McDonald’s discount strategy may force competitors to follow the example of deals

High list prices It has caused traffic in fast food restaurants, as economic concerns of its main customers pushed to curb the estimated spending.

But the fast food companies that are already struggling with the pressures of the margin are facing a difficult challenge: they risk alienating the same families that have long maintained their business if they raised prices a lot.

McDonald’s announced this week that it had doubled the proposal of its value to renew traffic among its costly customers. But the transition from such a giant, in turn, can ignite a shift in the entire industry, forcing its biggest competitors to follow his example with their own discounts, especially on the same day, according to Mark and Elevsky, head of restaurant financing and concession in TD Bank.

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“Golden Arches” restores meals of additional value – which have not been on the lists since 2019 – as a list category. The company will provide eight packages of meal in breakfast, lunch and dinner, each cost 15 % less than the purchase of the elements separately.

Wasilefsky described the limited time promotion as a “powerful step” given how large McDonald’s in the United States has argued that although the deep opponent will force competitors to offer similar deals, they are likely to be able to reduce the McDonald’s percentage.

McDonald’s restores additional value to attract budget customers

“When you look at the margin, 15 % is an incredible discount.” “I think other brands should follow their example depending on the daily. If the breakfast, and compete in the breakfast area, they will have to deduct breakfast.”

The same applies to midday or afternoon as well. Wasilefsky does not think that the McDonald upgrade will start a pricing war because it does not think anyone can overcome this deal. Instead, “they will try to match them in the routine with the largest possible number of their customers as possible.”

However, raising the price war is not the intention of the fast food giant – it relates to disrupting consumer procedures, and withdrawing loyal customers away from competitors such as Dunkin ‘and making them addicted to McDonald offers, so even after prices return to normal, the company hopes that these new habits will stick.

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“They are trying to get new customers. But what you really try to do is to change the behavior of the consumer. You keep your current customers and make people come to you for value,” he added.

Simply put it, it is not about increasing short -term sales and more about turning customer behavior in the long run. It is directed to help them in the long term as the industry faces a turbulent period.

The fast food sector faced a mixture of challenges, from margin pressures due to the problems of supply chain and the high costs of employment to the traffic industry level, with few exceptions such as Chipotle and Cava, according to Wasilefsky.

As of July, menu prices in limited restaurants, which include fast food restaurants, increased by 3.3 % on an annual basis, according to the data of the National Association for Restaurants. The price of the list in restaurants of limited services reached 8.2 % in April 2023, according to the data.

In the first fiscal quarter of 2025, McDonald’s witnessed sales in American stores open for at least a year due to a decrease for at least a year due to The weakest traffic is expected Through the low and medium income sectors. Willievsky, another series that may feel the effect of McDonald’s promotion, indicated that traffic in the first quarter is still decreased from a year.

In the second fiscal quarter of the year, profits in restaurants owned by Windy decreased due to a mixture of high food and employment costs as well as low traffic.

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The consumer decline may be more structural than the league.

Will Ochinkens, who is the leader of the retail sector in Ey -Parthenon, said her research for consumers indicates the fact that Americans have begun controlling appreciation spending to compensate for basic commodity costs and basic services such as food and housing. He said that the spending of restaurants, through all income groups, was the first to achieve great success.

“With nearly 40 % of low -income families He said that the cuts in the prices of QSR (the fast restaurant) in recent times may be a sign of a broader transformation in the industry, “adding that” brands face increasing pressure from conscious consumers, and if this trend is accelerating, we can see reorganizing pricing strategies across the sector. “