A fast food price war is brewing

The price you pay for lunch is turning into a cage match between fast food heavyweights serving up two very different value props—to its diners, and to Wall Street.

In one corner, McDonald’s has been bending over backwards to reel in cash-strapped, cost-conscious consumers with $5 Meal Deals and $2.99 Snack Wraps. On the other end of the spending spectrum, Chipotle plans to hike its already lofty prices 1% to 2% in 2026, with CEO Scott Boatwright crowing, “Our food is worth…every penny we ask someone to pay for it. I don't want to devalue our core offering."

Weirdly, both tactics have caused their own uproars.

McDonald’s franchise owners can set their own prices, at least in theory. But in January the company rolled out “enhanced” (ahem, stricter) franchise standards to “ensure every restaurant delivers consistent, reliable value.” In other words, those McValue meals had better be cheap, guys, or else those golden arches have to go. Despite this pressure from on high, many franchisers balked, circulating and signing a bill of rights allowing chain owners to “set prices without fear of recourse.”

Meanwhile, Chipotle stirred up its own bowlslop of trouble after Boatwright bragged during the quarterly earnings call last week that 60% of the chain’s regular customers earn over $100,000 a year, and that the company plans to “lean into that group” to make up for its dwindling traffic. This boast backfired, with some customers claiming they’d boycott the chain, again.

Which restaurant wins?

The McDonald’s value-above-all drumbeat is paying off on Wall Street, with shares up 5.77% so far this year. Good ol’ Ronald is still expected to deliver modest but solid growth in its fourth-quarter earnings report this evening, despite a weakening economy eating away at its core customer base.

Chipotle, on the other hand, is feeling the heat. After tumbling 30% last year, the stock has dropped 6.85% in the last five days after its Q4 earnings report last Tuesday showed same-store sales down 1.7% in 2025 and flatlining in 2026. Since then, the company has come crawling back to woo under-$100,000 earners with under-$10 options at “Happier Hour.”

And weirdly, McDonald’s has started flirting with more upscale promotions like McNuggets with caviar for Valentine’s Day (which sold out in minutes and crashed the site.)

Although Chipotle may never out-cheap McDonald’s, many investors say that’s totally okay. Value, after all, isn’t just about price, but what you get for your money. And some people will happily shell out $15 for a burrito over $5 McNuggets, caviar or not.—JD