The Internet was less than pleased when a number of news outlets ran stories earlier in the week reporting that Wendy’s was going to implement surge pricing in 2025.
These stories were the result of the Wendy’s CEO telling shareholders in an earnings call two weeks ago that the company would “begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing,” a practice in which prices are automatically adjusted to reflect demand. Customers were not happy with the idea and took to social media to let the world know.
“Imagine standing in line and watching the price of a Frostee [sic] increase by $2 as soon as you get to the register,” one user posted on X. “Dynamic pricing is basically price gouging, and consumers are fed up,” commented another. The backlash was significant enough that Wendy’s released an official statement clarifying that surge pricing is not coming to its stores: “We said these 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.”
