I disagree. I like the taste of McD!burger and I like the taste of foodtruck!burger. They are entirely different tastes; sometimes I want to experience the former, sometimes the latter.

No-surprise factor isn't that big of an issue if you're buying; restaurants tend to have consistent food quality & taste too.

Disagree. I’m not a hardcore foodie, but I enjoy the entire spectrum of food, from fast-food to food trucks to homemade to Michelin 3-star restaurants. And sometimes I want Taco Bell, or yes, even McDonalds.

Tons of the chefs who work at or own those Michelin starred restaurants would agree with you - they almost universally love to eat low tier, mass market fast food

The fact that there is a mass(ive) market for fast food is proof alone that people like it (enough to eat it and spend their money on it). I’m with any of the posters above who like fancy burgers as well as fast-food burgers.

Where McD’s really shines, though, is their breakfast offerings. And with that said, I think I will head there now for a quick breakfast (I live ~5 blocks from McDs).

I remember watching a TV program where they took some typical fast food (McDonalds, KFC, etc) and presented it on a plate in a way you would expect in a more expensive restaurant. Everybody who tasted it rated it higher than food from the the fast food chain.

It seems many or even most people can't tell the difference and the ambience and service is as important as the food.

Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" show did a similar experiment with "bottled" (actually, tap) water. It turns out most people rate tap water better if it's served in a bottle and told it comes from a natural spring.

It surprises me in the case of frozen patties like McDonald's though. A frozen patty looks nothing at all like an actual burger made from ground meat. It tastes differently as well, of course, but what matters is that it looks completely different!