"Prices may vary" on national promotions

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Brian Lutz
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"Prices may vary" on national promotions

Post by Brian Lutz »

You're probably familiar with the "prices may vary" portion on ads for various national promotions that restaurants run, and apparently we live in one of those 'prices may vary" areas. In general, Taco Bell's $5 big box combos run somewhere between $5.49 to $6.49 in most locations here (even in Seattle with their soda tax), and KFC promotions are similar. The Taco Bell "Dollar Menu" items were a dollar for a while, but have now drifted closer to $1.39. While we were out shopping on Saturday my wife and I went into one KFC location in north Lynnwood, and walked out quickly when we saw that they were charging a whopping $8.49 for the "$5 Fill-Up" combos. Even compared to the higher prices at other KFCs that was pretty ridiculous. We ended up going to a DQ across the street where the 5 Buck Lunch was actually 5 bucks. There are also a fair number of Little Caesar's locations here where the $5 Hot-N-Ready pizza is $6.99.

Is this common? I'm guessing a lot of it has to do with higher cost of living here, but I seriously doubt even that would account for a $3.49 markup from the nationally advertised price on a combo meal.
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Re: "Prices may vary" on national promotions

Post by rwsandiego »

When I lived in San Diego (2000 - 2016) I never saw that. The dollar menu was a dollar and the $5 combo was $5. If they want the dollar menu to be a dollar in Des Moines and a dollar fifty in Chicago, then call it the value menu.
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Re: "Prices may vary" on national promotions

Post by storewanderer »

Franchisees generally have the right to price how they see fit. They do not have to run national promotions. They can deal with lost customers as a result, and when you have a franchise who does not want to run national promotions, chances are they also are not really all that "in tune" with the brand at large, and will likely be out of business soon.

This was very common for Quizno's and Subway where individual locations would not participate in promotions, not accept coupons issued nationally, or through the websites, etc. This really upset customers. This helped cause many locations of those chains to close.

Very common to see odd variances. KFC $5 box is $5 in Lake Tahoe but is $6 in Primm, NV.

Little Caesar's $5 Large is $5 in Reno, $5 in Olivehurst, CA, but $6.99 in Carson City, NV (though I have heard Little Caesar's is revoking franchise agreements not for this reason, but for other reasons, for those who do not run the $5 Large).

Steak N Shake was most interesting. They in the past had a large "Under $5" menu with something like 25+ items. There was a franchise in Denver, CO who did not wish to price that way. Steak N Shake actually took the locations back from the franchise after the franchise went bust. Steak N Shake's franchisee here in Reno also does not run that "Under $5" menu anymore so however the situation ended with the former Denver franchisee appears to have allowed locations to price as they see fit.

I think the moral of the story is when a franchisee buys a franchise, they need to be prepared to run promotions. If they do not run promotions, the customer has to understand why (customers don't seem to expect airport locations to run promotions, for instance; imagine my surprise when I found the PHX Wendy's accepted corporate issued coupons or the PDX or SEA McDonalds accepted the discount app). Charging $8.49 for a $5 box is outrageous; maybe if you are in a $15/hr minimum wage market, charge more, but seriously, that much more?
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Re: "Prices may vary" on national promotions

Post by Brian Lutz »

Over on the recent Subway thread it was noted that national promotions seem to be a major point of contention between Subway corporate and individual franchisees, with many claiming that the $5 Footlong promotions were causing them to sell product below cost. I'm not sure if I believe that completely, but I can see where marginal locations would suffer.

That said, it seems like it's mostly the Yum brands restaurants marking up the prices on promo deals here. Wendy's locations generally follow the national promos such as the 4 for $4 deal and the current $1 fries promotion, and seem to be doing well. McDonald's locations generally follow national promos (although it seems like they have been running less explicit national promos lately and have been promoting more with mail and online coupon deals.) Arby's doesn't run a lot of promos anymore, but given the number of coupons they send out I'm guessing it accounts for a large portion of their business. Don't know what Burger King is doing since I'm rarely there.
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Re: "Prices may vary" on national promotions

Post by babs »

About two years ago, I stopped by the Centralia, WA McDonald's and tried to use a coupon on the app. They told me they don't accept the app. I left without ordering anything. I don't play games and I'm not going to reward them with my business.

Last summer I stopped by the same location and they did accept the app. So the local operator does have a choice on what to do.
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Re: "Prices may vary" on national promotions

Post by Super S »

I don't even pay attention to national promotions as there is too much inconsistency with individual franchises. I look for what they are advertising at the specific locations I visit.
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Re: "Prices may vary" on national promotions

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: November 27th, 2018, 1:28 pm About two years ago, I stopped by the Centralia, WA McDonald's and tried to use a coupon on the app. They told me they don't accept the app. I left without ordering anything. I don't play games and I'm not going to reward them with my business.

Last summer I stopped by the same location and they did accept the app. So the local operator does have a choice on what to do.
McDonald's operators tried to play various games to not do promotions back when the app was new. It is my understanding McDonald's corporate does not reimburse the franchisees for the app discounts.

The app discounts often vary by region and the various local operator groups "vote" on what offers to participate (or not) participate in.

There was a McDonald's in Granite Bay, CA that was saying they did not participate and kept the scanners hidden under the counter. They have since stopped that and participate.

One in downtown San Francisco, CA refused to process mobile orders (they set the location to closed by putting bogus hours in the app) and the one in South Lake Tahoe, CA tried the same thing but then would process the order and payment if you went in and gave them the alpha-numeric code. The San Francisco one did offer to honor the offer once I asked the manager how I redeem an "order via app only" offer if they won't process an app order and she said oh I can honor it and then did a manual discount at the register.

The one in the Reno airport was also kind of funny in that they (under a previous franchise) did not accept the app if you tried to scan it at the counter saying they were an airport location and did not honor the app, but would process mobile orders (which you can redeem offers on). They since got a different franchisee there and have the scanners at the counter for the customer to use.
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