Current Events > Wendy's backtracks on surge pricing.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Wendys is clarifying what the company's CEO meant in a recent call with analysts when he said the fast-food chain plans to roll out dynamic pricing.

In mid-February, Kirk Tanner, the new CEO and president of Wendys, shared with analysts that they would be rolling out new plans to improve company profits, including digital menu boards that will be more easily able to change the prices of items, as well as testing dynamic pricing and daypart offers, according to Nations Restaurant News.

Tanner explained that they plan to invest about $20 million to roll out digital menu boards to all U.S. company-operated restaurants by the end of 2025 and approximately $10 million over the next two years to support digital menu board enhancements for the global system.

To clarify, Wendys will not implement surge pricing, which is the practice of raising prices when demand is highest. We didnt use that phrase, nor do we plan to implement that practice, a spokesperson said in an email to NBC News. They added there are no plans to raise prices at high-demand times.

We said these (digital) menu boards would give us more flexibility to change the display of featured items. This was misconstrued in some media reports as an intent to raise prices when demand is highest at our restaurants. We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most, the Feb. 26 statement reads. Any features we may test in the future would be designed to benefit our customers and restaurant crew members. Digital menu boards could allow us to change the menu offerings at different times of day and offer discounts and value offers to our customers more easily, particularly in the slower times of day.

A Wendys spokesperson had initially confirmed the digital menus, as well as dynamic pricing, in a Feb. 26 statement to TODAY.com, noting the company's future ability to change prices at different times of day. The initial statement did not say the fast-food chain would only lower prices with the new dynamic pricing model.

too late, damage done.

Translation: Public isnt ready yet for this. Will try it again some other time when theres more consumer apathy for it.

too late, damage done.

Translation: Public isnt ready yet for this. Will try it again some other time when theres more consumer apathy for it.

Digital menu boards could allow us to change the menu offerings at different times of day and offer discounts and value offers to our customers more easily, particularly in the slower times of day.

Lol we didn't say what we said.

This is the key part. This means they are still going to do surge pricing, but frame it as lowering prices during slow times. (After raising prices across the board, they can discount it at slow times to the price it is now. )

Good. Now lower the prices to what they used to be and maybe then I'll consider going there for lunch breaks again.

This is the key part. This means they are still going to do surge pricing, but frame it as lowering prices during slow times. (After raising prices across the board, they can discount it at slow times to the price it is now. )

So was the other topic a typical example of the internet misquoting or were they testing public reaction?

Translation: Public isnt ready yet for this. Will try it again some other time when theres more consumer apathy for it.

So was the other topic a typical example of the internet misquoting or were they testing public reaction?

So was the other topic a typical example of the internet misquoting or were they testing public reaction?

We "leaked" a plan to gage public opinion, the public didn't like it, so now we pretend that it was taken out of context.

But they listened and they fixed the mistake.

We "leaked" a plan to gage public opinion, the public didn't like it, so now we pretend that it was taken out of context.

What was the actual quote from the initial statement? Because if clickbait journalists added the "surge pricing" terminology all on their own, that would be pretty egregious.

That was from the CEO. Also it was confirmed by spokespeople. It wasn't clickbait.

Was it ever suggested that the dynamic pricing would lead to pricing increases, or was that just an assumption?

If your food is more expensive during high volume times and lower during low volume times, it's surge pricing. Flavor it up all you want but it's the same thing.