LETTER: The truth about McDonald’s and prices

Your June 7 editorial, “Note to Biden on inflation: It’s the Big Macs, stupid,” contained inaccuracies.

First and foremost, we — together with our franchisees — take seriously our proud heritage and commitment to providing families with value and affordable options. In making your point, the editorial relied upon data from a study that has been debunked due to gaps in methodology.

For example, the study states that McDonald’s prices have doubled since 2014. That is not true. In an effort to be transparent, we recently published accurate information on our website to address these inaccurate studies.

In that data, you’ll see that McDonald’s overall, five-year price increases are closely connected to the increase of costs to run restaurants. The editorial claims that the average price of a Big Mac is now $5.99 — up from $4.39 in 2019. However, the current average price is $5.29. Similarly, the current price of medium fries is not $3.79 — it’s $3.29, up from $2.29 in 2019.

If your readers are interested in learning more, they can read the open letter from McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger at corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/providing-meaningful-value-to-our-fans-with-a-side-of-facts.html.

Michael Gonda

Chicago

The writer is senior vice president and chief impact officer of North America for McDonald’s USA.