After years of rising prices and declining customer numbers, fast food chains in the United States are competing with each other and offering great deals in hopes of attracting more visitors to their establishments.
“McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, KFC have all seen a drop in traffic,” said Clive Veroni, a marketing consultant in Toronto.
“McDonald’s has actually raised its prices faster over the last 10 years than any other major fast food chain and now they’re starting to feel the effects.”
A report from Bloomberg first confirmed that McDonald’s will introduce a $5 value menu in the United States on June 25 for a month. The outlet later reported that Burger King would offer its own $5 meal that would launch before McDonald’s and run over a longer campaign.
“The inflationary pressures that customers have been subjected to over the past several years are finally starting to impact fast food restaurants,” Veroni said.
Affordability issues are also being felt in Canada.
Chrystal Bandura of Calgary tries to budget as best she can for her family of five. With three older kids, fast food used to be the place to eat cheaply, but it no longer says otherwise.
“It all costs so much, all the time, it hurts,” she said. “It’s hard, you know, to afford that kind of thing.”
Henry Chan, also from Calgary, said he never thought fast food would be so expensive.
“Normally it’s $15 or $20 if you go to McDonald’s or $100 for a family’s food,” he said.
He says he tries to shop around for deals or chooses to stay home, but grocery bills are also high.
In an email to CTV News, McDonald’s and Burger King said they are not currently offering the $5 meal value in Canadian restaurants and did not say whether it would be in the future .
The customers here want it.
“It’s very important because some people just need to live off fast food. There are simply no other options for them. So no, I absolutely think it’s (a) great idea,” Bandura said.
