prices

Operations

Chick-fil-A's top-ranking customer-satisfaction score may be slipping

In this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index, the Atlanta-based chicken chain remains the top-ranked limited-service chain. But its score declined.

Marketing

There's plenty happening at the high end of the pricing barbell, too

Reality Check: Decadent meal choices are also proliferating, for a lot more than $5.

The industry's preoccupation with price is forcing brands to change tactics in marketing and on the menu, even if they refuse to discount.

Menu price inflation slowed at fast-food restaurants last month. But prices throughout the industry continue to increase faster than at supermarkets.

There's been a lot of talk lately about high QSR pricing, and the leaders of Portillo's, Sweetgreen and Cava are pretty happy with that. It makes the fast-casual space look good.

The data firm, a sister company of Restaurant Business, has revised down its sales expectations by 1.5 percentage points. Can a value war bring some of that traffic back?

The Bottom Line: The fast-food giant took the extraordinary step of publicizing average prices this week. It was speaking to its less-frequent customers, who are a lot less likely to say the chain is a good value.

Seeking to combat what it calls "inaccurate" information, the company issued a rare comment featuring the average cost of a Big Mac and other menu items. And no, prices have not doubled since 2019.

Nearly 80% of Americans now view fast food as a “luxury” as rising restaurant menu prices force most of them to cut back on dining out.

The Bottom Line: Big Mac prices, corporate views on Israel-Palestine and even store closures have been subject to misinformation and outright lies. Blame the presidential election.

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