So why didnt price go up prior to covid, if the CEO can manage to set prices? Or is it that they have always set their price to the maximum that their customer

So why didnt price go up prior to covid, if the CEO can manage to set prices? Or is it that they have always set their price to the maximum that their customers will bear, and it's just that now, their customers were willing to bear a bit higher (due to some external cause)?