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Am I the only one that didn’t know the price differed between locations? I just assumed that, other than airports and other special cases like that, the prices
by avalys 3y ago
Am I the only one that didn’t know the price differed between locations?
I just assumed that, other than airports and other special cases like that, the prices were set nationally.
- ttyprintk 3y agoYou might also be surprised that 82% are franchises.
- Sebb767 3y agoI'm actually surprised that 18% aren't. I always assumed that all McDonalds are franchises, with a few exceptions for halo stores and the likes.
- throwaway290 3y agoMcD direct owned almost all stores in Russia from what I heard, I bet they are done with that model now...
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoI worked for a corporate store in the Seattle area as a teenager. They had a lot of them in the suburbs, but in Seattle itself it was all franchises.
- throwaway290 3y agoI thought franchisees cannot just set whatever price they feel like though?
- epolanski 3y agoWhy wouldn't they?
- Dylan16807 3y agoThe contract that makes so many other things be the same.
- michaelt 3y agoIf they want to run national advertising campaigns about the price of a value meal, every store has to offer a value meal at the advertised price. I suppose they could just leave all the prices off national advertising, though.
- lotsofpulp 3y agoThere is always a disclaimer of “at participating locations” in those advertisements.
- 8organicbits 3y agoAds that quote the prices and the dollar menu give the perception of uniform pricing. I guess ads are regional, only mention one or two products, and they mention "in participating stores". I wonder how much the dollar menu varies (if that's even a thing any more, it's been many years...)
- crazygringo 3y agoFranchisees have very little control over anything. They can't change decoration, they often can't add an extra employee on a shift, they can't opt out of promotions, and they often can't set prices at all, or are allowed to change them only within a very narrow range. They run the restaurant exactly the way corporate decides. This is standard for franchising. It's just how it works. (If you want to do things your way, you start your own independent restaurant -- you don't franchise.)
- UberFly 3y agoThey have to be able to adjust to whatever the local landscape allows. I know in places like Seattle they tax it heavily.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoSeattle has a 10% sales tax, and a tax on sugary beverages that doesn’t apply to coke zero for example. There is maybe a b/o tax, but nothing really special beyond that.
- ttyprintk 3y agoAs I understand it, corporate in Chicago sets a USA maximum price.
- boguscoder 3y agoDitto, this site brought me observational joy but informational shock
- BuildTheRobots 3y agoI was doubly surprised to find out that price varies by location in the UK as well (seems to have been introduced in 2008).
- whartung 3y agoCertainly not. Land, taxes, labor, etc. vary across the country, and that has an impact on local pricing. An extreme case is the McDonalds at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, which is a small town, obviously catering to the tourist trade. But, it's also, essentially, in the middle of nowhere. Plus, they have to truck water in, as there's no ground water or wells. The prices of sodas and beer were about the same, and they have to pay more labor to attract folks to make the drive out to the town to work. At the time, this was early 90's, it was almost $6.00 for the quarter pounder/fries/coke, which was an "outrageous" price, especially for McDonalds. Similarly, not McDonalds related, but there's another gas station in the middle of the desert with signs around the store to essentially tell folks "Yes, we know everything is expensive here. We're in the middle of the desert."
- lotsofpulp 3y agoThe minimum wage varies by $13+ across the US, and labor is a huge portion of a restaurant’s COGS. And land/rent/property tax/insurance/business tax also vary widely, so national pricing rarely makes sense in the US.