In n Out. Chick Fil A.
Actually, my local McD’s during breakfast and lunch can get near a dozen deep.
Yes, both Wendy’s and Popeye’s near my workplace need police presence 3 days a week to prevent the drive through lines from blocking traffic on a busy thoroughfare. The line overflows onto the street after the 10th-12th car.
I don’t see how this is much different than “happy hour” drink specials before peak hours, or “kids eat free on Monday” promotions. The customer coming in at Friday night when the restaurant/bar is packed is ok with paying more.
So one Twitter poster pointed out bars have worked out how to do this without tanking your reputation under the ire and mockery of the entire internet.
You price your products based on high demand, and then have “happy hour” pricing during times of low demand.
Right.
Don’t make your highest prices a highly-noticeable exception. Make it your unexceptional default pricing and advertise exceptional and conditional discounts instead.
Remember when it was illegal to charge the customer the 3% surcharge for a credit card transaction so companies raised their prices 3% overall and gave a 3% cash discount?
Why do I think Wendy’s will not raise prices during peak hours but rather raise their prices then do you a favor and lower prices during non-peak hours?
Yup, prices have gone up since Covid.
This would be a good time to advertise a happy hour discount.
I’ve had some bad experiences eating at fast food restaurants between 2 until 5. The burgers aren’t as fresh. They’ve been under heat lamps for awhile.
YMMV
The problem is that fast food places do something like 50% of their business during “off peak” hours (e.g. for Wendy’s it might be 7am-noon, 2pm-6pm, 8pm-11pm). 11 out of 16 hours are off peak.
It’s not like a restaurant where 4-6pm is low price window for old fogies and young families and then 6-10 is for the less price sensitive crowd.
Dynamic pricing based on real-time supply & demand would be something most economists would generally approve of, regardless of the industry. It improves overall efficiency.
Was it ever illegal? I thought it was just against the merchant agreement with the credit card company.
Come visit my local McDonald’s some time – any time. Both drive-through lanes are typically backed up to kingdom come, and it’s just an ordinary suburban McD’s. I think they lucked out on location – it’s in the middle of a busy shopping area. I have a good way of dealing with the matter – I go down the street and get a much better burger from Harvey’s or Burger King, where there likely will be no line at all. I like Wendy’s too but the location is less convenient.
We only get that around here at Starbucks. 
Poor Wendy’s. First the finger in the chili and now this. No matter how much backpedaling or explaining they do, people are going to associate “fast-food surge pricing” with Wendy’s.
What they are doing is nothing new and not groundbreaking. As usual, they are copying another company - McDonalds, who have already rolled-out digital menu boards in a lot of places. Perhaps the muckety-mucks at Wendy’s need to hire a communications consultant to help with their messaging - this was a major unforced error.
In some jurisdictions 30 years ago. Not sure if it is still on the books today.
Nope Chik-fil-A
Somewhere in the mid-2000s, they changed the rules on that such that charging extra was okay. I accepted credit cards and never charged extra for it, even when it became okay. I don’t remember it being illegal here—just against the merchant agreement, along with requiring a minimum purchase, and credit card companies didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass, as plenty of places charged ann extra fee here anyway.
ETA: looks like it was 2013 when it changed after a class action lawsuit, and the legality did vary by state. So you’re right.
I’m seeing lots of “Boycott Wendy’s” online. Great! If nobody goes there the burgers will be cheap, right? Right?
Cheaper and shorter lines. In theory at least.
I boycotted Wendy’s for well over a decade because their food is crap.
I broke down and had one a few years ago because it was right by my hotel.
I remembered why I was boycotting them to begin with.
In practice you could get the same results but market it in the reverse, which restaurants have been doing for years. Instead of saying you will “increase” prices during peak times you just raise prices across the board without announcement, then “decrease” prices through various advertising. Early-bird specials, happy hours, 1/2 price milkshakes between 2 and 4, etc.