I should be the typical McDonald’s family.  I have two kids, live in the suburbs, and typically in a rush on the weekends from errand to errand.  In the 1980s my parents would bring me to McDonalds at least twice a month, heck we even had birthday parties at McDonalds.  If you had asked me back then if I’d be going to McDonalds as an adult I would have definitely said “YES!”  The truth….I haven’t been to McDonalds since 2002 which is two years BEFORE Supersize Me came out.

I spent my time on the McDonald’s Playground

So what happened?  I didn’t stop eating burgers, I love Five Guys, Shake Shack and In-n-Out (so much so I shared my secret LAX layover tip on the blog).  When I had kids, my first child had dairy, egg and peanut allergies.  This certainly presented a challenge when going out to eat.  We definitely gravitate to restaurants who have their menus and ingredients online.  And this brings me to why I stopped going to McDonalds even though I am in their target demo.  Ever try to figure out what McDonalds puts in their food?  Let me present a 16 page PDF.

Now compare that to the simple Chipotle menu.  Chipotle gets it, especially compared to McDonalds.

Simple Chipotle Menu

The peace of mind we have taking our kids to Chipotle versus McDonalds, its just one of many reasons why McDonalds may not be too big too fail.