The Dollar Menu

It's a phenomenon that existed in other areas of industry for quite a few years. The odds of encountering a "Dollar Store" or some reasonable facsimile in the average strip mall are rather good, and they seem to be designed for when you want something chintzy, cheaply made, possibly expired (in the case of medicines and such), and on very short notice.

Compare that with the giant catch-all stores like Wal-Mart, KMart, Target, and the wholesale behemoths like Costco and BJ's. Greater quality, but a likely greater monetary cost and expense in time. After all, wandering around any of those giant stores looking for XYZ is likely to result in all sorts of time-consuming disctractions.

Now, the purported 'fast food' establishments (i.e. McD, BK, Taco Bell, KFC, etc) are expanding their menus to cope with the distortion of demands from consumers crying out for 'healthy' alternatives, in a manner vaguely reminiscent of the Opium Wars. The burgers and fries that were the status quo for decades no longer pass muster with the Great Unwashed, and the systematic machines designed to bring them out fast and perfect are being nudged over to make room for prepackaged salads, parfaits, and all sorts of things that have no real place in the typical fast food joint. The chains are forced to grow beyond their self-inscribed limits, leading to *shock* price hikes.

By the same token, is it reasonable to imagine 'fast food' chains branching off to 'dollar menu' kiosks, with the same abbreviated, relentlessly cheap menu, in a tiny space with even more severely questionable preparation methods?

Take the stereotypical pretzel kiosk, the one that's at the far end of the mall from the food court, catering to the lazy shoppers; every hour or two the main branch (an actual food stand in the food court) sends a few boxes of relief supplies to stock them. Imagine something like that for your burgers. Perhaps a microwave and some heat lamps?

Is it really worth the underlying cost, just to pay the low price?