Fair Fare? US Consumers’ Perceptions of Food Pricing ‘Fairness’ in Restaurants and Grocery Stores

Although measures of inflation have cooled, the cumulative impact of high food prices continues to strain consumers. Grocery stores have begun feeling consumers’ pull-back and some – including Target, Walmart, Amazon Fresh, Aldi, and Giant Food – have begun trying to woo consumers with announcements of lower prices on particular items (Blank, 2024; Peiser, 2024; Phaneuf, 2024). Restaurants, too, have noticed the frustration, and begun responding with price cuts. For example, several fast food restaurants are currently engaged in the ‘burger wars’ – launching short-term deals including $5 value meals at both McDonald’s (Rogers, 2024) and Burger King (Sirtori, 2024) and a $3 breakfast deal at Wendy’s (Shure, 2024).