Dollar menus are both common and popular here in the U.S. I guess they’re promoted mainly to get people into the restaurant or fast food place. The hope is probably that once inside the place, people will spend money on other items on the menu, especially sodas, which have high profit margins. But even if the cheap items promoted are not expected to make a profit, the nutritional value is of course minimum. And the bad ingredients, such as salt and fat, are overused because they make otherwise quite disgusting ingredients taste OK. Also, these ingredients stimulate the reward center in the brain, making us content despite zero nutrients. I haven’t even gotten to the part of externalities yet, and how these low prices can’t take into account effects on the environment from production and logistics, or on human health, and yet few here seem to really question these offers. People are admittedly quite health conscious here in Washington DC, but someone must buy these foods. And no one seems to question the existence of these offers from a structural point of view. I passed this sign today and my first thought was: How is this even possible? I guess the simple answer is: It isn’t!
