The president of McDonald’s isn’t happy with recent reports that the company has been hiking its prices beyond the rate of inflation, insisting in a rare open letter to “our U.S. fans” that reports of its runaway fast food pricing have been greatly exaggerated.
That’s not to say that $18 Big Macs don’t exist, according to the Wednesday letter penned by Joe Erlinger. It’s just that they were only sold at “one location in the U.S. out of more than 13,700.”
Erlinger said it frustrated and worried him that this had been picked up and spun into “viral social posts and poorly sourced reports,” and that many people now seem to believe “that this is the rule and not the exception.”
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The executive pushed back on rumors that the average price of a Big Mac in the U.S. has risen 100 percent since 2019, saying that it had gone from $4.39 in 2019 to $5.29 today. “That’s an increase of 21 [percent],” Erlinger noted.
Elsewhere, he added, “For a brand that proudly serves nearly 90% of the U.S. population every year, we feel a responsibility to make sure the real facts are available.”
Erlinger was referencing a viral photo from last summer that allegedly showed a Big Mac combo—including fries and a soft drink—at a Darien, Connecticut location that cost $17.59. “This was at a rest stop, but these McDonald’s prices are nuts right???” the user who posted it wrote.
Others were quick to point out that the combo seemed to cost even more—around $22—on food delivery apps like GrubHub.
The average price of a Big Mac combo in the U.S. is currently $9.29, according to the Associated Press.
In January, reports of whopper prices at the Golden Arches returned after a customer complained about having to pay $7.29 for one Egg McMuffin.
The average price of an Egg McMuffin is $4.29, up 23 percent from $3.49 in 2019, while the average cost of a 10-piece McNuggets meal is $9.19, having risen 28 percent from $7.19.
Erlinger said that McDonald’s franchise owners, who operate more than 95 percent of the chain’s U.S. locations, set their own menu prices. “That’s why prices for many of our menu items have risen less than the rate of inflation—and remain well within the range of other quick service restaurants,” he continued. “It’s also why more than 90% of U.S. franchisees are offering meal bundles for $4 or less.”
The company is also gearing up to offer a monthlong $5 meal promotion to consumers across the nation, seeking to counter the inflation exhaustion that’s killing traffic. The cost will be underwritten by Coca-Cola, according to internal emails viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
McDonald’s isn’t the only fast-food giant struggling with consumer pullback. Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and KFC also reported declining sales this quarter.
“Clearly everybody’s fighting for fewer consumers or consumers that are certainly visiting less frequently, and we’ve got to make sure we’ve got that street-fighting mentality to win, irregardless of the context around us,” McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden said on a company conference call earlier this month, according to CNBC.
