While no one is driving through their local fast food haunts expecting to spend a lot of money on a meal, one thing no chain really wants is for you to spend as little as possible.
Yet most big brands offer some sort of value menu, such as Wendy's (WEN) $5 Biggie Bag or McDonald's (MCD) $1 $2 $3 Dollar Menu.
While these menus are an excellent way to encourage a customer to add an extra item or two to their order (think of it like Target's (TGT) Bullseye's Playground, but edible), a lot of visitors order their entire meal from them.
As you can imagine, high sales of loss leaders are not great for the bottom line of any of these companies. But the balancing act between happy customers and happy franchisees is a precarious one, as historically value menus have caused struggles for the latter.
Restaurant Brands International's (QSR) Burger King has always had cheap items on its menu, but as fast food brands well know, marketing is everything when it comes to good strategy.
So despite the pitfalls of selling very cheap food, BK has announced a new way of presenting a cheap lunch or dinner for its customers that ought to sit well with those looking to keep their food costs low.
Image source: Burger King
What Is Burger King's New Value Meal?
The meal is called $5 Your Way and includes a Double Whopper Jr., a small order of fries, a 4-piece nuggets, and a small drink.
The meal actually isn't new at all, but simply making a return. It originally appeared on Burger King's menu back in December of 2021, but quietly vanished a few months later.
The chain also launched a $1 Your Way menu at the same time, which included a Bacon Cheeseburger, a Chicken Jr. sandwich, fries, and a drink, as well as an extremely ridiculous promotional video of the King himself firing cash into the air with guns that apparently print money.
Good For Customers, But Not Franchise Owners
Burger King franchise owners have made it clear that value menus have hurt their business in the past. In March, Daniel Accordino, chief executive of Burger King's largest U.S. franchise owner, Carrols Restaurant Group TAST announced it would lift price caps on value menu items, remove the Whopper from that menu, and cut 10-piece nuggets down to eight.
It's also notable that many chain restaurants may offer a value meal, but promote it selectively. For example, there is no easily found section on the Burger King website or app for value meals. Searching "Burger King value meals" in a web browser delivers a page that also is not labeled clearly and only mentions the word value once in relation to "Value Drinks."
Wendy's also does not have a section for value items on its online menu, although it has dedicated some real estate space on the front page of its website to promote its newly-announced $5 Biggie Bag.
So while these menus remain a thorn in the side of franchise owners (and one that has been embedded there for a long time), it appears that they are here to stay, at least for now.
