Wendy’s has spoken to its manager after suggestions that it plans to introduce “surge pricing” to its menu received a decidedly frosty response this week, with the company scrambling to clarify that it has no intention of making itself the Uber of fast-food chains.
Totally agree. In what world would even the most out-of-touch executive think customers would be happy about this? Not to mention the logistical nightmare it would cause when the guy in front of you in line is paying a higher/lower price or the price changes halfway through waiting in line, or the price changes in the middle of your order.
It was a really dumb idea that couldn’t have gone anywhere, but was useful to drum up a little controversy and publicity.
Yeah, surge pricing is meant to discourage usage as there is too much demand. Most restaurants will never have this problem. One exception I found was the unveiling of the new popular restaurant here in my area that had 24 hour service times. They eventually had to change it to close a few hours at night for staff to clean and restock. The change was 3 days after grand opening. Drive thru was so full it reached the big streets and the highways off ramp. It was dumb af. I liked the closing idea more than surge pricing.
In fact they could do a happy hour specials that mimic this surge pricing but the advertising will be to highlight lower price times. which theoretically should act the same as surge pricing by making times of high demand “normal”/higher prices.