(NewsNation) — Fast food prices have increased, along with prices for just about everything, but despite the increases, business is booming.
Fast food lovers will pay more for their meals, thanks to inflation, the price of food and the cost of wages. But even though fast food prices have jumped, they’re still typically a lot cheaper than traditional, sit-down restaurants.
At one McDonald’s in Hialeah, Florida, the owner reports business is booming.
“Our sales after COVID are better than before COVID,” Jose Montes said.
While inflation has taken a bite out of most Americans’ budgets, fast food sales are surging across the country. Montes owns nine McDonald’s in the south Florida area.
“Our drive-thru used to be 60, 65 percent before COVID, and it’s 75 percent now,” Montes said of his stores’ operations.
Chains like McDonald’s are doing better than expected, with customers like Corian Rigby, who keep coming back.
“A few times a week, it’s just fast and simple, cheap, reliable,” Rigby explained.
Even with a potential recession, McDonald’s global sales rose 12% last quarter. Chipotle also beat analyst predictions, with sales jumping about 11% in the first quarter of the year.
Some of that fast food success is linked to what you pay for a Big Mac or chicken nuggets. Higher prices for the customer can lead to bigger sales numbers for franchises.
Fast food menu prices did jump significantly last year, around 13%, slightly outpacing the cost of groceries, which rose 11.8% in 2022.
Dr. Andrew Moreo, the chaplain at Florida International University’s School of Hospitality, provides some reasoning.
“You can still get better value at a fast-food restaurant than sometimes you can in the grocery store,” he said.
The appeal is broad, attracting those one might not think of as typical fast food consumers.
“It’s not just people with a lower socio-economic demographics that are eating at these establishments, but also the higher income folks. Which is surprising because we often think, because fast food is convenient and also inexpensive, we think that the folks at the higher end of the economic spectrum might not participate, but they were finding the opposite,” Moreo said.
The proof is in the drive-thru lines. Amid the threat of a recession, some customers are forgoing more expensive restaurants to save a few bucks.
“We have repeat customers. And we have customers that come in daily. Every day,” said McDonald’s franchise co-owner Milly Montes.