During an earnings call earlier this month, Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the fast food chain plans on investing $20 million to roll out digital menu boards to US-based restaurants by the end of 2025. As part of the change, Wendy’s will also introduce something called “dynamic prices” that will change the prices on the digital menu boards based on demand.
It sounds similar to the surge pricing system implemented by ride-hailing apps like Uber and ticketing companies like Live Nation, all of which have caught flak for introducing markups due to higher rates on their platforms. But despite extreme customer pushback, these companies continue to dominate their fields.
Wendy’s move is likely to draw criticism, as the whole proposition of fast-food is that it’s supposed to be relatively cheap and consistently priced.
If successful, Wendy’s adoption of surge pricing could spread to other fast-food chains and restaurants as digital menus make the option much more feasible then when all menus used to be printed.
Get instructions on how to enable our Flash News Briefing skill to your Amazon devices:
