"Ruin your business 101”: Wendy’s surge pricing plans spark backlash online

Recently, fast food joint Wendy’s made headlines after they announced their plans to roll out surge-pricing based on demand, at the beginning of next year, like Uber’s surge-pricing model, as per Fox Business.

"Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing a variety of enhanced features on these digital menu boards like dynamic pricing, different offerings in certain parts of the day, AI-enabled menu changes, and suggestive selling based on factors such as weather," a Wendy’s spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

The representative also confirmed that the changes were introduced by CEO and President Kirk Tanner during an earnings call in early February 2023. They also confirmed that the surge pricing is part of a “number of features,” that will be laid out by the company.

In the wake of this news, Wendy’s is facing severe online backlash. An X user with the handle @samtrevlicrow commented under @unusual_whales’ post on the platform saying it was a plan that would ruin the business of the fast-food giant.

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“Insane”: Internet slams Wendy’s for procuring surge-pricing model

In 2025, Wendy’s is planning to introduce a demand-basis price overhaul, meaning that prices of their burgers and other food items will fluctuate depending on their demands at a specific time and location, alongside other factors such as bad weather or rush hour, much like calling for an Uber.

While they have tagged the change as “dynamic pricing,” netizens figured out that they meant surge pricing, which is now gaining severe traction as well as criticisms.

While Wendy’s hasn’t responded to the backlash yet, previously, one of their spokespersons told Fox News Digital that dynamic pricing would "allow Wendy's to be competitive and flexible with pricing, motivate customers to visit, and provide them with the food they love at a great value.”

They also added that such a change would “provide an enhanced customer and crew experience.”

"At Wendy’s, we’re focused on providing great tasting, fresh, high-quality food and doing it in a way that brings value to our customers. As we’ve previously shared, we are making a significant investment to accelerate our digital business,” the statement shared.

Tagging the forthcoming features, including price surge as part of their “loyalty program,” the company would also be introducing AI-operated digital menu boards which would reflect “fluctuating prices in real-time,” alongside order-accuracy and increase in sales. As per Fox Business, the fast-food major reportedly has a budget of $20 million to implement the changes.

George Washington University Economics professor Steven Suranovic told the Daily Mail that the company's new model would not make customers happy, instead enable them to take the “surplus” away from them and “put it into the firm’s pocket.” He also added that lunchtime customers would be the worst affected by the dynamic pricing strategy and might not keep up with it.

Meanwhile, the New York Post obtained statistics from a consumer transparency platform called PriceListo that showed that Wendy's is the most expensive fast-food chain in the country after a 35 percent rise in prices due to inflation between 2022 and 2023.