Democrats knock McDonald’s over price increases
FILE - An exit sign is shown at a McDonald's restaurant in Pittsburgh, April 23, 2022. McDonald's reports earnings on Monday Oct. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
A group of Democratic senators knocked McDonald’s over its price increases and its “dominant market position” as the largest fast-food chain across the country.
In a letter sent to McDonald’s leadership, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Bob Casey (Pa.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) demanded President and CEO Chris Kempczinski explain the chain’s pricing they say is higher than it should be, accounting for inflation.
“While McDonald’s is not the only fast food restaurant that has increased prices significantly in recent years, its dominant market position as the largest fast food chain in the United States has an outsize impact on American consumers,” the senators said in a statement. “While working families are trying to make ends meet, McDonald’s and its corporate counterparts have continued to grow their profits.”
The letter was first reported by NBC News. The senators said McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger tried to blame the company’s menu price increases on inflation and the company’s input costs, but “the data tells another story.”
“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, fast food prices have consistently outpaced inflation, and since 2020, overall inflation has increased by 20 percent, while McDonald’s has increased its menu prices for several items substantially more,” the senators said.
The senators said McDonald’s net income rose by 79 percent — nearly $8.5 billion — between 2020 and 2023.
“Corporate profits must not come at the expense of people’s ability to put food on the table,” the senators said. “As we seek to investigate and understand the increased consumer costs in the economy, we hope McDonald’s will help us to understand why its prices have risen so high.”
In a statement to The Hill, McDonald’s said the company and its franchisees are “committed to keeping prices affordable” and criticized the senators’ letter.
“This letter demonstrates a lack of understanding of our franchise business model and contains contortions of facts and many inaccuracies,” the company said. “Take the components of the $5 Meal Deal with McChicken, for example – which would have cost 15 percent more in 2020 than they do today. That’s the opposite of price gouging.”
McDonald’s said it will respond to the letter from the Democrats and will continue to “show up for our customers” in the meantime.
The letter follows another political McDonald’s event.
Former President Trump visited a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Sunday and worked the drive-thru window and french fry station in a campaign stunt and an attempt to hit at Vice President Harris’s past employment at the establishment.