Food fight!
Wendy’s declared war on McDonald’s discount meals by offering a new $3 breakfast value meal as the fast food giants battle to lure back customers hit hard by inflation.
The Wendy’s breakfast deal includes a choice between a bacon, egg and cheese English muffin or a sausage, egg and cheese English muffin, along with a side of small seasoned potatoes.
The Dublin, Ohio-based company, which earlier this year was forced to do damage control by clarifying that it would not be introducing Uber-style “surge pricing”, introduced the $3 meal Monday — a week after McDonald’s publicized a $5 combo meal.
The company noted the $3 deal will be available for a limited time only.
Wendy’s also announced it was rolling out a new sausage breakfast burrito at participating locations across the country.
The new sandwich, which the company says was inspired by the success of its bacon breakfast burrito, offers diners a combination of a grilled sausage patty, eggs, potatoes, American cheese and cheese sauce.
In March, Wendy’s unveiled a promotion for $1 Dave’s Single and $2 Dave’s Double hamburgers. The promotion ended last month.
Last week, McDonald’s confirmed reports that it will introduce a $5 combo meal at the end of next month as part of a four-week-long promotion to entice penny-pinching consumers that have been weighed down by soaring costs.
Starting June 25, McDonald’s customers nationwide can choose a meal that includes either a McDouble or a McChicken sandwich alongside an order of small french fries, a small soft drink and a four-piece set of Chicken McNuggets — all for $5.
Executives at the Chicago-based fast food chain have recently acknowledged that their products have become unaffordable for a large group of consumers who need to be more careful about how they spend their money given the soaring cost of food.
Some McDonald’s locations have even been charging as much as $18 for a Big Mac meal and $7.29 for an Egg McMuffin — sparking a social media backlash.
McDonald’s and other chains have also warned of further price hikes in California, whose governor recently signed into law a minimum wage increase for fast food workers who will now earn $20 an hour.
Starbucks is also competing to win back customers by offering several deals after reporting a decline in foot traffic last quarter.
The Seattle-based coffee chain is offering users of its app 50% off of handcrafted drinks if they buy it from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays in May.
The offer is limited to participating locations.
Last month, Starbucks cut its annual sales forecast after reporting a fall in same-store sales for the first time in nearly three years, as it struggles with weak demand for its coffees in the United States and China, its two biggest markets.
Wendy’s, a publicly traded company whose stock is listed on the Nasdaq, has seen its share price fall by more than 20% in the past year.
Shares of Wendy’s were trading flat just after Tuesday’s opening bell on Wall Street.
Earlier this month, Wendy’s reported an increase in revenues, net income and margin but a decrease in operating profit for its first quarter, citing “adverse economic conditions or disruptions” as well as “changes in discretionary consumer spending and consumer tastes and preferences.”
McDonald’s stock price was also trading flat as of 9:50 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
