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Wendy's planning surge pricing on burgers

Not sure a business can drive demand at a restaurant using pricing. Seems to me when people are hungry for lunch 11-1 or dinner 5-7, they are going to eat.

Would be curious if part of the decision is also an attempt to control labor costs by not having to staff to higher peak lunch/dinner crowds.
 
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I honestly can’t think of the last time I went to a fast food restaurant WITHOUT already having the order placed through an app and I just pick it up.
 
didn't have time to read everything, but what I took from this is :

another cheap a$$ fast food place busy = Raise price of the items
another cheap a$$ fast food place not busy = Will be the normal price.

The US needs to subsidize health food if we want to do something productive.
 
SCNCY said:
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.
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It has been quite a few years since I worked (briefly) in food service, but I tend to agree some of the "rush/slow" is build into the workflow. Did W's determine it's better to be "steady" all day instead of peak/lull? Is it more reliable for customer service, scheduling, et al?

On the other hand, how much can you "engineer" typical dining times for breakfast-lunch-dinner?

I'm sure others who work/recently worked in the industry have far more insight into this than I do. I'd like to get their perspective.
 
ISU_Guy said:
didn't have time to read everything, but what I took from this is :

another cheap a$$ fast food place busy = Raise price of the items
another cheap a$$ fast food place not busy = Will be the normal price.

The US needs to subsidize health food if we want to do something productive.
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You can eat healthy for a reasonable price. It's the processed crap that adds up quickly.
 
isucy86 said:
Not sure a business can drive demand at a restaurant using pricing. Seems to me when people are hungry for lunch 11-1 or dinner 5-7, they are going to eat.

Would be curious if part of the decision is also an attempt to control labor costs by not having to staff to higher peak lunch/dinner crowds.
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I think that's the point. They aren't trying to drive demand during off peak times, they are trying to maximize profit when people are more likely to pay more to eat.
 
SCNCY said:
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.
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No, they're just cashing in on the busy times.
They'll still be cutting staff for those slow hours for a nice, hectic few hours of dinner and closing.
 
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Cyclonepride said:
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?
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I think it was the Today show that talked about this last week or the week before. Consumers are taking notice on the outrageous fast food prices and leverage will start to swing back to the consumer.
 
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There aren’t many fast food places that are worth eating at any more. Quality for many has gone down hill rapidly over the past 10-20 years. Culver’s, B-bops, and chick-fil-a are pretty much the only ones worth going to.
 
awd4cy said:
There aren’t many fast food places that are worth eating at any more. Quality for many has gone down hill rapidly over the past 10-20 years. Culver’s, B-bops, and chick-fil-a are pretty much the only ones worth going to.
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Not all Chick-Fil-A's are created equally either. When I lived out on the east coast it was terrible but the DSM locations are money every time. I ate at one down in Mississippi a couple summers ago and it was pretty bad. The franchise owner has a lot to do with it.
 
awd4cy said:
There aren’t many fast food places that are worth eating at any more. Quality for many has gone down hill rapidly over the past 10-20 years. Culver’s, B-bops, and chick-fil-a are pretty much the only ones worth going to.
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PDQ, Slim Chickens, Cane's, Culver's, Freddie's, Popeyes are all edible IMO.
 
Cyclonepride said:
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?
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...and sometimes with wait times that aren't all that much "faster" than a sit down restaurant, at least not in my neck of the woods.
 
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Cyclonepride said:
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.


"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."
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Who is going to say, let’s eat lunch at 3 so we can say 40 cents? If people are confused, they don’t go back.
 
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BCClone said:
Who is going to say, let’s eat lunch at 3 so we can say 40 cents? If people are confused, they don’t go back.
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And from what I read, I am under the assumption that you could wait until three and find 30 other cheap bastards looking to save money and then you end up paying more because they're busy.
 
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