamburgers were available for 29 cents.
08:28But even this came with a catch.
08:29The restaurant set a cap of 10 burgers per customer per visit.
08:33Not that 10 cheeseburgers for less than $5 is a deal to complain about, unlike its disappearance.
08:38Decades after the promotion was prominent, we're still sore and sad it's gone.
08:43Of all the deals listed here, there's a fair chance the now-discontinued $5 flavor menu
08:47from Pizza Hut generates the least amount of fanfare, though that's not for lack of
08:51worthiness.
08:52After all, a value menu from a pizza place is a rare sight.
08:55So when the fast-casual chain announced the introduction of its flavor menu in 2016, featuring
09:00seven different options for only $5 each, it was something to celebrate.
09:04Of course, because the deal presented consumers with some truly incredible values, including
09:09a one-topping medium pizza and eight chicken wings, it wasn't likely to generate big bucks
09:13for individual restaurants.
09:15Frankly, this beloved deal may have been doomed from the start, as many locations weren't
09:20able to profit from it.
09:21Perhaps that's why value menus are so uncommon in the pizza world.
09:24Either way, while the $5 flavor menu items remain for sale at Pizza Hut in 2022, the
09:29$5 price point is a thing of the past.
09:33Is all-day breakfast a deal, per se?
09:34We're not entirely sure.
09:36Regardless, the recent confirmation that the all-day breakfast promotion from McDonald's
09:40wouldn't be returning hit breakfast enthusiasts particularly hard.
09:44First introduced by the fast food giant in 2015 to the public's widespread approval,
09:49it's no surprise the all-day breakfast deal was immensely popular.
09:52After all, McDonald's breakfast is phenomenal, and consistently more delectable than its
09:57lunch and dinner options.
09:58Given the choice of a Sausage Egg McMuffin or a Big Mac, we'd grab the breakfast sandwich
10:0310 times out of 10.
10:04What time do they stop serving breakfast?
10:06It's three o'clock.
10:07Some of them serve breakfast all day.
10:09No, serve breakfast all day!
10:11At least we had some time to prepare ourselves for this enormously disappointing development.
10:16While the official end of all-day breakfast was only confirmed in 2022, it has actually
10:20been suspended since March 2020, during the early days of COVID-19.
10:25All-day breakfast from McDonald's appears to just be one more unfortunate food casualty
10:29from the seemingly endless pandemic.