The Price Is Right

Fast feeders recognize that $5 is the magic meal price; Burger King protests “Pink Tax.”

July 30, 2018

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – In the world of fast foods and drive-thru windows, $5 is the magic meal price, according to QSR Magazine.

KFC has $5 Fill Ups, Subway has resurrected its $5 foot-long sub, Little Caesars sells a $5 lunch combo and Taco Bell has $5 Buck Boxes. Lovers of fast food have been conditioned to expect a good deal and not pay more than $5. Some chains—such as McDonald’s with its $1-$2-$3 Dollar Menu and Wendy’s with a 4 for $4 Meal—go even lower than $5.

Naturally, each chain wants customers to spend more than $5. By not including a drink or by enticing customers to add a dessert or salad, the chains can boost a single transaction to $7 or $8. 

In another right-pricing effort, Burger King wants the public to know that products marketed to women are more expensive than the same items marketed to men, according to another QSR Magazine article.

To prove a point, the Burger King brand took over one of its restaurants and sold regular Chicken Fries for $1.69 and Chicken Fries for Chicks in a custom-made pink box at a much higher price—$3.09—to show guests the effect of the “Pink Tax.”

In a video of the experiment which is posted to YouTube.com/BurgerKing, female customers were charged more for “Chick Fries,” which were simply regular Chicken Fries in a pink box. The video shows guests’ unhappy reaction to the inequitable “tax” for the pink Chick Fries box. To showcase the issue, Burger King sold the fries in the pink Chick Fries box for one day only in Miami, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, but at the same price ($1.69) as regular Chicken Fries.

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