re: Wendy’s plans on introducing surge pricing for menu items starting next year

quote:

---

This would make sense in a low competition industry. But with this, people aren’t going to choose to eat lunch or breakfast at different times. They’re just going to go somewhere else. They will lose business during peak hours and they won’t see increases during the off peak hours to make up for it. This is fricking dumb.

---

I assumed it meant it would allow them to run at higher staffing levels during peak times.

Not that it would shift the load of orders.

quote:

---

This would make sense in a low competition industry. But with this, people aren’t going to choose to eat lunch or breakfast at different times. They’re just going to go somewhere else.

---

I heard this on the radio this morning. But it was presented in a totally different way. To label "dynamic" pricing as "surge" pricing is immediately going to illicit a reaction that they are price gouging at high traffic times. The statement I heard this morning was a little more tame, and made me initially think it's more that you will get a discount on off times to draw in business. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in between, it's just all about how you frame the discussion. Plenty of restaurants have non-peak hour deals (happy hour, lunch specials, etc.) and then charge more for dinner.