Business Corruption and Malfeasance
- Thread starter GURPS
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McDonald's Blames Customers! w/ Melonie Mac
Spooked McDonald's boss reveals huge amount prices have risen since 2019 in open letter about viral $18 Big Mac
Expert Neil Saunders, from GlobalData, told DailyMail.com: 'The letter is a bid to reassure customers that McDonald’s is not profiteering or acting unfairly.
'The problem is that while people may well buy that, the reality is that the price of menu items has become a lot more expensive.
'That may not be McDonald’s fault but it’s a problem for a meal that’s supposed to be an inexpensive indulgence.'
McDonald's made an eye-watering $14.5 billion profit last year.
In a 'myths vs facts' section of the letter, Erlinger says it is a myth that 'McDonald's has raised prices at a rate nearly double the rate of inflation'.
To back this up, he ignores the offical rate of inflation. Instead, he points to how much more McDonald's is paying for things.
He says: 'The average input costs (salaries, food and paper) are up around 40 per cent over the past five years. The average price of McDonald's menu items is up around 40 per cent over the past five years.'
He also admitted that the average price of a 10-piece McNuggets Meal now tpically costs 28 per cent more, up from $7.19 to $9.19.
Meanwhile he said a Big Mac was up 21 per cent, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese up 20 per cent and an Egg McMuffin up 23 per cent.
Erlinger admits that $18 Big Mac meals worry him - but says that they are the exception rather than the rule.
'I can tell you that it frustrates and worries me, and many of our franchisees, when I hear about an $18 Big Mac meal being sold - even if it was at one location in the U.S. out of more than 13,700.;
But then he rails aganst customers on social media talking about it.
He added: 'More worrying, though, is when people believe that this is the rule and not the exception, or when folks start to suggest that the prices of a Big Mac have risen 100% since 2019.'
His letter comes as a new report out Monday showed how much some popular combo meals have shot up in price.