McDonald's locations now charging for extra dipping sauces

[bcla]

On the road today and I found one location that doesn’t have a charge for any of the dipping sauces. So it is location dependent.

 

[kdonnel]

Only once have I had a chef refuse to prepare it.

Years ago we would occasionally go to this local place called Pepperonis. It was quick service/cafeteria style with an open kitchen to the restaurant. Some items you would order at the register and they would bring it to your table, some items you got as you paid.

My wife would always ask for her pasta dish with light sauce and the cashier would always get a look of fear in their eyes. The cashier would turn and ask the chef/owner if my wife could get the dish with light sauce and the chef/owner would glare at my wife. After a long 30 second wait he would pronounce if that was allowable. Sometimes he would say yes, no, or just this time.

I often felt like we were living the Seinfeld no soup for you skit.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I think we're luckier here. McDonalds still have a 99p menu, basic burgers, fries, that kind of thing. And condiments are free. Plus we get prizes on a regular basis, like a free Big Mac and so on.

 

[jo-jo]

They do, and so does every restaurant everywhere. The unanimous decision by restaurants is to give you free ketchup for your food (at least, I have never seen one that charged for ketchup).
The differences:
A) many places have the big tubs of ketchup that you pump into a cup. No real incentive to steal a cup of ketchup.
B) ketchup packets are cheaper than the little sauce containers.
C) ketchup is assumed to be included with fries, burgers, etc. Other sauces are not. They're a customer specific extra (for fries/burgers/milkshakes/whatever). Dipping sauce is assumed to be included with nuggets, so you get a free one/two/eight (depends on nugget quantity).

I have grandkids that eat fries (and pizza ) with ranch.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

There are lots of things you can dip fries in. A restaurant may provide those other things free. It shouldn't be assumed that they will do so.

Most sit table service restaurants will bring whatever sauce free, and if you ask at the counter a lot of counter service places will also. At their discretion. But probably not 5-10 extras.

Restaurants have every right to charge for sauces, and if you really want 2 sauces for 4 nuggets, $0.29 is fair. Stops the exploiters, and is reasonable for the people who legitimately want it for that meal.

 

[amcnj]

There was a McDonald’s near where I lived decades ago that would charge for sauces. I think they allowed one or two with certain items ordered, but with anything else it was a charge. One child didn’t use ketchup on fries, just sauces.

Meanwhile another McDonald’s less than 2 miles away did not. I am not sure if they had different owners or if the one location had lots of excess sauce requests.

 

[amcnj]

This is extra sauce adjacent.

My wife likes very little sauce on her pasta and will either order the sauce on the side or light sauce if they say they can't put the sauce on the side. She always explains she needs very little sauce.

When the food comes it generally comes with a half gallon sized bowl of sauce. She uses two to three tablespoons or so and the rest goes to waste.

Getting the right amount of sauce without waste to the customer is apparently very hard.

I am on the other end of the spectrum, and rarely have enough sauce on macaroni. Fortunately another family member prefers light sauce. So they ask for it on the side and I use any sauce that they don’t need.

But overall unless the dish requires it be cooked in the sauce, I don’t understand not being able to tailor the amount of sauce to a customer’s preference.

 

[Keladry84]

I have 0 issue with them charging for sauces. If you order fries, you get ketchup for free. Anything else, you pay for. Their suppliers don't give them free sauce, why should they give it away free?

I follow you except for the assumption that ketchup should be free and everything else a charge. All dips/sauces should be charge or all free. Suppliers don't give restaurants free ketchup, and ranch or mayo with fries is also a common combination. There's nothing special about ketchup that makes it something that should inherently be free while anything different is charge.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

All dips/sauces should be charge or all free. Suppliers don't give restaurants free ketchup, and ranch or mayo with fries is also a common combination.

I'm on board with that logic. So instead of unlimited free ketchup / pay for anything else - now you get 1 sauce free per serving (ketchup or otherwise) / pay for extra.

There's nothing special about ketchup that makes it something that should inherently be free while anything different is charge.

Shouldn't be, but we as Americans act as though there is. I wonder who the ketchup industry paid off to be offered free in literally every American restaurant, to the point of being automatically on the table at many places? What a great position they're in.

 

[bcla]

I'm on board with that logic. So instead of unlimited free ketchup / pay for anything else - now you get 1 sauce free per serving (ketchup or otherwise) / pay for extra.


Shouldn't be, but we as Americans act as though there is. I wonder who the ketchup industry paid off to be offered free in literally every American restaurant, to the point of being automatically on the table at many places? What a great position they're in.

It really depends. Ever since COVID I haven't seen a McDonald's ketchup dispenser with those little paper cups. I've seen some left in place but never filled. I have seen similar working ones at other fast food places. But McDonald's has gone completely to ketchup packets now.

I think the standard for McDonald's is for Chicken McNuggets - 1 for 4/6 piece, 2 for 10 piece, and 3 for 20 piece. That's what comes up when I order through the app or a kiosk - that it has a standard amount. But then I could always get more by looking up sharables/condiments, and often that's why I went through the kiosk because it was easier to just order more than to ask for them where employees might be awkward about it. It's still kind of weird though with different locations choosing to charge or not.

 

[disneychrista]

When I worked there in the late 1980's we charged for additional dipping sauces.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Yeah one of the reason many people put mayo on fries, its actually pretty good.

It's the superior condiment for fries IMO. At home I use sriracha mayo but ask for regular mayo in non fast food sit down restaurants.

 

[White Cat]

Chick fil a sauce is good with fries.