‘Surge Pricing’ is Coming to Wendy’s, and New Yorkers Should Be Furious

Imagine for a moment that your work colleague went to Wendy's at 11am and got a Baconator® combo meal for $15.43. Now imagine you went to Wendy's just one hour later and got the exact same combo meal, but it cost you $16.43. You'd be pretty angry, right? What gives?

It's called 'surge' or 'dynamic' pricing, and it's coming to Wendy's whether you like it or not.

Surge pricing means that Wendy's will charge more during peak meal times, like 12-1pm or 5pm-6pm, in order to boost profits.

In a recent earnings call on February 15, CEO of Wendy's, Kirk Tanner, daftly declared:

As early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and daypart offerings along with AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling.

Surge pricing is often observed in services like Uber or Lyft, where it's not uncommon for a ride to cost more during peak rush hour traffic. The difference between those services and Wendy's, however, is that the driver performing the service will usually see the uptick in wages from those increased costs. When Wendy's does it, however, those extra profits will go directly to the company, with workers' wages staying the same.

It also means that if you work for a company with a rigid meal time, let's say from 12 to 12:30pm, you would be penalized by eating at Wendy's on your lunch break. The price surge within that half-hour window means you'll be paying more for your meal than whatever it cost just 30 minutes ago.

That sucks, right?

Since Wendy's isn't planning on rolling this out until 2025, it means the public has plenty of time to voice their displeasure (over on X or Facebook, for example). In a world where the little guy struggles to pay for basic necessities, there's no way we should take this lying down.

via GIPHY

There are currently 205 Wendy's restaurants operating throughout the state of New York.