A McDonald’s Owner Just Got Real About The $5 Meal Deal

Remember when $5 could buy a decent fast-food lunch without leaving much of a dent in a student’s wallet? For plenty of Americans, McDonald’s Dollar Menu was a big part of that experience. A few dollars could cover a burger, fries, and maybe a drink, making a quick lunch between classes feel like a bargain.

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Fast-forward to today, and $5 can only get you so much. McDonald’s brought back the excitement of an affordable lunch with its $5 Meal Deal in June 2024, giving customers a choice of a McDouble or McChicken, four Chicken McNuggets, small fries, and a small soft drink. The deal gave customers a chance to get a full meal without spending too much. However, some people still feel that McDonald’s prices have gotten out of hand. 

One McDonald’s franchisee has a different take on the situation, arguing that customers are comparing today’s prices with what they paid nearly two decades ago. His comments on X have raised an interesting question: Are customers being unfair to McDonald’s or has the chain made it too difficult for people to see its value?

A McDonald’s Franchisee Says Customers Are Still Stuck In 2008

The conversation started when an X user asked @McFranchisee, a McDonald’s franchisee who shares his views on the business, whether the Dollar Menu and Subway’s $5 Footlong promotions had affected how customers think about prices.

The user remembered relying on those deals for lunch during high school in the mid-to-late 2000s, when $5 could buy a satisfying meal.

McFranchisee explained that McDonald’s kept its Dollar Menu going for more than a decade, but keeping prices that low became a serious challenge. He said the menu was debated internally for years because the profit margins were too small to make it a sustainable offer. He also pointed out that the cost of beef and labor has increased significantly since those days. In his view, customers still remember the old $1 prices, even though the cost of running a restaurant has changed.

I think he makes a fair point because prices have changed and expecting a restaurant to sell the same food for the same price nearly 20 years later isn’t realistic. However, McDonald’s can’t expect customers to forget its history of offering cheap meals, either. The company built a reputation around affordability, so it’s understandable that people notice when eating there becomes more expensive.

The Dollar Menu Really Did Change Customers’ Expectations

McDonald’s introduced its original Dollar Menu in 2002. It gave customers a simple way to find inexpensive food, with selected items priced at $1. In November 2013, McDonald’s replaced the original format with Dollar Menu & More, which offered items at different price points, including $1, $2, and $5 options.

That history supports McFranchisee’s argument. When a company offers low prices for years, customers begin to see those prices as normal. A $1 burger stops feeling like a special promotion and starts feeling like what a burger should cost.

However, I think there’s more to this than nostalgia. For many people, the Dollar Menu was a practical way to afford lunch. Today, those same customers may find that their usual order costs considerably more. Even when they understand that prices have gone up, the difference can still be frustrating.

Most customers probably don’t expect every item to return to its old price. What they want is a meal that fits their budget and feels worth the money.

Will Customers Look Back At The $5 Meal Deal As A Bargain?

McFranchisee expects people to look back at today’s $5 Meal Deal in ten years and wonder how McDonald’s managed to sell a full meal at that price. He could be right. If prices continue to rise, $5 might sound like very little money for a meal in 2036.

But I think there’s another side to that. People won’t judge the deal based on the price alone. They’ll also consider how much money they earn, how much other food costs, and what they can afford at the time. A $5 meal might look incredibly cheap in ten years, but that doesn’t automatically mean customers are wrong to question today’s prices, especially if they feel they’re not getting their money’s worth.