Days after ConsumerAffairs reported that McDonald’s was working on adding a $5 value meal to consumers who’re fed up with high prices, the fast food titan’s other shoe has dropped.
Beginning June 25, 2024 McDonald's will begin selling a $5, 4-item package that includes fries, a drink, 4-piece nuggets, and your choice of a McChicken or a McDouble.
And a deal it is, too. Using McDonald’s app and ordering the same thing, ConsumerAffairs found that the same meal today would set you back $8.37 – a near-50% difference.
The only rub is that the promotion will reportedly last for just a month, so chow down with the clown while the gettin's good.
A ‘street fight’ is underway to win over low-income consumers
The fast food landscape is strewn with lots of empty parking spaces as more than half of the people across the U.S. who make below $50,000 a year have backed off of dining out. And that means that restaurants – especially those that have historically been value-driven – are hurting.
McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden framed the situation as a “street fight” to try and woo back value seekers – one that will only intensify throughout the year.
“We've got a street-fighting mentality in the current context,” he said. “Clearly, everybody is fighting for fewer consumers or consumers that are certainly visiting less frequently, and we've got to make sure we've got that street fighting mentality to win regardless of the context around us.”
McDonald’s may have been the first to aggressively chase after that consumer category, but Wendy’s executives recently noted that it and its peers are “definitely under pressure” to get it right with consumers who have household incomes below $75,000.
Shake Shack’s outgoing CEO dittoes that. So did the CEO of El Pollo Loco. Add Dine Brands, the parent company of Applebee’s and IHOP to those who’ll no doubt be duking it out, as well. Then, there’s Jack in the Box
Darin Harris, CEO of Jack in the Box, confirmed that fast food will be duking it out. “We definitely felt it coming into the second quarter, and so we know that value is going to be something we talk about for the rest of the year. We know the competition is doing that so we will be in that game.”