Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Fast Food Death

Today I noticed that Kansas City's last fast food hamburger restaurant, McDonald's closed its doors for good. Speculation is that they couldn't come to terms on a lease with City Center Square (Speculation = Scoot Utopia). McDonald's wanted to be open extended hours, weeknights and weekends and City Center Square didn't want that. So now, they have a big empty space in their food court.

My concern, though, is not for the City Center Square hooligans but, the downtown worker. I'm not a huge McDonald's fan, in fact I had my first McDonald's double cheeseburger earlier this week because I heard they were going off the dollar menu. I think I've eaten at McDonald's about 8 times in the past year and I guarantee you that 6 of those times happened because I wanted a quick, cheap hamburger and McDonald's was my only option downtown. We used to have a Winstead's, but service there was horrible and they closed up shop. We're pretty much left with the Subway, Quizno's, Jimmy John's troika and the wonderful Chipotle (if you have 20 minutes to wait in line). Not that those are bad places, they just don't give you the greasy options you may be seeking.

I took the time to make a map (click below for a better view) of fast food options for downtown workers. I added the top ten fast food restaurants (by size) that serve this market as well as Chipotle, Quizno's and Jimmy John's. You'll notice that the big 3 of McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King are all way up Main in midtown. Taco Bell is up there too. We have a KFC express, but they have a limited menu that doesn't include actual fried chicken, just chicken sandwiches and hot wings. Pizza Hut is, well, it's Pizza Hut.

View Larger Map
The downtown worker has ChefBurger, and that's it for a quick burger. But, you can't really eat ChefBurger every day. I've been racking my brain and I can't figure out where to get a quick, cheap hamburger in this cowtown's downtown. It seems odd that we don't have fast food hamburgers in downtown KC.

7 comments:

swgiffin said...

Don't forget about the Wendy's in the West Bottoms off of 12th...that is if you're brave enough to drive on the 12th Street Bridge. There's also a new Chipotle knock-off over there called Tomatillo.

Chimpotle said...

Town Topic?

Unknown said...

RIP MCD at C3.

Unknown said...

I hate Town Topic and the West Bottoms. Those places don't count!

Hoopstar said...

What about the McDonalds on Prospect just off I-70. I know it's not downtown but neither is the Taco Smell or anything in Midtown.

Unknown said...

Yeah Town Topic!!! I know you hate it and most times the funniest game to play there is "what drug is the waitress on?" but to me it has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi about it that I like, including decent chili.

I hope they have gift cards. If they do, expect a little something in your holiday stocking.

Average Jane said...

I usually venture to Westport to have a burger from Sonic when I'm in the mood for fast food.