Greedflation & Fast Food

[Bagels]

The price of fresh meat and produce has stabilized as has the cost of labor. In many markets, these costs are decreasing. Locally, since early last year, places like In-And-Out, Target and Aldi had been advertising starting wages from $20, but now these figures have dropped to $18 (and $17.10 at Aldi; local minimum wage is $15.50 for reference). But that hasn't stopped restaurants from hiking their prices! Because the topic interests me, I've been keeping score of pricing of various quarter-pound burgers, including cheese, locally, and the change in price since May 31st:

Burger King - Whopper. $9.39 (unchanged, but that price point is ridiculous to begin with)
McDonald's - Quarter Pounder, $6.39 (up 40 cents)
Wendy's - Dave's Single, $6.19 (up 20 cents)
Carl's Jr - Famous Star. $5.99 (unchanged, but they did hike the prices of "sides" by 10 to 30 cents)
JITB - Jumbo Jack, $3.89 (up 10 cents)

I didn't catch In-And-Out's new price, but we order the same meal every time we go and it was up about 60 cents per person since mid-May (the last time we went). We each order a Double Double and Fry.

Worth noting that my local BK lowered the price of a Double Cheeseburger from $3.49 to $2.99, and a Hamburger from $1.99 to $1.39. Most everything else, lead by the Whopper, is insanely priced.

[storewanderer]

Restaurants seem to be a few months behind grocers on price increases for some reason.

I suspect the Burger King you dealt with changed ownership and went to a new owner's price structure.

I went to a Wendy's in a Pilot Truck Stop this week and they still sell the Jr. Cheeseburger there for 1.29 and the Jr. (4oz or something) Frosty at .99. Also Jr. Fry at 1.59. Cookies 1.29. But normal combos (Single, etc.) were like $11+ (keep in mind Wendys advertises combos on the menu at Medium prices now; small is sometimes over $1 less) and the "4 for 4" was still available but came out 4.44. The $5 meals appeared to be $5 but I didn't ask anything about them. Asked about the 4 for 4 and was told yes we have it but it is 4.44.

This brings me to another point, Wendys and some other fast foods are defaulting to Medium combos on the menu. If you want a small combo you have to ask for it. Some Wendys refuse to sell small combos (yet you can still get it from the app) and say they only sell medium or large combos. To make matters more confusing their breakfast combos are still posted at the "small" price but the side items you get with breakfast combos are actually jr. size (the small breakfast potato is in a jr. size fry container, and if you ask for soda/iced tea you get the 16oz value size cup for it).

[BillyGr]

Restaurants seem to be a few months behind grocers on price increases for some reason.

the "4 for 4" was still available but came out 4.44.

This brings me to another point, Wendys and some other fast foods are defaulting to Medium combos on the menu.

To make matters more confusing their breakfast combos are still posted at the "small" price but the side items you get with breakfast combos are actually jr. size (the small breakfast potato is in a jr. size fry container, and if you ask for soda/iced tea you get the 16oz value size cup for it).

Perhaps the prices depend on what is used? For instance, since much in fast food comes frozen, those prices may take a bit to rise vs. fresh foods, since what is sold today frozen may have been bought at a lower price a month or three ago,

Seems that the $4.44 thing was the case here a while back (maybe last year sometime).

Perhaps they are competing on the combos with McDonalds (since they never offered a small one - it was always medium or large (and of course years ago supersize).

Could it be that the containers like the potato one varies depending on what they contain? My example would be at McDonald's - their "medium" soda cup is also a "large" shake, OJ or frozen drink. So, a Jr. Fry could also be the same size as a small breakfast potato?

[Bagels]

Restaurants seem to be a few months behind grocers on price increases for some reason.

I suspect the Burger King you dealt with changed ownership and went to a new owner's price structure.

I went to a Wendy's in a Pilot Truck Stop this week and they still sell the Jr. Cheeseburger there for 1.29 and the Jr. (4oz or something) Frosty at .99. Also Jr. Fry at 1.59. Cookies 1.29. But normal combos (Single, etc.) were like $11+ (keep in mind Wendys advertises combos on the menu at Medium prices now; small is sometimes over $1 less) and the "4 for 4" was still available but came out 4.44. The $5 meals appeared to be $5 but I didn't ask anything about them. Asked about the 4 for 4 and was told yes we have it but it is 4.44.

This brings me to another point, Wendys and some other fast foods are defaulting to Medium combos on the menu. If you want a small combo you have to ask for it. Some Wendys refuse to sell small combos (yet you can still get it from the app) and say they only sell medium or large combos. To make matters more confusing their breakfast combos are still posted at the "small" price but the side items you get with breakfast combos are actually jr. size (the small breakfast potato is in a jr. size fry container, and if you ask for soda/iced tea you get the 16oz value size cup for it).

My local BK is like that, too. Value / frozen sodas, value fries, hamburgers, chicken sandwich, etc., are all priced fairly low, but the national promotions are usually $1 more and the combs are all "up there." It seems most people go for the combos, even though you could build a similar meal via the app for 1/2 the price.

[storewanderer]

Ate at a BK over the weekend. Was in an area where the McDonalds was so dirty/iffy/flies the prior couple of visits, I wasn't going back. KFC and Panda Express both drive through only. Cannot believe this drive through only crap 3 years after COVID. BK was basically last ditch choice.

So went to BK. This is an old BK building but looked like it was just remodeled. Had the new old BK logo signs all around outside, shiny. Ordered via website to get free fry with any purchase; Cheeseburger $2.99 (single); basically the entire $1 menu was $2.99.

Went in and was told order would be up shortly; it came out a minute or two later. Looking around the place was fully staffed, employees each assigned to work stations, clean, uniforms were neat, and food being prepared in an orderly sanitary manner.

Received burger; temperature was warm-ish, taste was great. Fries hot and crisp. Dining area was very clean. I was shocked. I'd actually return to BK more often if they were consistently like this location was.

[Alpha8472]

Burger King has improved recently. The food is fresh and hot at my local restaurants. The service is quite fast. However, business doesn't seem so great. There are so few customers. The dining rooms are all open in my area and remarkably clean.

Most of the local ones have been remodeled in the past few years. There was a well preserved 80s one with solarium windows, but it was closed down. Perhaps Burger King is pushing their franchises to remodel or shut down.

[Bagels]

I like Burger King. Now that my local store has lowered pricing on the items we buy most and started accepting coupons again, it's a great value. Of course, that requires you to stick to promotional items (including "value" priced) as their standard menu is high. The dining room closes at 10PM and the drive through at midnight. Lately they've been adhering to this, although there was a long stretch where we'd go by at 7PM and the place would be closed. Probably labor problems, but there's no indication of such and my comments to corporate went unanswered.

Carl's Jr. and Burger King dominated much of Orange County for many years. A ton of Burger Kings have closed within the past decade, and numerous Carl's Jr. are failing. Mind you, these restaurants had prime locations, unlike McDonald's which built out its store fleet in the 1990s and is often located in inconvenient spots. That said, there's still plenty of Carl's Jr. and BK remaining .

[Alpha8472]

Carl's Junior used to be so popular. They used to have good food, but in recent times the food has been unappealing.

There is a 24 hour one in San Ramon, California but I rarely see any customers. How do these locations survive? The prices have gone up and are extremely high.

[storewanderer]

Carl's Junior used to be so popular. They used to have good food, but in recent times the food has been unappealing.

There is a 24 hour one in San Ramon, California but I rarely see any customers. How do these locations survive? The prices have gone up and are extremely high.

I am guessing a lot of these Carl's that seem to do no business survive because the franchisee owns the building, paid off the building long ago, so their expense structure is very low. If a fast food restaurant has a low expense structure it can stay in business doing surprisingly low volume. The problem comes for newer franchisees who took a loan out to buy the businesses then have lease payments on top of that. They cannot survive on $2k per day of sales the way established building owning/debt free long-term franchisees can. They need $5k a day of sales. There are a lot of long-term franchisee in the Carl's network who are hanging in there despite the brand's obvious problems, lack of innovation, etc. They close a location here and there. Seems like about the only franchisee opening new locations under both the Carl's and Hardees brands that actually stay in business more than a few years is Love's (truck stop operator).

Quality control seems to be way off at Carl's. I went into a Reno one a couple weeks ago and inside the unit multiple of the menu board lights were burnt out and various lights throughout the place were burnt out. The vibe was so sad and depressing in the place. It had 2 employees total at lunch. A few customers. It is probably a 45 year old building at this point that has really only had one major-ish remodel to the seating area but the kitchen, restrooms, etc, are basically all original. Food was borderline cold as expected. Only iced tea was from the soda dispenser (sweetened), nothing brewed for whatever reason (again it was lunch, no explanation given when I asked).

[Super S]

I have to wonder if some of these restaurants (particularly those such as Jack In The Box which has been basically opening and closing when they feel like it and is often drive-thru only) also raised prices to discourage some people from coming there in the first place to keep the drive-thru lines shorter. Some of the price hikes have been significant, and many are at or above what their food is worth now.