{"id":874021,"date":"2026-10-07T14:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/874021\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T14:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:34:10","slug":"mcdonalds-sued-for-allegedly-using-ai-tool-to-determine-pricing-for-franchises-mcdonalds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/874021\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald\u2019s sued for allegedly using AI tool to determine pricing for franchises | McDonald’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

McDonald\u2019s is facing a lawsuit in federal court over its alleged use of an AI<\/a> tool to determine pricing across independent franchises, which prosecutors say violates antitrust laws and has unfairly inflated menu prices for Americans.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of McDonald\u2019s<\/a> US stores are independently owned and are said to individually decide on prices under company policy. Antitrust laws require businesses to set prices independently from their competitors, as coordinating prices can stifle market competition and push up costs for consumers.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed on 2 October in a federal Chicago courtroom, alleges that McDonald\u2019s AI tool is illegal because it amounts to independent franchise locations exchanging nonpublic price and sales data.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is about McDonald\u2019s bringing \u2018optimization\u2019 to America\u2019s largest fast food chain,\u201d the complaint says. \u201cMcDonald\u2019s has built and for years deployed its own information-sharing pricing platform, which draws on data from its millions of daily transactions to set menu prices across thousands of US restaurants. The result is algorithmic price-fixing aimed at customers who are already stretched thin.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the McDonald\u2019s corporation said that the \u201ccomplaint is filled with inaccuracies and we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAI does not set menu prices at McDonald\u2019s restaurants \u2013 McDonald\u2019s franchisees do,\u201d it said. \u201cOptional tools are available to franchisees to help them make the best decisions for their businesses and customers, but these tools do not automate, coordinate or fix pricing in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent Reuters investigation<\/a> reported that some McDonald\u2019s franchise owners have been pressured by the company to use the AI pricing tools and record their deviations from the tool\u2019s recommendations. McDonald\u2019s contested that characterization, calling the Reuters reporting \u201cspeculative and uninformed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The litigation, which has been proposed as a nationwide class-action lawsuit, was first brought forward by an Illinois man named Michael Thomas. Thomas, a McDonald\u2019s regular who is described as \u201cprice conscious\u201d, found that the cost of his usual order \u2013 a Quarter Pounder with cheese, fries and a Coke \u2013 varied even within his neighborhood in DeKalb, Illinois. The attorney listed as representing Thomas did not immediately reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Thomas does not appear to be alone in his experience. At a McDonald\u2019s in Manhattan\u2019s financial district, Chukwama Okeke, 43, was finishing a mango-pineapple smoothie that he bought as part of a value meal that cost about $15 \u2013 something he only gets about once a month.<\/p>\n

Okeke said that when he orders the same meal at a McDonald\u2019s in Brooklyn\u2019s Crown Heights neighborhood, he ends up paying closer to $9.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcDonald\u2019s in Manhattan is much more expensive than those in Brooklyn,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve notice in some areas if they have a lot of like foot traffic, the prices tend to get higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beatriz Milander, 27, who ordered a snack wrap, a small fries and an iced coffee for $11.51, hadn\u2019t noticed a huge difference between what she pays in the financial district and what she pays in her Bronx neighborhood, but said prices overall had inched up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last few months, I\u2019ve seen them do more deals or like lower-priced things,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it definitely was pricing up for a little bit there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts say that companies using AI to set or alter pricing could exacerbate the country\u2019s affordability crisis and make it harder for Americans to bear everyday costs. So far this year, at least 90 pieces of legislation have been filed across the country to push back against algorithmic price-fixing, according to Lindsay Owens, the head of the left-leaning thinktank Groundwork Collaborative, who recently authored a book<\/a> on the topic.<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s acquired an AI company, Dynamic Yield, in 2019, but has firmly denied using AI in setting menu prices. In a statement released on 1 October, the day before the lawsuit was filed, the chain denied using dynamic pricing and described its pricing tool as simply providing information that franchises are free to decide whether to adopt.<\/p>\n

The fast-food chain has been scrutinized over recent years for its elevated prices, and went viral in 2023 over an $18 Big Mac meal at a Connecticut McDonald\u2019s. The franchise\u2019s owner filed a lawsuit alleging that it was the AI pricing tool that suggested the $18 price to the franchise.<\/p>\n

According to a fact sheet the chain published in 2024, the average price of a McDonald\u2019s menu item increased about 40% between 2019 and 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McDonald\u2019s is facing a lawsuit in federal court over its alleged use of an AI tool to determine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,74],"class_list":["post-874021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}