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Wendys Surge Pricing Rumor depicting the company logo and prices going up and down.

Wendy's Surge Pricing Rumor

Part of a series on @Wendys. [View Related Entries]

Updated Mar 01, 2024 at 11:46AM EST by Zach.

Added Feb 29, 2024 at 05:44PM EST by Philipp.

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About

Wendy's Surge Pricing Rumor refers to a series of memes about Wendy's fast-food chain possibly implementing surge pricing for its items similar to systems used by Uber and Lyft. Jokes and backlash about Wendy's implementing fluctuating prices for its food achieved virality in late February 2024. Wendy's later issued a statement denying that the company intends to introduce surge pricing.

Origin

On February 26th, 2024, Wendy's CEO Kirk Tanner spoke about the company investing $20 million into high-tech menu boards able to update prices in real-time. A Wendy's spokesperson told the New York Post[1] that "dynamic pricing can 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."

On that day, the New York Post made a post on X[2] / Twitter claiming that Wendy's was planning to introduce "Uber-style" surge pricing in its restaurants. The post (shown below) garnered over 3,800 reposts and quotes and 2,000 likes in three days. Wendy's later issued a blog post[3] clarifying that "dynamic" pricing will only result in discounted prices during slow times and not increased prices during times of high demand.


NEW New York Post YORK POST @nypost Wendy's planning Uber-style 'surge pricing' where burger prices fluctuate based on demand trib.al/wooqYjj Readers added context they thought people might want to know BREAKFAST BACONATOR Do you find this helpful? Wendy's says its "dynamic" pricing model will only result in "discounts and value" during the slowest times of the day-leaving other times of the day with standard prices. wendys.com/blog/wendys-di... STICKS 11:06 AM. Feb 26, 2024 35.3M Views Rate it Context is written by people who use X, and appears when rated helpful by others. Find out more. :

Spread

Starting on the same day, users on X / Twitter posted memes that compared the rumored surge pricing introduction to a stock market specializing in burgers and other fast food items, posting memes based on films about stock trading such as Margin Call and The Wolf of Wall Street. On February 26th, 2024, X[4] user @KlendathuCap posted the earliest notable meme about the system, gaining over 1,000 reposts and 11,000 likes in three days (shown below, left).

Later that day, X[5] user @KennethDredd posted a My Parents at Age 29 meme about not being able to purchase a burger from Wendy's with a $6.25 bid, with the post gaining over 6,500 reposts and 62,000 likes in three days (shown below, right).


The Klendathu Cap @KlendathuCap Wendy's selling a chicken sandwich for $30 to a single mother running late to pick up her kids: MORE PESECT UNION WE ARE SELLING TO WILLING BUYERS AT THE CURRENT FAIR MARKET PRICE More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS. Feb 26. Wendy's will start experimenting with surge pricing in 2025, along the lines of Uber and Lyft. Wendy's will test "dynamic pricing" on burgers, Frosties, and other menu items, which will cost more during times of increased demand.... Show more ... 7:25 PM. Feb 26, 2024 1.1M Views My parents in their 30s Let's buy a house Me in my 30s 1 imgflip.com "Your maximum bid of $6.25 for a cheeseburger has not been accepted at this time, what the f---" 111 Wendy's

More memes about the rumored change were shared online in the following days. On February 27th, 2024, X[6] user @gazpachomachine shared a photograph of a fridge filled with Wendy's bags, commenting, "just got 110 burgers from Wendy's. nice try but your surge pricing won't get me, I'm stocked up for the year." The post (shown below, left) garnered over 7,000 reposts and 151,000 likes in two days.

Also that day, X[7] user @matthewesp posted a meme that received over 6,600 reposts and 116,000 likes in two days (shown below, right).


gaz✔ @gazpachomachine just got 110 burgers from Wendy's. nice try but your surge pricing won't get me, I'm stocked up for the year TEMPERATURE CONTROL 915 COLDEST TL US ABOUT YOUR VISIT de nyt KAGAIN FOR CHOOSING WENDY'S FOR OMAS VT Wendy's is proud to support the Dave Thomas Foundation for then sen and loving adoptive and Len how you cap Visit Wendys.com/ghingback 1.0. JALITY IS R RECIPE O ♥ Dor YOUR The Original MY DO T ADKOPENIN ... Bro I'm just trying to order a sandwich from Wendy's what the heck is this Coca-Cola Matt Esparza @matthewesp Ex 1 NSDQ ARCA EDGX Baconator®Ⓡ Coca-Cola. ORIGINAL TASTE BaconatorⓇ Medium Natural-Cut Fries Medium Coca-Cola® No Flavor Matthewesp Size Bid Ask Size 0 18.1 5 18.06 3 17.96 6:29 PM Feb 27, 2024 6.5M Views 18.15 8 18.2 0 18.5 3 Sell 18.06 Bid Size: 5 Buy 18.15 Ask Size: 8 Edit Remove Ex ARCA : NSDQ EDGX

The format maintained popularity on X / Twitter through late February 2024, as well as being referenced in numerous memes on sites such as Reddit.[8][9]

Various Examples


Trung Phan @TrungTPhan Been parked outside of Wendy's for the past 6 hours trying to time the perfect entry price for a Big Bacon Classic ($1.20 to $1.60) Wendy's 42.241 241.96 148.8 11 79.88 79.68 93.258 .MI 1 49.54 283.50 238.43.21 2.27 186.93 219.69 242.498 136.3 234.898218.59172.7 Last edited 3:48 PM Feb 29, 2024 · 321.4K Views : sophie @netcapgirl when you bottom tick a baconator at wendy's 9:13 AM Feb 29, 2024 88.8K Views : Danny Stark @dstark86 "Why is this food more expensive than it was this morning" "Sir this is a Wendy's" 12:50 PM. Feb 27, 2024 · 132.1K Views
Stop giving me your toughest battles It's just a $70 Baconator Daniel @growing_daniel Dump our Wendy's portfolio? We'd have to come out of the gate storming. No deserts no nothing. Our entire breakfast menu done by 10:15, by 11 o'clock all our chicken sandwiches have to be gone because otherwise the other banking guys will get something else for lunch. 1:03 AM Feb 28, 2024 286.5K Views Ramp Capital @RampCapitalLLC The high school kid working the Wendy's drive thru trying to figure out what to charge a family of 4 during rush hour 02 $ $ $ $ $ $ SS SS SS 6A GA GA G A/R 102.00 $ 11,371 75 6,818.00 $ 2,558.07 $ 4,691.49 $ 5,432.52 $ 85,756.29 $ 8,550.97 $ 62,109.25 $ 54,102.00 $ 689.98 8:55 AM Feb 29, 2024 · 374K Views A/R MTD DEPOSIT 102.00 1,473.75 $ 8,291.75 $ $ $ 20,849.82 25,541.31 30,973.83 $ 116,730.12 $ 125,281.09 $ 187,390.34 $ 241,492.34 : MT FEE 54

Search Interest

External References

[1] New York Post – Wendy’s planning Uber-style ‘surge pricing’ where burger prices fluctuate based on demand

[2] X – @nypost

[3] Wendy's – Wendy’s Digital News Update

[4] X – @KlendathuCap

[5] X – @KennethDredd

[6] X – @gazpachomachine

[7] X – @matthewesp

[8] Reddit – r/dankmemes

[9] Reddit – r/dankmemes

Related Entries 4 total

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Top Comments

Revic
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Revic

I understand the claim it was not going to be used to raise prices, but I would not be surprised in the slightest if the idea was to raise prices and then "discount" them back to the previous baseline during slow periods, which still makes me a bit glad to see them chased off from this idea. On the other hand, they'll probably just raise them anyway. Line only goes up.

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qx1511
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qx1511

It's not just Wendy's that has this problem, it's all across the board for most of the other Fast Food franchises, as ReviewBrah attests to:

The price of fast food keeps going up, but the quality keeps going down. It's to the point where it's better to spend your money either on a nice Steak dinner, or eat out at a Local restaurant

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