McDonald’s faces a burger pricing challenge | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

As a franchise-run company, McDonald’s can’t dictate prices to its store operators.

That’s why you may see higher prices at rest stops or airport locations. In addition, some franchisees may opt out of certain promotions.

“Franchisees, as independent owner/operators, have the right to set menu prices for their restaurants based on their own business judgment and market conditions,” according to the National Owners Association’s Franchisee Bill of Rights, Restaurant Business reported.

That’s why my son could not purchase a 10-piece Chicken McNugget Value Meal at the McDonald’s at Bradley International Airport with a $20 bill. That franchise operator, which faces higher operating costs because of its prime location, opted to charge more than the $8-10 it typically costs, according to Yahoo Finance.

Now, McDonald’s faces a massive pricing problem around its new Big Arch burger at the same time it’s attempting to rebuild its value brand relationship with customers.

McDonald’s adds the Big Arch

McDonald’s introduced its new Big Arch in the United States on March 3. It’s the biggest burger on the chain’s menu, and it’s meant to lean into the current consumer trend of wanting more protein.

“McDonald’s is trying to find a balance between value and premium products in a challenged consumer spending environment in the U.S. and around the world,” said Raymond James analyst Bryan Elliott, Forbes reported.

McDonald’s has struggled with higher-end burger offerings in the past, according to CFO Ian Borden.

“We thought the opportunity was about premium burgers, which was wrong,” he said at a UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference in 2024, Business Insider reported. “We weren’t successful.”

Instead, he noted, customers want a larger, more satisfying burger. The Big Arch is an attempt to deliver that.

McDonald’s Big Arch comes with a big price

At a time when McDonald’s CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski has been talking about value, the price for the Big Arch has varied greatly, according to a new study by NeoMam Studios shared via email with TheStreet.

“Researchers at NeoMam Studios found that the cost of a Big Arch can rise by as much as 74% from one major city to another. Along with the variability of incomes, Americans get a distinctly different deal on their Big Arch burger depending on where they live,” according to the research.

Key findings include:

The state with the cheapest Big Arch is Oklahoma, where the average Big Arch costs $8.05.
The state with the most expensive Big Arch is Alaska, where the average Big Arch costs $10.32.
The city with the cheapest Big Arch is Columbia (South Carolina), costing $7.46 on average.
The city with the most expensive Big Arch is Lewiston (Maine), at $12.99.

To find out which U.S. locations pay the most and least for a McDonald’s ‘Big Arch’ burger, NeoMam Studios manually sourced prices from over 130 different cities from the Official McDonald’s App.

First, they collected prices from three restaurants near the center of the three most populated cities of each state and Washington, D.C.

The NeoMam team then calculated the average price of a Big Arch across these restaurants in each state and city. Data is correct as of March 2026.

Big Arch ingredients

Two beef patties: About a quarter-pound each, seasoned after cooking
Poppy and sesame seed bun: Soft, larger-than-typical burger buns, with both poppy and sesame seeds
White cheddar cheese: Two slices of creamy cheddar
Big Arch sauce: Signature sauce including tomato concentrate/paste, egg yolk, mustard, and spices (a tangier twist on Big Mac-style sauce)
Lettuce: Shredded iceberg for crunch
Crispy onions: Fried onion pieces for extra texture
Slivered onions: Fresh white onions
Pickle slices: Gherkin pickles
Calories: 1,050-1,110 kcal, roughly double the calories of a McDonald’s classic Big Mac (550–560 kcal) Source: McDonald’s

The Big Arch is an attempt at balancing value and price.

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McDonald’s tries to become a value leader

“McDonald’s cut prices on some U.S. combo meals in September. Those Extra Value Meal promotions came on top of discounts that began earlier in 2025, like the McValue menu. McDonald’s popular Snack Wraps, which returned to menus in July for $2.99, also helped improve value perceptions,” the Associated Press reported.

Kempczinski has repeatedly stressed value during McDonald’s earnings calls.

“When we get our value proposition right and execute with excellence, good performance follows,” he shared during the chain’s second-quarter earnings call.

McDonald’s delivered global system-wide sales growth of over 6% in constant currency and global comparable sales growth of nearly 4% in Q2.

“This includes driving positive comparable guest counts globally despite a challenging backdrop for the industry. In this landscape, the power of McDonald’s value and affordability platforms, exciting marketing and menu offerings, and world-class execution are working together to drive comparable sales results and guest count growth as we also accelerate new restaurant development,” the CEO added.

McDonald’s reintroduced its McValue Menu as part of those efforts.

Survey platform Numerator recently polled 400 verified McValue Menu customers to track their reactions to the deal, QSR Magazine reported.

McValue Menu buyers said their main reasons for purchasing were that the menu offered a low-priced deal (42%), the menu offered options at a variety of price points (28%), and they specifically wanted an item (or items) available on the McValue Menu (22%).
Most McValue Menu customers were already loyal McDonald’s guests prior to the launch of the McValue Menu, 94% went to McDonald’s in the first half of 2024.
Forty-eight percent of McValue Menu buyers said the McValue Menu made them choose McDonald’s instead of going to a different restaurant. The restaurants that they would have visited instead were Burger King (18%), Chick-fil-A (17%), Wendy’s (14%), and Taco Bell (11%).

“Restaurant traffic remains challenged, and this really represents a line of thinking that value will continue to be important to the consumer for the foreseeable future,” David Henkes, a senior principal at Technomic, told CNN. “Inflation remains elevated, and creating a more structured, long-term value platform tells me that McDonald’s really sees opportunity in doubling down in its focus on budget-oriented consumers.”