McDonald's $18 Big Mac Has Customers Fired Up

But the company's president calls it "the exception," not the rule.

Dotdash Meredith/Janet Maples

It's no surprise that the drive-thru is no longer the wallet-friendly dinner option it used to be. Between the news of general inflation and chains like Wendy's testing alternative pricing models, fast food is more expensive than it has ever been and customers are making their unhappiness known.

McDonald's is under fire for just that, and it's not the first time. Back in December 2023, a video went viral on TikTok calling attention to the fact that not one item on the so-called Dollar Menu costs $1. Commenters were eager to jump on the bandwagon, echoing the sentiments that "McDonald’s pricing is getting out of hand."

Last week, even more fuel was added to the fire when an X/Twitter user's photo went viral showing a Big Mac combo meal at the whopping price of $17.59. And it's no fluke—according to one report, the most expensive Big Mac in the world now lies in none other than the United States. It's in Darien, Connecticut, to be exact, where the aforementioned photo was taken. How did a budget-friendly meal like the Big Mac come to cost $18? McDonald's has answers.

McDonald's Responds to $18 Big Mac Controversy

In an open letter posted a few days ago to McDonald's corporate website, the president of McDonald's USA, Joe Erlinger, was happy to chime in on the controversy. Erlinger was quick to dispel "inaccurate" information and add context around the $18 Big Mac. While he didn't contend that the Darien location was selling $18 Big Mac meal combos, Erlinger clarified that this price was at one restaurant out of over 13,700 McDonald's in the country. But how could even one location get so expensive?

You may recall from another McDonald's pricing scandal last year—the $20 Grimace Milkshake debacle—that McDonald's franchisees set their own menu prices. And while the large majority stick within a narrow price range, some may choose to to hike up the prices of specific items due to their popularity or the economic status of the projected patrons. (For context, Darien's median household income in 2022 was just over $250K, compared to the national median in 2022, which was just under $75K.)

One report noted that even a few minutes from the Darien location and home to the $18 Big Mac combo, prices were nearly halved for the same menu items.

Despite that context, Erlinger called it "more worrying" that posts like these have been getting so much traction, leading people to believe "that this is the rule and not the exception." According to Erlinger, the average cost of a Big Mac in the U.S. today is $5.29. That's a 21% increase from 2019 (not a 100% increase, as some other online reports have falsely claimed.)

Erlinger was also sure to point out that "more than 90% of U.S. franchisees are offering meal bundles for $4 or less." However, in researching the viral $12 Dinner Box, we found that McDonald's bundle options can range pretty widely when it comes to cost and availability.

Finally, Erlinger assured customers that McDonald's, along with its franchisees, is "laser-focused on value and affordability." We've seen this in the company's commitment to reformulating the beloved Big Mac to make it bigger and better-tasting in 2024 and beyond. Here's hoping that next, Erlinger and his team will tackle those pesky broken ice cream machines so we can finally try the new Grandma McFlurry.

Read the original article on All Recipes.