Wendy's planning surge pricing on burgers

[Cyclonepride]

Just who the hell is going to drive there to find out if they're going to have a decent price that day? Not me. Seems like self immolation.

MSN

"Wendy's is planning to charge different prices depending on the time of day - which means a Dave's Single could cost more at lunchtime than mid-afternoon. So-called dynamic pricing would boost traffic when restaurants are quiet and cool demand when they're busy. Such a system might mean that at busy times like breakfast, lunch and dinner, prices it advertises on a digital menu will be higher and at quieter times they will fall."

 

[KnappShack]

Just who the hell is going to drive there to find out if they're going to have a decent price that day? Not me. Seems like self immolation.

MSN

"Wendy's is planning to charge different prices depending on the time of day - which means a Dave's Single could cost more at lunchtime than mid-afternoon. So-called dynamic pricing would boost traffic when restaurants are quiet and cool demand when they're busy. Such a system might mean that at busy times like breakfast, lunch and dinner, prices it advertises on a digital menu will be higher and at quieter times they will fall."

I'm not opposed to this as a concept

Supply and demand driven pricing is fine, but only if I know the price going in. I wait in that line and my meal for the fam jumps from $35 to $50 without warning?

Nah.

 

[nfrine]

It will not bother me.

 

[8bitnes]

Just raise prices across the board and then offer digital coupons during happy hour (2-4pm) or whatever other "off hours" exist. People feel a lot better about surprise savings than they do about surprise upcharges.

 

[CascadeClone]

Not much different than off-peak airline pricing. Charge more when demand is higher.

Actually makes more sense for a restaurant, really. When it's busy they have to have more workers, which is a big cost driver. So I kind of get it. The optics are not great, though, never are for price discrimination.

I wonder if the times for different prices will be set (like 11am to 1pm weekdays, etc) or if it will be tied to some gage of how many people walk in the store? Agree, if the price changes on the menu when you are already in line, that is NOT going to make people happy.

Also depends on how much it changes. If it's like a dime a burger, no one is going to gaf. But a dime times a million burgers makes a difference to the company.

 

[cyclones500]

I think restaurants should give customers an option to adjust the price based on how hungry they truly are.

 

[CascadeClone]

Just raise prices across the board and then offer digital coupons during happy hour (2-4pm) or whatever other "off hours" exist. People feel a lot better about surprise savings than they do about surprise upcharges.

Marketing man! Same result, but happier spin.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

These food chains really have no answers to their greed.

 

[Trice]

Enshittification comes to fast food.

There is nothing you like that someone out in the world isn't actively planning to make worse.

 

[cyclones500]

Not much different than off-peak airline pricing. Charge more when demand is higher.

Actually makes more sense for a restaurant, really. When it's busy they have to have more workers, which is a big cost driver. So I kind of get it. The optics are not great, though, never are for price discrimination.

I wonder if the times for different prices will be set (like 11am to 1pm weekdays, etc) or if it will be tied to some gage of how many people walk in the store? Agree, if the price changes on the menu when you are already in line, that is NOT going to make people happy.

Also depends on how much it changes. If it's like a dime a burger, no one is going to gaf. But a dime times a million burgers makes a difference to the company.

I agree it almost has to have some time frame expectation. Or at least some way for customers to know how much fluctuation to expect (or both). And is going to apply menu-wide, or just "main dish"?

Perhaps Wendy's has elaborated/will elaborate, but nothing included in that MSN brief. I admit I haven't web-searched.

 

[CloneJD]

Oh great, $30 burgers at 4:21.

 

[Cyclonepride]

These food chains really have no answers to their greed.

It's interesting because fast food is getting pretty close to the cost of a sit down meal (with much better food) in a regular restaurant. With most places offering take out, what is the tipping point for not choosing fast food again? Poor planning, maybe?

 

[CascadeClone]

I agree it almost has to have some time frame expectation. Or at least some way for customers to know how much fluctuation to expect (or both). And is going to apply menu-wide, or just "main dish"?

Perhaps Wendy's has elaborated/will elaborate, but nothing included in that MSN brief. I admit I haven't web-searched.

I wonder if the mechanism will be like what 8bitnes said. It will be $X starting at like 10:30am, but drop down starting at 2pm. Then if someone is in line, and it goes down, its "yay" instead of "that's a ripoff".

 

[SCNCY]

Something to think about. It sounds like Wendy's wants to try and smooth out when customer eat at their stores. They want less during their peak hours, and more customer during their slow hours. However, I would think that during their slow hours are the time they spend prepping and cleaning for their peak hours. I'm sure some finance and accounting people ran the numbers and went "yup, this is the way to go," without thinking how the reality of the operations at the restaurants work.

 

[JD720]

I'm not opposed to this as a concept

Supply and demand driven pricing is fine, but only if I know the price going in. I wait in that line and my meal for the fam jumps from $35 to $50 without warning?

Nah.

I'm guessing this is to encourage people to use the app. The price won't go up once your order is placed (I'm assuming).

 

[Cydkar]

If you eat fast food you deserve what you get.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

It's interesting because fast food is getting pretty close to the cost of a sit down meal (with much better food) in a regular restaurant. With most places offering take out, what is the tipping point for not choosing fast food again? Poor planning, maybe?

Ya I don't go unless I'm really strapped for time. You can go to Chili's and get a burger, chips and queso and something else for $10. That's cheaper than a McDonald's meal.

 

[Mr Janny]

I wonder if this is already happening at other places. I travelled for work this past week, and every morning, my travelling companion stopped at the same McDonald's, on the way to the office, for breakfast. He ordered the exact same thing every time: sausage McMuffin meal. No changes. No special instructions. And over the course of 5 days, he got 3 different totals for his meals. Monday and Thursday were the same. Wednesday and Friday were the same. Tuesday was unique. He noticed it when he was submitting his expenses at the end of the week. The only thing we could think of was that they were doing some kind of surge pricing, because the receipts appeared exactly the same other than cost. The difference was only a few cents, but we both thought it was odd

 

[CycloneErik]

It's interesting because fast food is getting pretty close to the cost of a sit down meal (with much better food) in a regular restaurant. With most places offering take out, what is the tipping point for not choosing fast food again? Poor planning, maybe?

I'd probably only do fast food if I were stuck on the road or needing something a kiddo will eat.

 

[NorthCyd]

Damn, guess I'm going to have to keep not eating at Wendy's.