McDonald's U.S. President Joe Erlinger is trying to dismantle rumors that the company significantly pumped up prices beyond inflationary rates.
"Recently, we have seen viral social posts and poorly sourced reports that McDonald’s has raised prices significantly beyond inflationary rates. This is inaccurate," Erlinger wrote in a note to customers Wednesday.
Although high-priced burgers exist, he said that this is an exception, not the norm.
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"I can tell you that it frustrates and worries me, and many of our franchisees, when I hear about an $18 Big Mac meal being sold - even if it was at one location in the U.S. out of more than 13,700," he said.
Erlinger said he's more concerned "when people believe that this is the rule and not the exception, or when folks start to suggest that the prices of a Big Mac have risen 100% since 2019."
According to Erlinger, the average price of a Big Mac in the U.S. in 2019 was $4.39.
Today, the average cost is $5.29, an increase of 21% with all the inflationary pressures factored in from the past few years, he said.
Erlinger said the company's franchisees, who operate more than 95% of all restaurants in the U.S., are in charge of setting menu prices for their restaurants. These prices reflect the increased costs of running their businesses.
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Still, McDonald's said in its first quarter earnings call that consumers are "getting hit" and that traffic across many of its top markets is flat or declining.
To lure customers back amid the higher inflationary environment, McDonald's has been planning to drum up promotions to reverse declining traffic and boost sales.
McDonald's noted that 90% of its U.S. franchisees are offering meal bundles for $4 or less.
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However, CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts on a call in April that while there is a lot of great value out there, "the issue that we have in the U.S. is in an environment where everybody is out there with a value message there's an opportunity for us to drive better awareness of what our value platform is."
