SAN DIEGO – Plunk down a dollar at McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King and it won’t get you as far as it once did. The fast-food chains have all revamped their dollar menus and raised the prices, the Los Angeles Times reports.

McDonald’s is moving to a Dollar Menu & More with value items ranging in price from $1 to $5, to offer customers’ “need for choice, flexibility and other preferences.” Earlier this year, Wendy’s redesigned its 99-cent menu into Right Price Right Size with items ranging up to $2. Burger King added a $1.29 Whopper Jr. deal to its value menu, while Arby’s debuted a Snack ‘n Save menu with products priced up to $3.

“The dollar menu will have to evolve,” said John Gordon, founder of Pacific Management Consulting Group. “If you talk dollar too much, it erodes the customer's perception of you over time—you don't find a Maserati for a dollar.”

Behind the change is the fact that dollar meals eat into a restaurant’s profit—and don’t necessarily increase traffic. Over the past three years, the number of QSR menu items priced at $1 or under plummeted 26%, according to Mintel.

“Economics is only part of what contributes to people’s decisions to eat fast food,” said William McCarthy, professor of health policy and management at the University of California-Los Angeles. “As appealing as the low cost is, the time cost is even more important if you ask me. Fast-food places will not lose too many customers if they do away with dollar menus.”

One fast-food restaurant that isn’t going along with the rest is Taco Bell. The Mexican chain has been piloting a new menu called Cravings that has a dozen items for a buck each. “This is an industry that's in a state of flux,” said Bonnie Riggs, an analyst at NPD. “It's going to be a real battle for market share. They are all trying different ways to drive traffic.”