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Fast food’s turndown sheds light on the US economy
Restaurants have raised prices to offset rising labour and ingredient costs, leading low-income customers to visit less often.
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Fast-food chains are seeing headwinds to their business model.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Taylor Nicole Rogers
Mr William Lee is on his way out of a branch of Wendy’s in New York carrying two burgers and fries. The meal cost US$14 (S$17.85), a sum the 52-year-old hospital worker describes as “ridiculous”.
“I usually cook at home but I didn’t today, so I suffered,” he adds. These days, he prefers to bring lunch to work and save meals out for something “more upscale”, like a sit-down Italian restaurant.
