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- Some Burger King locations are attempting to combat inflation by reducing the number of chicken nuggets in an order
- The chain’s biggest franchisee is tinkering with the standard menu and eliminating promotions due to rising costs
- Read more fast food news here
Over the past year, “supply chain issues” has become a virtually unavoidable buzzword that has forced some businesses to stockpile products like cream cheese in order to avoid befalling the fate Taco Bell suffered when it was faced with a shortage of the product in its name in addition to a number of other fairly vital ingredients.
Those issues have played a role in the equally unavoidable inflation that consumers around the world have been forced to deal with in recent months, which has forced a number of retailers to take a closer look at the books and reevaluate their approach.
That includes Dollar Tree, which somehow wasn’t legally required to change its name to “$1.25 Tree” when it announced it was hiking the prices of products at its store 25% in November.
Now, one of America’s biggest Burger King franchisees is also crying “inflation” to justify a change that hasn’t exactly sat well with a number of customers. According to The New York Post, Carrols Restaurant Group (which operates 1,028 Burger King locations across the eastern United States) has made a number of tweaks to their menus—none of which have drawn more attention than the decision to reduce the number of chicken nuggets in a standard order from ten to eight.
An investor report cited the increase in food and labor costs as the primary culprit, and while the company seems to be trying to position the move as a way to combat inflation, many people aren’t buying that excuse.
This isn't "combat[ing] inflation;" this is inflation.
It takes some nerve to call cutting the portion size combating inflation, very @EpsilonTheory "narrativey"
— Mark Kahn (@MarkKahn2) February 25, 2022
@burgerking removing the value whopper & reducing nuggets in portions has nothing to do with “supply chain issues.” There are no food supply chains issues only corporate greed issues. #burgerking pic.twitter.com/NPBBj8WtHW
— 𝖊𝖑 𝖜𝖊𝖝𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖓 〄 (@elwexican) March 1, 2022
Marketing 101: You're not paying MORE for the nuggets, you're just getting fewer CALORIES for the same price. It's not "inflation," it's "Thinflation"!!!
Burger King franchisor reduces number of nuggets in meals to 8 from 10 in effort to combat inflation https://t.co/azLkdxxno0
— Shaindel Beers 🍻 (@shaindelr) February 25, 2022
https://twitter.com/KevinPhillipsS1/status/1497252005747716096
If you’re reducing what you get for the price, THAT’S STILL INFLATION! https://t.co/AiBqCSVU3i
— Tom Nelson DO,MS,MPH (@cadence_doc) February 26, 2022
You’ve been warned.