McDonald's virgin. . . .

A Happy Meal should cost less than £3 and includes a burger/nuggets, fries, drink and a toy.
Drinks with sugar in are a few pence more because of the sugar tax.

I thought all McDonald's branches charged the same prices, but I was wrong. This is from the official McDonald's Q &A page:
Do all McDonald's restaurants charge the same prices?
Please could you tell me if all mcDonalds restaurants charge the same prices and also if you charge vat on your range of food and if so how much is it?

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Thank you for your question. Prices will vary slightly between different McDonald's restaurants according to a number of factors. McDonald's set prices with a demand based methodology, which means there may be price variations from restaurant to restaurant, but in a way that offers best value to that restaurants' individual customer base. In addition, as a franchisor McDonald's cannot prescribe pricing to franchisees who can set their own price structure as they see fit in their local market.
The overall aim for each individual McDonald's restaurant is to provide food at a competitive value driven price for our customers. McDonald's restaurants adhere to the VAT policy set by HMRC. Based on their policy, the VAT rate charged differs depending on the type of item sold. Please see the HMRC website for further information www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/forms-rates/rates/rates.htm.
Last updated May 2011

I only realised recently that Macdonalds are franchises my grandson works weekends and get a different wage to his best mate in the next town

My DD was a Mc Manager in a previous life. She trained under “company”
And was taken over by a franchise when she handed in her notice . Huge difference .

You won't have been charged £1.85 for the orange juice - it just looks like that on the receipt. They seem to list some of the items at full price, some as free, and some at prices that seem to bear very little relationship to anything else, and it all gets evened out at the end. A happy meal is usually around £2.49, so if the Orange juice was £1.85, you may find the burger is 79p and the chips are £0.00, or similar.

You can't take an item away from the meal or the till won't count it as a meal and you'll actually pay more. You can tell them not to put the toy in the box if you don't want it, but it won't save you any money. The price is a set "saver" type price you get for buying those items together.

My DDs work there (one is a manager) and a lot of people find it hard to grasp. I don't blame them! If you only bought a happy meal and nothing else, however, a mistake has been made if you paid £4.85. A happy meal doesn't cost anywhere near that much!

Sit down means nothing. McDonald's have to know who sat in and who took out for tax purposes but it won't have affected what you paid.

I've never had a McDonalds ...ever.Have no intention of having one any time soon.When my GS was small his other granny would buy him happy meals but when he was with us we used to tell him they couldn't cook as the batteries had run out.The same reason we gave when his mother had enough of toys that made a lot of noise.He accepted that until he was about 5 ..

Me too paddyann.............. I am a Mc donald virgin and have no intention of changing that status!

I discovered recently that wherever the McD s are the burgers come from USA - except in France - there was a such an outcry when they set up here some 20 years ago and people objected to the American beef that the French places have burgers made from Charolais beef. I rarely eat any form of burger but I am told that the French McD s are much nicer than the U.K. ones.

The last time I had a "fast food" burger it was a Wimpy! I have had the occasional burger in restaurants but never McDonalds or Burger King