Wendy's expands 99-cent menu
Wendy's is the latest fast food chain to expand its 99-cent menu, adding the double-stack cheeseburger, the junior bacon cheeseburger, and the crispy chicken sandwich. It seems that all fast food restaurants are using 99-cent menus to lure in customers, and there's a science behind this simple-sounding ploy.
The key to making a 99-cent menu work is not putting too many items on it. The items offered for 99 cents have to be enticing, and the restaurant has to be prepared to make little to no profit off the special menu. The profit lies in the add-ons that customers will buy. Drinks are particularly profitable for restaurants, and sides like French fries and salads are also fairly profitable.
Put too many items on the 99-cent menu, and customers won't venture away from it and toward the more profitable items. Put too few items on the menu, and you won't draw in enough customers to make the promotion worthwhile.
I think it's safe to say (in my non-scientific, only anecdotal) opinion that fast food restaurants are aiming toward increasing foot traffic in their stores. Eating out is one of the biggest wastes of money ever, so during times of tight budgets, many families are cutting back on trips to restaurants. If fast food joints can increase traffic with deals for bargain hunters, they stand to make a tidy little profit from all the "extras" sold to patrons.
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.
The key to making a 99-cent menu work is not putting too many items on it. The items offered for 99 cents have to be enticing, and the restaurant has to be prepared to make little to no profit off the special menu. The profit lies in the add-ons that customers will buy. Drinks are particularly profitable for restaurants, and sides like French fries and salads are also fairly profitable.
Put too many items on the 99-cent menu, and customers won't venture away from it and toward the more profitable items. Put too few items on the menu, and you won't draw in enough customers to make the promotion worthwhile.
I think it's safe to say (in my non-scientific, only anecdotal) opinion that fast food restaurants are aiming toward increasing foot traffic in their stores. Eating out is one of the biggest wastes of money ever, so during times of tight budgets, many families are cutting back on trips to restaurants. If fast food joints can increase traffic with deals for bargain hunters, they stand to make a tidy little profit from all the "extras" sold to patrons.
Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
9-04-2008 @ 7:05AM
Lassie said...
The junior bacon cheeseburger has been on the Wendy's dollar menu here for a long time. I have to say, it's one of my guilty pleasures to grab one, on occasion, during a long day of shopping - when yet another granola bar and bottle of water just. won't. do it anymore!
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9-04-2008 @ 7:46AM
Heather said...
I am too afraid to eat a 'hamburger' for 99c. God only knows what's in it. Probably those poor, sick milk cows, too sick to walk, that were at that farm in California, being forklifted and pressure washed to the slaughter. I love hamburgers, but eat them rarely. When I do, it's usually a certified, naturally raised beef, with no added hormones or steroids, and I cook them at home. That way I know they didn't hit the floor and then get picked up by some teenager that just picked his nose, and isn't required by law to wear gloves.
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9-04-2008 @ 8:02AM
Jason said...
Egads woman... have you no decency....women have more feces found on their hands than teenage boys...you are pure filth...think of the horror of you making food for anyone..
and the cows....don't flatter yourself....i can't imagine all the things you do that are unconscious (like down people who work at wendy's) and so out of touch with reality.....get a life and then try to save one thanks
9-04-2008 @ 9:02AM
Sob said...
Duhhhh uhhhm uh I am so slow. Duhhh its Wendys the best fast food around.
9-04-2008 @ 7:59AM
rusty said...
I certainly don't agree with the comment from Heather... all fast-food restaurants are clean, and their employees work hard, they should only be judged by the taste of their food.
Adding new menus items ? Awesome, we need more bang for our bucks.
Wendy's has been innovative in the field with their selection... it's a great alternative to the hamburger/fries routine.
I personally love the malt shakes :)
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9-04-2008 @ 8:21AM
vanessa said...
Hey rusty, have you ever worked in fast food? Not every fast food restaurant practices sanitary measures. Back in the day when I worked in fast food, my manager thought it was funny to fry a dead spider. Why? Because it resembled a fried mozzarella stick. Most people who work in fast food are teenagers or those who have no choice but to work there, and could probably care less about the quality of food they are preparing.
9-04-2008 @ 8:06AM
DungBeetle said...
word
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9-04-2008 @ 8:45AM
jim said...
I don;t know about other parts of the country, but in oakland county MI chili used to be 99 cents, it has had a FIFTY percent increase to 1.49!! I USED to be a loyal customer, but that is the epitome of GREED and I will NOT be taken advantage of like that,,, ditto their frostys!!
Hopefully, when Arbys takes them over they will fire that idiot CEO who took over and priced Wendy's out of business!!
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9-04-2008 @ 12:40PM
Mountaindewkitten said...
Seriously? You're complaining about $1.49, you realize that? THATS the Epitome of Greed? $1.49 for a cup of chili? Seriously?
9-18-2008 @ 8:37PM
Greg said...
I agree Jim. 50 percent price increases fly today like they were nothing, due to mindless clones who refuse to consider costs, and refuse keep track of their own damned money. This sort of thing was never allowed when consumers had some vigilance.
A hamburger combo rose from about $5 to almost $8 in just a few short years, and then they raised the prices again a couple months ago. Now it's $8.30 for a couple ounces of meat, half a potato, and sugar water!!?? The greed is out of control and people don't even notice.
9-04-2008 @ 8:49AM
Bob said...
I was hoping they were bringing back the hot dog they had years ago. With their chili & a liitle cheese.. wow!
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9-04-2008 @ 9:00AM
Alicia said...
All fast food restaurants are certainly NOT clean!! I have worked in a couple myself years ago and saw first hand how
dirty they can be. These days the kids working in those places have no idea what cleanliness is. I feel that it is worse now than ever. I am disgusted by how all the "dining rooms" smell like pee...even had a parade of ants under my table in McDonalds. I have found a fly trapped in my salad container...and many stray hairs among other food. I am very careful now about where my family and I eat. If I walk into a place and am not happy, I just walk right back out!
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9-04-2008 @ 9:03AM
maranda said...
as long as i can remember the jr bacon cheeseburg and the double stack has been on the menu mississippi. i know since 1990, because thats all my mother ate those two sandwiches all the time when she was pregnant with my brother. and the put the chicken sandwich on there in 2006 when i was pregnant.
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9-04-2008 @ 9:07AM
sara from ohio said...
ya know, we have had the jr bacon here for 99cents for years! BUT recently like in the last 4 months it has gotten much smaller!!!!! instead of raising the price, the shrunk the food...Mcd's is doing away with their dollar menu around most of the country, itll just be a value menu with things ranging from 1.00-3.00....And did you know that everywhere HAS to charge you for ice water, even if you bought stuff from there, and sit down restaurants will be doing the same supposedly
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9-04-2008 @ 9:19AM
Dale said...
Not ate beef in four years or pork in over 12 years... not as sick as I once was!!!! I was ill twice last year: flu for a weekend ( and I had my first flu shot ) and two days of pure hell due to a bad root canal! And I got ill last May... coming off an American Airlines flight!!!!!!!!!!
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9-04-2008 @ 9:25AM
CeeCee said...
The 3 (NEW)? Dollar items have been on the dollar menu for years!!!!!
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9-04-2008 @ 9:29AM
Beth said...
Some fast food restaurants are very clean and some are very dirty. Judge them on an individual basis. Some managers are great and their employees take pride in the restaurant in which they work. Some managers don't give a hang and usually their employees follow suit.
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9-04-2008 @ 12:33PM
Michelle said...
I totally agree. When I was in high school, I worked at a fast food restaurant and will never forget the day I dropped a block of cheese on the floor while replenishing stock. It fell and rolled under the prep table. The manager made me wash it off in the sink and put it on the table. When she wasn't looking, I threw it out because that just grossed me out. I wasn't there much longer after that.
9-04-2008 @ 9:33AM
Anita said...
The Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger WAS on the 99cent menu in the past. Then it went up to $1.29. So now they just added it back on. Its not really a "new item". And the crispy chicken sandwich has been 99 cents since they first introduced it a couple years ago (McDonald's McChicken sandwich is still better though). So really all they did was add a double cheeseburger on the menu, which is the same thing that BK just recently did. They both are trying to follow McDonald's because even though BK or Wendy's is the better choice of the 3, McD's is still bringing in more money cuz they have more stores. The closest BK to me is about 5-6 miles (15 min) and with the way gas is, who wants to drive that far to get fast food? There are 2 Wendy's in my town, one on each end. The built the new one about a year ago. They should've built a BK. Oh well. Fast food is bad for you anyways.
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9-04-2008 @ 9:34AM
Margie said...
Not all fast food restaurants are clean but Wendy's, in general, seems to be among the best for cleanliness. I remember when you could eat off the floor at McDonald's. Not so any more. McDonald's has become one of the dirtiest restaurants around . . . unclean tables, floors, restrooms. If I have to eat fast food . . . or want to . . . I only eat at Wendy's.
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