Wendy’s Surge Pricing Is Off the Menu After Internet Beef
The internet had its own never-frozen beef with Wendy’s when it discovered the fast food chain was planning surge pricing for 2025 . Wendy’s clarified in an updated statement on Tuesday night that it has “no plans” for surge pricing.
“We said these menu boards would give us more flexibility to change the display of featured items. This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants,” said Wendy’s in an updated official statement . “We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most.”
To be clear, Wendy’s CEO told shareholders it would “begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing,” less than two weeks ago on its earnings call . Dynamic pricing is a strategy used by Uber, Ticketmaster, and other internet-native businesses to offer fluid prices. As anyone who has used these services understands, the surge in prices during increased demand is a key element of this practice. However, Wendy’s now claims that was never part of their version of dynamic pricing.
Several mainstream outlets, including Gizmodo, The Washington Post , and the Associated Press , ran stories about Wendy’s plans for surge pricing. Customers expressed outrage about Wendy’s new pricing strategy in the last two days on social media, including memes that suggest ordering from Wendy’s would be like trading on the stock market.
