Fast-Food Chains and Their Menus Barely Resemble Those of the Past — And This Viral Post Reveals How Stark the Difference Is Relive the glory days of fast food with this X account's viral thread of retro photos.
By Carl Stoffers Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- As competition for value intensifies among big brands, there's a growing nostalgia for when fast-food restaurants offered both vibrant designs and lower prices.
- One X account shared photos of iconic fast-food chains from the 1970s, '80s and '90s, rekindling memories of a simpler era.
- Highlights include discovering a fully intact Burger King from the '80s in a closed Delaware mall.
As the inflation-triggered competition for value between big brands heats up, nostalgia for fast-food restaurants — and their affordable prices — is high. One X account takes us back to a simpler time of extreme color schemes, flamboyant designs and low prices.
X account Time Capsule Tales is publishing photos of fast food icons like Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut, McDonald's and others in their 1970s, '80s and '90s glory.
The nostalgic pics include a Burger King that was found "fully intact" behind a wall at a long-closed shopping mall in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2022.
A fully intact vintage Burger King was found behind a wall at the Concord Mall in Wilmington, DE. This photo was snapped by Jonathon Pruitt April of 2022. pic.twitter.com/pzfMnpjo4h
— Jack-of-all-trades (@Upliftingvision) July 11, 2024
One highlight is the circa 1970s-'80s Taco Bell menu, which explains in great detail what a taco and a burrito are, complete with a sound-it-out, phonetic pronunciation of each food — "Tah-co" and "Buh-ree-toh."
The menu is from when the brand called its Pintos and Cheese refried beans by a different name — Frijoles (Fre-ho-les) and still served the now-extinct Enchirito, which made a brief comeback last year.
Enchirito, tostada, and the combo burrito were all fire and all are gone now. I rarely go to TB anymore but when they brought back the enchirito in '22 for a limited time, I bought an enchirito (or two, lol) at least twice a week. It wasn't the same but it was still good! pic.twitter.com/OFabl2YuuR
— ??? ?????? ?????? ? (@YouFlthyAnimal) July 11, 2024
Then, there are the prices. One retro Taco Bell menu from 1984 shows how inexpensive it used to be to eat fast food. The prices for drinks — $.45 for a small Pepsi compared to $2.29 today for the same beverage — are immediately noticeable. But it's the Combo Burrito Meal for $1.19 that really stands out. Taco Bell's least expensive combo is the value-inspired temporary $5.99 combo, with prices for combo meals rising from there to the $11.29 price point for the 2 Chicken Chalupa Supreme Combo.
Read More on X: Time Capsule Tales
