{"id":159671,"date":"2025-11-29T20:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T20:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/159671\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T20:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T20:22:07","slug":"mcdonalds-promoted-its-new-8-nugget-combo-meal-then-got-blasted-online-with-complaints-about-affordability-quality-and-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/159671\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald\u2019s promoted its new $8 nugget combo meal, then got blasted online with complaints about affordability, quality and service"},"content":{"rendered":"

McDonald\u2019s CEO said combo meals at one of the world\u2019s largest fast food chains were too expensive earlier this year, teeing up a rollout of cheaper deals<\/a> for cash-strapped customers. But online, consumers aren\u2019t biting.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, McDonald\u2019s promoted a limited-time $8 10-piece chicken McNugget value meal<\/a> for November.<\/p>\n

But under the company\u2019s Nov. 14 X post<\/a> marketing the deal, many promised not to eat at the chain due to reasons ranging from price inflation and perceived lower quality to long drive-through wait times. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince when is $8 a good price for 10 little nuggets, a hand full of fries and a drink?\u201d one commenter said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The company responded to a number of these complaints in the post\u2019s thread, asking users to send their contact information in a direct message to sort out their complaints, but the post racked up hundreds of unhappy reviews.<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s was unable to provide an immediate response to Fortune\u2019s request for comment due to the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n

The backlash comes as the company tries to revive its image of affordability as price hikes have hit its menu.<\/p>\n

Last year, the company was criticized for its price inflation since 2019, even drawing rebukes from House Republicans in an X post<\/a> that claimed, under then-President Joe Biden, prices for medium fries surged 167.6% and 103.5% for a Big Mac meal.<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s refuted<\/a> claims that its prices doubled, saying the average price of the company\u2019s menu items increased about 40% in the time period, attributing most of it to \u201cthe increase of costs to run restaurants, which have gone up.\u201d These costs include hiking restaurant worker salaries up to 40% and increased costs of food and paper, according to the company.<\/p>\n

Over the past couple of years, McDonald\u2019s has been criticized online by value-conscious customers for its prices. An X post<\/a> displaying a $18 Big Mac combo meal went viral in 2023, spurring debate that the chain had become too expensive. This post also elicited a response<\/a> from McDonald\u2019s USA president, Joe Erlinger, who claimed the meal was an \u201cexception\u201d and that the chain\u2019s prices have not outpaced inflation.<\/p>\n

Even CEO Chris Kempczinski acknowledged combo meals priced over $10 were \u201cnegatively shaping value perceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the company\u2019s second-quarter earnings call<\/a>, he told investors that the \u201csingle biggest driver\u201d of what shapes a consumer\u2019s overall perception of McDonald\u2019s value is the menu board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get that fixed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In May, Kempczinski said<\/a> the company\u2019s U.S. first-quarter traffic this year from low-income consumers declined by \u201cnearly double digits,\u201d and middle-income consumer traffic fell by almost the same amount.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said that these consumers \u201cin particular, are being weighted down by the cumulative impact of inflation and heightened anxiety about the economic outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the backlash, the company\u2019s global comparable sales increased 3.6%<\/a> in the third quarter\u2014and its U.S. sales increased 2.4%.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fueling momentum by delivering everyday value and affordability, menu innovation, and compelling marketing that continue to bring customers through our doors,\u201d Kempczinski said in McDonald\u2019s third-quarter earnings release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McDonald\u2019s CEO said combo meals at one of the world\u2019s largest fast food chains were too expensive earlier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,33535,10325,29988,77865,1455,85,932,46,2628,24667,2972,3695,5094,4696,4316],"class_list":["post-159671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-business-leadership","tag-chief-executive-officer-ceo","tag-corporate-governance","tag-corporate-leadership","tag-food-and-drink","tag-il","tag-inflation","tag-israel","tag-leadership","tag-mcdonalds","tag-prices","tag-retail","tag-shopping","tag-success","tag-u-s-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}