After months of customer grumbling, it turns out McDonald’s agrees with you: their prices have gotten out of hand.
In a rare moment of corporate clarity, CEO Chris Kempczinski admitted last week that low-income customers (long the chain’s most loyal base) just aren’t coming in like they used to. Combo meals over $10 are now the norm in many places, and people are not taking it lightly.
“Too often… you’re seeing combo meals priced over $10, and that absolutely is negatively shaping value perceptions,” Kempczinski said on a recent earnings call. Translation: it’s gotten too expensive, even for McDonald’s.
That’s a problem, especially when the customers skipping out are the ones who used to come the most.
McDonald’s has been throwing everything at the wall lately; $5 bundles, BOGO deals, even a Snack Wrap comeback that sparked a lettuce shortage, but none of it has reversed the drop in visits from lower-income diners. Kempczinski called them “critical” to the brand, and now says the company is shifting gears to “get that fixed.”
What that fix looks like is still unfolding, but one thing is clear: national price consistency might be making a comeback. Right now, franchisees set their own prices, which is why your Big Mac meal might be $8 in one town and $12 in another. But Kempczinski hinted at more standardized, advertised price points moving forward — the kind that drove huge traffic back in the Dollar Menu days.
It’s a surprising turn for a brand that hasn’t said “affordable” with a straight face in years, but with the economy still shaky and fast food no longer the obvious cheap option, McDonald’s seems ready to recalibrate.
No promises yet, but if this change lands, those $14 Happy Meals might soon be a thing of the past.