A new warrior has joined the fast-food value wars.
Fast-food giants like McDonald’s and Wendy’s are racing to win back customers with cheaper options after rising prices drove them away. Last week, Bloomberg reported that McDonald’s plans to roll out $5 menu items to attract more customers after struggling customer numbers in the first quarter.
Enter Ronald McDonald’s biggest rival, Burger King: Not only is Burger King planning to launch its own $5 meal set, but it’s also moving forward with plans to do so before McDonald’s promotion, which is reportedly scheduled for late June, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.
“After three quarters of leading the industry in value traffic, Burger King is accelerating its value offers and, as agreed to with franchisees in April, is bringing back our $5 Your Way Meals,” Burger King said in a statement to USA Today.
Burger King’s “$5 Your Way Meal” deal includes chicken nuggets, fries, a drink, and a choice of three sandwiches. Burger King confirmed in an email to USA Today that the deal will be available for “several months,” compared to McDonald’s four weeks.
“Regardless of their plans, we remain full speed ahead with our own plans to launch and run our $5 Value Menu before them for several months,” said the memo sent by Tom Curtis, Burger King’s president of the U.S. and Canada, Bloomberg reported. Burger King confirmed the statement to USA Today.
Wendy’s Adds Breakfast to Menu:Sausage burrito, English muffin sandwich
Lots of fast food deals
These days, deals, promotions and freebies are all the rage for fast-food and fast-casual chains competing for customer attention and revenue.
Wendy’s recently announced a $3 breakfast combo featuring an English muffin sandwich with egg, cheese, bacon or sausage, and seasoned fries. This is in addition to exclusive promotions like a free chicken nugget deal every week on the Wendy’s app and a one-cent Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger for National Burger Day, May 28-June 2.
In addition to the upcoming $5 menu items, McDonald’s also offered its own free nuggets promotion earlier this week, one of a series of exclusive in-app promotions encouraging users to sign up for a rewards account to receive a slew of promotions and deals.
