AI Menu Pricing
McDonald's uses an AI pricing tool to analyze local data and recommend menu costs.
Anonymous
McDonald’s is using an AI-powered pricing tool, operated by Tiger Analytics, to analyze transaction and local-market data and recommend menu prices based on customers’ estimated willingness to pay. Prices can vary sharply between nearby restaurants: a Big Mac was listed at $5.69 at one Fresno location and $6.89 two miles away. McDonald’s says franchisees retain final control and the system provides recommendations rather than setting prices, but some owners say they feel pressured to use it, and company materials reportedly track departures from the recommendations. The system has also become a point of tension over recommendations to raise some prices and lower others, and could intensify customer and regulatory concerns about personalized or surveillance-based pricing.
Key Points
1
The pricing platform reportedly incorporates public prices from nearby competitors, including Wendy’s and Burger King; both chains have said they do not use AI to make pricing decisions.
2
CEO Chris Kempczinski said pricing and cases of non-compliance can come up in franchisee business reviews, which affect matters such as franchisees’ growth and eligibility.
3
A Connecticut franchisee’s lawsuit alleges that pricing adviser Deloitte recommended charging about $18 for a Big Mac meal at his Darien Turnpike restaurant.
4
One report says McDonald’s has used some form of algorithm-powered pricing since 2019, and that its AI pricing practices extend to some markets outside the United States.
Sentiment
Mostly NegativeNEGATIVENEUTRALPOSITIVE
Publishers
27
Articles
40
Reach
67
A
AnonymousAuthor
