Not-so-Happy Meal? McDonald’s CEO says prices too high

(KTLA) — McDonald’s officials said the company will focus more on affordability after reporting weaker-than-expected sales at its U.S. stores.

The company’s CEO, Chris Kempczinski, said in a recent earnings call that he believes customers have grown “weary” of high prices.

“Eating at home has become more affordable,” Kempczinski said. “We actually saw that cohort” — referring to customers making $45,000 or less — “decrease in the most recent quarter,” he added.

Kempczinski explained franchises had to implement “mid to high single-digit price increases” — depending on their location — in response to inflation last year.

Is McDonald’s planning to cut prices to woo back customers? Not quite.

“We are optimizing price while limiting customer resistance,” Kempczinski said. McDonald’s plans to “get even smarter with our pricing methodology and tailor our digital offers to our fans, making them even more personalized,” he added.

He listed the D123 menu, named for its $1, $2, and $3 options, as an example of an area of focus for the company this year.

The company has been the subject of multiple viral videos where social media users complained about the high cost of eating at the fast-food chain. One video documented how a Big Mac meal costs $18 in Darien, Connecticut, while others showed how a single hash brown costs $3 at certain locations.

The company’s focus on affordability marks a shift from a November earnings call when Kempczinski announced that price hikes could come soon.

McDonald’s is far from the only company that has raised prices recently. Other fast-food chains like Chipotle and Fatburger have indicated that menu price hikes could be on the horizon.

Marcus Walberg, whose family operates four Fatburger restaurants in Los Angeles, recently told Business Insider that he sees no option but to raise prices and make other changes to adapt, especially in light of a new minimum wage law for fast food workers.

In November, Chipotle announced it would also raise prices by a “mid-to-high single-digit” percentage in California.