Wendy's to test surge pricing

[soccerdad72]

That makes sense now - it was an investor's call, not your standard PR news release.

 

[Imzadi]

On a mid-February earnings call, the fast-food chain’s new CEO Kirk Tanner had said Wendy’s would “begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing” as early as next year.

To do so, Wendy’s was investing about $20 million to roll out artificial intelligence-enabled digital menu boards in U.S. restaurants, and $10 million to support such efforts globally, he said.

Why does Wendy's need artificial intelligence-enabled digital menu boards? AI has the ability to compile and ANALYZE info and data. If they are just going to change the times that different menus appear, McDonalds has that already. When breakfast is over at 10:30am, the menus automatically switch to their lunch menus. No analyzing necessary. Especially not $20 million worth of analyzing.

As other posters have said, if they want to implement a happy hour pricing, do that. Again that doesn't require $20 million to figure out how to roll that out.

 

[QueenIsabella]

It would have made much more sense to label this as discount pricing during off-peak hours. McDonald's and Sonic both offer drink discounts mid-afternoon to drive traffic. If Wendy's did $1 fries between 2-5pm or something, it would have sounded much better...even if the regular price of fries went up by $0.50.

That said, I don't see this affecting my once-a-decade trip to Wendy's.

 

[_19disnA]

Ooooops, CEO backtracks...................LOL.

 

[mylilnikita]

Ooooops, CEO backtracks...................LOL.

View attachment 837703

Lol Sure CEO, whatever you want us to believe.

 

[greeneyedchick]

Walking it back, except it's still the same thing, just said in a different way. Items will be cheaper when lower demand, or as they say "offer discounts and value offers to our customers more easily particularly in the slower times of the day" - so when it's not slower, no discounts. So yes, it is surge pricing, they are just trying not to call it that. It's really no different from what hotels and airlines and rideshares do, it's just the first time a fast food chain has come out and detailed what they are doing. PR move after the initial bad press. I am in MA and that is one of the states they said they were going to try it. Was all over the news yesterday and people were not happy. In this case, I don't think it was to their advantage.

Their strategy doesn't make sense. Happy hour and early bird specials are advertised to entice people to come at slower times. If they are going to offer lower prices at slower times, but it's variable, then people won't know that they are having a deal and be tempted to go unless the customers are constantly monitoring the prices. If they are trying to increase business during slow times, they would have been much better off advertising a Special Mid-afternoon or Late-NIght menus. That way people would know when they could get them. They could have even said that the deals will vary each day, but at least people would know to check during a certain time of day.

 

[greeneyedchick]

Why does Wendy's need artificial intelligence-enabled digital menu boards? AI has the ability to compile and ANALYZE info and data. If they are just going to change the times that different menus appear, McDonalds has that already. When breakfast is over at 10:30am, the menus automatically switch to their lunch menus. No analyzing necessary. Especially not $20 million worth of analyzing.

As other posters have said, if they want to implement a happy hour pricing, do that. Again that doesn't require $20 million to figure out how to roll that out.

Agreed. That makes no sense. They already have the data. They could analyze it right now and decide the best pricing and menu combinations. I don't think Wendy's understand the difference between data analysis and AI. If they are talking about real-time data analysis, that seems like overkill given that their menu doesn't change much.

 

[Uncle Coaster]

Actually, McDonalds’ menu boards are AI powered, too.

https://www.nrn.com/quick-service/mcdonald-s-deploys-700-ai-powered-menu-boards

 

[Mokat76]

If they actually do this I know I’ll stop going to Wendy’s. That’s a shame because I like their food more than most fast food places, but not enough to accept price gouging.

 

[loves to dive]

They've clarified, they don't mean surge pricing and charging more during busy times.

https://qz.com/wendys-surge-pricing-burgers-uber-dynamic-pricing-1851292583

“Dynamic pricing” is widely understood to mean changing prices as demand fluctuates to maximize revenue. But after an initial backlash from customers, Wendy’s says Tanner didn’t mean “surge pricing” when he said “dynamic pricing.” The company spokesperson told NBC 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,” the Wendy’s spokesperson said. “We have no plans to do that and would not raise prices when our customers are visiting us most.”

“Any features we may test in the future would be designed to benefit our customers and restaurant crew members,” the spokesperson sadded. “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.”

"ooh I love to dance a little sidestep now they see me now they don't I've come and gone and ohhh, I love to sweep around the wide step cut a little swath and lead the people on"

 

[MGMmjl]

Made me laugh!

 

[dizneegirl]

"ooh I love to dance a little sidestep now they see me now they don't I've come and gone and ohhh, I love to sweep around the wide step cut a little swath and lead the people on"

Great movie!