McDonalds Is Going To Stop You From Doing This Soon

This is not great news to the folks who like to pour their own fountain drinks at McDonalds. If you prefer to get your cup and fill in just the right amount of ice and then choose the drink of your choice then you should enjoy it while you can. Yes, McDonalds is going to stop you from doing this soon.

Yes, there's something about the freedom of getting your own drink. I love to make an "Arnold Palmer" at Panera. I get the regular black tea and mix in just the right amount of lemonade. It's the perfect summer time drink to quash your thirst. If you have never tried it before, trust me it will be delicious.

Some fast food restaurants already don't allow you to pour your own drinks. Chick-Fil-A prefers to hand you the drink and if you decide you want another you have to return it to the counter person and hope that there are no ketchup or barbecue smudges on it. Boy, they must love that.

When you were a kid, did you ever go to the soda fountain . . . and mix a bunch of flavors together to create a "suicide" . . . swamp water . . . a graveyard . . . sewage . . . a pop bomb . . . or a hurricane?  Well . . .

McDonald's will be getting rid of their self-serve drink stations . . . and transitioning to a system where the employees will fill all cups.

They aren't taking away free refills . . . but they do think this system will cut back on theft, AND be a more hygienic option, especially in a post-Covid world.

But the biggest factor is:  They're not as necessary.  Fewer people are eating inside fast food restaurants . . . and more people are ordering for pick-up through the app, or for delivery through a third-party service.  In both of those cases, employees already fill the cups . . . as they do for drive-thru orders.

McDonalds Is Going To Stop You From Doing This Soon but the change won't happen overnight.  In fact, the shift will happen VERY slowly over the next 10 years . . . as the restaurants get updated.

Fast food is big, big business. Americans spent $320 BILLION in 2022. That's sooooo many french fries to get lost between your driver seat and center console! (A treat for later?) I started thinking about the country's obsession with fast food and wondering if Massachusetts lines up with the country as a whole when it comes to the abundance of certain fast food restaurants.

Stacker did the counting and provided the national data (updated in 2022). So what's your guess nationally? Does McDonalds hold the key to the fast food kingdom with the most national locations? How about in Massachusetts - does Massachusetts really run mostly on Dunkin' or did another chain edge them out for the #1 spot?

We're basing these countdowns on one thing: number of locations. These aren't necessarily the most popular fast food chains in the country and in Massachusetts, they just have the most locations. However, one could assume that the reason there are more locations is due to higher demand. Higher demand usually comes from higher popularity.

The first fast food restaurant in America is widely considered to be White Castle. It was founded in 1921 by Walter Anderson and Billy Ingram in Wichita, Kansas. White Castle is known for pioneering the assembly line production of hamburgers and for introducing the fast-food concept to the United States. While we don't have any White Castle locations here in Massachusetts, they do sell their micro hamburgers at area grocery stores so if you have a hankering for the OG fast food, it's a minute away in your microwave oven.

So let's do this. To get the full comparison, I'll first give you the 8 fast food restaurants with the most locations in the United States, then I'll give you the 8 fast food chains with the most locations in Massachusetts. Get your fiery sauce ready and let's go!

DOMINO'S
# of U.S. locations: 6,720
Founded in: 1960 in Ypsilanti, MI

BURGER KING
# of U.S. locations: 7,257
Founded in: 1954 in Miami, FL

TACO BELL
# of U.S. locations: 8,088
Founded in: 1962 in Downey, CA

HUNT BROTHERS PIZZA
# of U.S. locations: 9,240
Founded in: 1991 in Nashville, TN

DUNKIN'
# of U.S. locations: 9,412
Founded in: 1950 in Quincy, MA

McDONALDS
# of U.S. locations: 13,515
Founded in: 1955 in Des Plaines, IL

STARBUCKS
# of U.S. locations: 15,966
Founded in: 1971 in Seattle, WA

SUBWAY
# of U.S. locations: 20.603 (oh my soul!!!)
Founded in: 1965 in Bridgeport, CT

TACO BELL
# of U.S. locations: 75
Founded in: 1962 in Downey, CA

WENDY'S
# of U.S. locations: 98
Founded in: 1969 in Columbus, OH

BURGER KING
# of U.S. locations: 132
Founded in: 1954 in Miami, FL

DOMINO'S
# of U.S. locations: 161
Founded in: 1960 in Ypsilanti, MI

STARBUCKS
# of U.S. locations: 178
Founded in: 1971 in Seattle, WA

McDONALDS
# of U.S. locations: 239
Founded in: 1955 in Des Plaines, IL

SUBWAY
# of U.S. locations: 370
Founded in: 1965 in Bridgeport, CT

DUNKIN'
# of U.S. locations: 916
Founded in: 1950 in Quincy, MA