What I find most fascinating is that a multimillion dollar company was destroyed simply because the owner told the truth. Imagine if fast food CEOs were honest about the quality of their food instead of just parroting marketing bullshit.
The CEO could quite honestly say that their goals are consistency, speed, food safety, and affordability. Quality? I expect the honest response would be something along the lines of 1.) Millions of customers apparently like our product and 2.) We try to deliver the best quality product we can subject to our customers' other priorities. The CEO probably believes this to some degree or other. They're not trying to deliver a high-end steakhouse experience. McDonald's isn't even trying to deliver a Shake Shack experience--which maybe costs 2x (at least)?
I'm pretty sure nearly every McDonalds customer thinks the same way. They want quick, cheap, safely prepared food that tastes good enough to eat.
But that's not a value judgement. Just how I personally prefer to eat.
It's complete garbage compared to what the CEO is eating, and while everybody knows that, the CEO will never state it publicly. The story about Ratner is a direct example of what would happen.