Eating Guide for Indonesians in the USA – Part 2

AMERICAN FAST FOOD
(Indonesian vs. American style)

By Buntoro

First of all, I have to admit that I may not be qualified to write about food in the United States since most of my experience in the United States is limited to the State of California only, both Northern California and Southern California, although I did travel to many other parts of the States as a tourist. Despite my shortcomings, as a food lover, albeit not a foodie, I braved myself to share my limited experience with food in the United States as a simple introduction for Indonesian Newbies who plan to study, stay or permanently migrate to the United States.

To the general Indonesian public, the term fast food itself is probably inseparable from the United States as the forerunners and some of the most well known names of fast food restaurant chains in Indonesia are fast food chains from the US, such as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Pizza Hut.

True, fast food was probably not born in the United States but throughout the past few decades, fast food entrepreneurs in the United States influenced and contributed new concepts and colors to the history of fast food restaurants with their innovations such as the Drive In, Carhops and Drive Thru. Unfortunately, in the recent years, the popularity and the numbers of  Drive In and Carhop restaurants in the United States has dropped significantly with the rise of Drive Thru concept which was actually started in the banking  industry.  The first drive-through restaurant was created in 1947 by Sheldon “Red” Chaney, operator of Red’s Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri (Based on data from Time Magazine, retrieved online from http://amp.timeinc.net/time/money/3478752/drive-thru-fast-food-fast-casual). 

Later, the In-N-Out restaurant in Southern California in 1948 became successful with their drive thru centric business, in which the drive thru concept was later adopted alsoby other chain restaurants like Jack in the Box and Wendy’s. However, the larger fast food chains like McDonald’s actually came behind when it comes to drive thru since they opened their first drive thru in 1970s (Based on data from The History Channel, retrieved online from http://www.history.com/news/fries-with-that-a-brief-history-of-drive-thru-dining ). Despite the decline of Drive-In concept, you can still find some Drive-In restaurants even in California under Sonic brands (Unfortunately, most A&W restaurants I have been in California were Drive Thru only, not Drive In like some of their siblings in the Southwest, Midwest and East Coast as well as Canada.

Now, back to the topic, I am fully aware that this guide is not meant to be a history or a text book but a simple guide for fellow Indonesian Newbies (pretty much just like me 20 years ago), but I would like to include some brief history including the Drive In restaurants for those who love classic American movies and who were wondering if they can experience Drive-In restaurants. Yes, I have to admit that I did try to locate Drive-In restaurants in California when I first came to the United States and I was somewhat disappointed  I  find them. I was fooled by Hollywood movies. The other reason I mentioned this is also because I love history.  Although I can’t be called a true history buff, but I like to know the history because I believe we all can learn from history.

Back to our expectations, when you go to the United States, please be aware that the American style fast food restaurants you are familiar with in Indonesia do not always reflect the restaurants here in the United States. To be continued.

Here are some list of misconceptions and/or differences between American fast food restaurants in Indonesia and the ones in the United States.

1. Classy or not?

First of all, most Indonesians in Indonesia consider that most American style fast food restaurants in Indonesia are high class or at least higher class food restaurants (unlikregulaar “warung” but sadly that is not always the case in the United States. In fact, many people consider fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, KFC and Pizza Hut as lower class restaurants or some even called them as junk food restaurants with lower quality food and/or ingredients. In fact, many of the higher class residents of the United States prefer slow food served in Sit-Down restaurants or home cooked meals than fast food restaurants.

1. Upper Middle Class restaurants or not?

My second observation is that American fast food restaurants in Indonesia cater mostly to the upper and middle class as  evident from their prime locations as well as their clienteles or customers of the restaurants. However that’s not always the case I’m the United States. While it is true that many fast food restaurants here are located in free standing buildings and shopping malls but most of the customers of fast food restaurants in the United States are from the poorer parts of the society, mostly from the lower class and some middle class folks. True, there are some rich folks who love fast food, you may even heard news about some celebrities who visited fast food restaurants too but they are a minority, both in numbers and frequencies.

However, nowadays as the fast food restaurants continue to evolve, there are some newer fast food restaurants and chains who tried to go against the notion that fast food restaurants only offer lower quality food made from low quality ingredients by offering higher quality  food and ingredients. One of such restaurants is a fast food chain called In-N-Out, a smaller chain started in Southern California which brags their fresh never frozen beef and freshly cut fries. Another example of the newer fast food restaurants which advertised higher quality food is Chick-fil-A, a chick sandwich franchise chain which originated from the east coast state of Georgia. Even McDonald’s restaurants are now trying to push their higher quality menus.

1. Same menus or not?

I  hate to disappoint you guys, but unfortunately the answer is no, the menus in a version of American fast food restaurants are not the same with the menus they offer here in the United States. Sad but true.

Here are some examples:

1. McDonald’s (McD)

When we go to  McDonald’s restaurant in Indonesia, some of us would expect to order Fried Chicken with rice combo or something along that line but you will not be able to order such menu here in American McDonald’s restaurants. In fact, you will not find any Fried Chicken leg or thigh in any  McD restaurants in the United States simply because the restaurants here mostly focused on selling burgers just like the original restaurant. Yes, Yes, you can still get McChicken sandwich and even some Fried chicken tenders at McD here but they will not be the same as the good old crispy bone-in Fried chicken that you commonly find at Indonesian style McDonald’s.

If you ask about Fried chicken at a McDonald’s restaurant, they probably will try to refer you to KFC or Popeye’s restaurants nearby, but if you ever have gut to ask for rice, the cashier will probably roll his or her eyes and think that you may be crazy. Yes, if you want spicy chicken, you should look for a Popeye’s restaurant instead, although they don’t serve rice, they do sell spicy bone-in Chicken similar to the ones sold at McDonald’s in Indonesia (They’re actually better at Popeye’s in my humble opinion).

But then again, in case if you still miss the point, allow me to just to state the obvious fact: McD restaurants in the United States do not sell rice dishes.

Honestly, if you really want Rice dishes, you should NOT go to McDonald’s in the United States, instead please go to Chinese restaurants or other Asian style food establishments. With that said, once again please do not expect your McDonald’s in the United States to sell Bulgogi Beef Rice dishes like the McDonald’s in Indonesia. If you want Bulgogi rice, you should go to Korean restaurant for that, I can guarantee you that you  probably don’t want to eat McDonald’s Bulgogi rice anymore once you tried the real Korean Bulgogi at the real Korean restaurant. And you are craving for Teriyaki Chicken Rice  similar to the ones in Indonesia’s version of McDonald’s, I suggest that you go to Japanese restaurant for that, some places have better Teriyaki compare to McDonald’s ones. 

Lastly, please do not even attempt to find Indonesian style food like Nasi Uduk at your nearby McDonald’s in the USA either. Frankly even at some Indonesian restaurants here, you probably will have a hard time to find the ones that specifically serve Nasi Uduk (They may sell Nasi Bungkus or other Nasi dishes, but not necessarily Nasi Uduk). And once again please be aware that McDonald’s here don’t sell Bubur Ayam (Chicken Porridge) either, please visit your nearby Indonesian restaurant which may sell them (Call them first since they may not sell the dish). If you still can’t find it, you can probably try  some Hong Kong  style Chinese restaurants which sell similar porridge dishes but they are usually pork based.

1. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

Just like its name, KFC restaurants in the United States still sell their famous original fried chicken just like they did in Indonesia, however some of their side dishes are different from the side dishes you commonly find in Indonesian style KFC. Once again, similar to McDonald’s, if you go to KFC restaurants in the United States, please do not order rice dishes either, they do not serve rice. Also, you may also feel disappointed, just like me, when you found out that KFC restaurants here do not sell soup or “perkedel” unlike the ones in Indonesia. Please do not embarrass yourself by trying to order them. Your only option to satisfy your craving for perkedel is only from Indonesian restaurants, some of which sell perkedel (We will go through this more in depth later when we come to the Indonesian food choices).

1. Pizza Hut

Now, how about Pizza Hut? Well, yes, Pizza Hut is still selling Pizza in their restaurants in the United States but so not expect them to be the same as the pizza hut restaurants you know in Indonesia. Firstly, most Pizza Hut locations in the United States cannot be classified as restaurants but more like stores because they mostly focused on take-out orders so they will not have seating area for you to dine-in. Secondly, do not expect them to sell salad or offer salad buffet. Those are unique to the Indonesian version of Pizza Hut.

Back to the main topic, so in short, fast food in the United States may not look like the same fast food restaurant you are familiar with in Indonesia, for better or worse.

The above examples may indicate that US fast food restaurants may be worse than their “brothers” or “sisters” restaurants in Indonesia but here are some interesting things in which US fast food restaurants are superior compared to the Indonesian version.

1. Free Refills on Soft Drinks/Premade Tea

Well, if you haven’t been in a US fast food restaurant in the United States, you’re probably very happy when you find out that you can get your own refills on Soft Drinks or some other drinks (mostly the premade ones). I know that nothing is free in Indonesia. One other thing is that you don’t have to spend more money to buy more soda, say if for some reason you bought a cup of Dr. Pepper soda and you later realize that you don’t really like Dr. Peppers taste for example, you could just ask the restaurant workers to replace your drink with other soda flavor if the soda machine is not already easily accessible outside the counter. In fact, most fast food restaurants in the United States that I have visited have their soda machine outside so you could refills or replace your drinks with any flavor you want. 

Most of the newer fast food restaurants (and the newly remodeled ones) even have modern soda machine where you can choose from 100s of kind of soda. FYI, the machine is made by the Coca-Cola company, so don’t expect any Pepsi products (Pepsi, Mountain Dew etc.). I found these machines at most Wendy’s and Jack in the Box in Southern California. And not only soda, some restaurants also have pre made tea (sweetened or unsweetened) available for refills like McDonald’s (with their infamous Sweet Tea), Subway, Quiznos and El Pollo Loco. Some El Pollo Loco restauranta (which sell Mexican Style Marinated Chicken) in Southern California even have their premade horchata (sweet rice drink, similar to air tajin) available for refills. 

FYI, as a side note based on my experience running a restaurant, the soft drink is the item with the highest profit margin in the restaurant industry business. The average cost for 16 oz. Cup of soda (The medium size cup) was about 10-15 cents based on the expense data from 2006. I am not familiar with today’s wholesale price list but in my assumption, even with inflation adjustment, the cost of the medium cup of soda cannot be more than 40 cents. That’s why Costco can sell their soda with free refills for only 59 cents.

1. Free sauces (on most restaurants)

Once again, this is probably one of the very well known fact about American Fast Food. Yes, free sauce is available with (or sometimes without purchase – if you are brave enough) in most fast food restaurants. Why do I say that? Because often times, those sauces are usually available at the condiments area near the soda fountain machine so they are also pretty much accessible even to those folks who just visit the restaurant, and they both necessarily need to buy food there (Honestly, I don’t encourage this, but some people actually get them for free if you’re not afraid of being shamed). 

I know this may sound strange in Indonesia because some people would probably take all the sauces from the restaurants if they were in Indonesia. In Indonesia, who doesn’t want free Ranch sauce?  In fact I know some Indonesians here who like to get free dipping sauces from fast food restaurants to use at home, such as to compliment Chinese style fried chicken or other deep fried food. However, I have to warn you guys that  it may be illegal to grab those  without any purchase, the  manager on duty may reprimand your action or even call the police for those (It rarely happens but it does happen once in a while). FYI (For Your Information), I believe the people who took some sauces home that I mentioned above actually bought some food and get some extra sauces (or dressings in the American language).

Because of similar abuses, some fast food restaurants no longer put their dressings in such location due to multiple abuse, perhaps from some immigrants like us…. Sigh. However, if you like to try it, some of the best places to get free dipping sauces that I found is some Jack in the Box restaurants in Southern California (not all), and Chick-fil-A restaurants where some condiments like fancy packages of Heinz ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise etc. are available in the condiments counter, you can also request for some special dressings from the crew members just by asking. 

And if you are wondering about the condiments in the fast food giant, Mc Donald’s, unfortunately you probably will not find any condiments freely available in McDonald’s restaurants except some ketchup (in the older McDonald’s settings) but you can always ask for them from their crew members. Note, some McDonald’s restaurants I have been to in other states outside California MAY charge you for the condiments (I experienced that during my recent visit to Las Vegas, Nevada).

1. You can get a refund if you don’t like your food. 

Your satisfaction is guaranteed. This is one of the best things that I appreciate the American company for. In the United States, generally you can refund almost anything even the food that you already ate. Although there’s no written rules, most restaurant establishments in the United States adhere to the rule. At first, some if you may find it funny or ridiculous, but it’s the truth here in the United States. If you don’t like your food or if you think your food is made incorrectly, even if you think that your food tastes “funny” in your opinion (That is one of the excuses I heard from my customers during my time running my Quiznos), you can request for a refund or replacement, even after you ate your food partially. 

Usually, the manager will ask for the reason and he usually will offer you a replacement food which is often accompanied with additional freebies for your inconveniences. For example, if you buy a burger at Wendy’s and you didn’t like it, they may offer you to remake the food or give you a different food choices like sandwiches or salad, even though they may cost  more than your original purchase amount. If you take their offers, they may even give you free Frosty (Wendy’s milk based frozen dessert) or cookie. But, you can also refuse their offer and opt to get a refund instead. Depending on the issues and/or circumstances of your complaint, depending on the manager or whether they think it’s a real issue other not, the manager may even give you a coupon or voucher for a free food or dessert if you decide to come back. They usually give that voucher if they think your complaint is legit and they basically give you the voucher because they want you back to their restaurant. I personally have used such method when I was running the restaurant, it was a good policy to keep the customers happy.

Sadly, this good old policy has been through numerous abuses that some fast food restaurants are becoming more reluctant to issue refund for such problems. One time, a Wendy’s restaurant in California was sued by a customer who claimed that they found a finger in their Chili soup, the manager on duty had already offered the customer with a generous offer but the lady refused as she insisted for a higher payout. After being investigated, the lady was found to be lying, she planted the finger in her soup. (News link courtesy of Fox News Bay Area:   http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/01/19/couple-sentenced-in-wendy-finger-fraud.html). 

In my own experience, I also noticed that sometimes certain older people often took advantage of this policy to get free food from fast food establishment. In such cases, usually the manager is more lenient because they knew that some older people have limited income but I once heard that sometimes a good manager has to say no to such requests, especially if it happens repeatedly by the same people at the same restaurants.

Honestly, I ran into similar cases personally when I run a Quiznos restaurant in 2006 where I had to remade or refund sandwiches made for my customers, some of them were older folks, just because they said that they didn’t like them. As a restauranteur, this is a policy which may cause restaurant owner to lose money, but on the other hand, it’s also a policy which put customers first and therefore it can keep customers happy and make them coming back. Now whether you are on the side of the restauranteur or the customers, whether you like it or not, it’s the American way and it doesn’t seem like the policy is going away anytime soon despite many abuses. 

Now, what would happen if you ask for a refund for a half eaten food in restaurants in Indonesia? At the very leat, you probably would get an earful of berated words from the restaurant owner or workers instead.

1. (Possible) free food (if you know how to)

When I say free food here is really free food (although some may require a small purchase). And here I am not talking about the “free food” you get if you complain to the restaurant like what I explained in the point above. This is a legit free food offer and here is how you can get them. Some of these offers are real “free food” without any purchase necessary, but most of them require some purchase (Often a small amount). 

Free offers with purchase can be Buy One Get One (BOGO) offers, a certain fix price or a few dollar off. BOGO offers itself can be a totally Buy One Get One Free (BOGO free) offers, or BOGO with a small amount (like Buy One Get One for 1 penny), or even BOGO a certain percentage off (For example, Buy One Get One 50% off).

There are eight most common ways to get free food  from fast food restaurants in the United States:

1. Through survey 

When you buy food at fast food restaurants here, you should get a receipt, and usually behind the receipt or underneath it, there will be an invitation to give feedback  or fill out their surveys. The receipt will tell you what you would get if you complete their  surveys, in which you may be entitled to get a free food or some other special offers once you complete the survey. There may be time restrictions in which you can redeem your offer, though.

1. By calling their customer service number

Although it’s somewhat outdated, some fast food restaurants still offer customer service through their toll free numbers. These numbers are not corporate numbers and it was  intended to collect information from their customers about their experience in their restaurants. People mostly call these numbers to report unsatisfactory experiences and the customer service representatives often offer free food redeemable only at the specific restaurant where they reported to have had problems with. These corporate coupons are usually always honored, even at the independently owned restaurants or at the airport and mall based restaurants. I am quite certain about this, because when I run a franchise restaurants, I was told to always accept corporate coupons, even though it may hurt my bottom line. If I don’t accept it, the corporate may penalize me in one way or another.

1. From coupons

Some people in Indonesia may not be familiar with coupon and couponing culture in the United States, but couponing can really save you some money. Coupon is a piece of paper issued by the corporate office or the manufacturer of the products which can be redeemed in store or in restaurants (the details and limitations are usually outlined in the bottom of the coupon itself in small prints). Generally, all coupons have expiration dates and there may be restrictions in their usage, especially restaurant coupons. Most restaurant coupons have small prints specifying that they are only valid at participating restaurants (so, don’t be surprised if you go to a certain restaurant and they said that they don’t participate in the coupon). Most restaurants in the airports and inside the shopping malls usually do not accept corporate coupons.

 Some people here  saying that couponing is not only the act of collecting and using coupons but it is actually the art of getting, collecting and using coupons. Even with the advance of internet and social media culture, couponing fanatics still thrive well in the world wide web from couponing and deal sites like Krazy Coupon Lady (www.KrazyCouponLady.com), Totally Target (www.TotallyTarget.com) , Hip 2 Save (www.Hip2Save.com) or I Heart CVS ( www.iHeartCVS.com) and many others.

1. By signing up for their official email mailing list

Well, some people may think that the toll free number is already outdated, so the corporate now also offer freebies for their customers when they signed up for their email mailing list.

1. From their official app 

These days, with the widespread usage of cell phones (also known as the “hand phone” in Indonesia), I found some of the best offer from fast food restaurants in the United States is from their own app. I will try to go through some of them later on.

One thing to note is that, sometimes, these free offers may be seasonal or limited to certain day or week and they often have expiration dates. Most app offer require purchase also. Some apps are offering 100% free offers, without any purchases required, although they’re usually only available when you first install the app, mostly to entice more people to download their apps.

1. Through special promotion from other media.

Sometimes, fast food restaurants will offer free food on certain dates via their advertisement on TV or radio platform. However, with the proliferation of internet and social media, some restaurants also announce their promotional offer through Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram. The free offer is sometimes also limited to a certain number of people (For example: Offer is limited to  the first 100 people standing in line), or only available during certain hours of the day (For example: Only available from 3pm to 5pm), and it often comes with disclaimers such as: Valid at Participating restaurants only, or While Supplies last.

1. During the restaurant grand opening day

Not many people know this, but many restaurants offer special freebies during their grand opening day.  One of the most known restaurants to offer these kinds of freebies are Chick-fil-A. The offer is also limited to the first few number of people standing in line during their grand opening day, but usually the offer is pretty good such as free food for 1 year which is not bad at all considering the average combo price from both restaurants are about $8 (based on California’s price). Well, if you do stand in line and manage to get the special voucher, you can easily save thousands of dollars if you don’t mind eating Chick-fil-A everyday in the year.

1. On specific free food days

Certain fast food restaurants do give away free food on certain days or specific dates. One of the most well known one is the Chick-fil-A which offers free food without any purchase necessary on their Cow Appreciation Day, which is July 10. There’s one catch though, you will have to dress up like a cow to be eligible. Good luck with your “mooing” actions.

1. Free water.

Well, some people may consider that free water is nothing worth mentioning. At first, I didn’t plan to list it here but then I decided to list it anyway. Some people may take it for granted that we in the United States (especially California) can get free water in restaurants, but I remember that there were uproars many years ago in Northern California when McDonald’s restaurants there decided to charge 10 cents for the water because they said it cost them something even to provide the free water (I believe they mentioned the cost of the phone is or paper cup). After the uproars, I believe there is a law in California (not sure what law exactly since I can’t find the reference), which specified that restaurants in California must provide free cup of water (mostly filtered tap water) to customers unless they only have bottles of water.

I personally love this policy because I simply cannot eat without drinking (which some people actually can). I believe this policy had saved me tons of money because I didn’t have to buy any drinks at most restaurants. FYI, most restaurants drinks cost in $3-$5 in average and  I am also a fast drinker (non alcoholic beverages only by the way), so if I have to buy for every cup of drinks I gulped during my restaurants visit,  I probably would have to spend more money on the water than on the food (I usually drink at least 3 cups of water in most restaurants, but can be more if the restaurants serve spicy food). Also, I think it’s a good thing that they have free water that I don’t have to buy soda or other sugary drinka all the time. Heck, even without the soda, my waistline doesn’t get smaller either, but at least it’s not getting much bigger. ☺

Just be careful though, even though your cup of water may be free but if you decided to fill your water cup with soda from the soda machine, like many people did actually, you may be considered stealing the soda and you may be charged for it. There were news a while ago about a McDonald’s restaurant in Springdale, Arkansas who filed a charge for its customer who filled his water cup with soda (Website news link courtesy of the Eatery: https://www.eater.com/2016/4/21/11477448/mcdonalds-arrest-soda-water-cup).

As a side note, I actually missed this free water policy when I went back to Indonesia last time. On several occasions when I ate out at restaurants in Indonesia, I replied “water” when I was asked what I want to drink. I got a few rolled eyes from my relatives and a confused look from the workers who took the order.  Then I had to change it to hot tea with sugar or other drinks. I always forget that there is no free water cup in Indonesia, and if there is, they may not be drinkable anyway. 

Now, after reading the freebies from American style fast food restaurants above, which one do you like better? The Indonesian version or the “Land of the Free” version?