Uber and Lyft, two of the most popular ride-hailing apps practice ‘surge pricing,’ which essentially means higher pricing during higher demand hours.
In the same vein, fast food chain Wendy’s will start experimenting with surge pricing in the United States by 2025, as revealed in the chain’s February earnings call.
Wendy’s refers to surge pricing as ‘dynamic pricing,’ and mentions that burgers, Frostys, and some other items will be the first to feature dynamic pricing. This will coincide with the rollout of digital menus across all U.S. Wendy’s restaurants.
“Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing,” said Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner during the earnings call. “We are planning to invest approximately $20 million to roll out digital menu boards to all US company-operated restaurants by the end of 2025.”
It’s good to know that the experiment is taking place only south of the border, though it’s also worth noting that dynamic pricing is something that might come to Canadian Wendy’s restaurants in the future.
With the surge pricing model in place, your favourite Wendy’s meal could cost more during busy hours, like during lunch hours. However, on the plus side, it might decrease during slow hours.
Learn more about the upcoming development in Wendy’s last earning call here.
