McDonald's hit with class action over menu prices
Reuters2026/10/05 18:38By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - McDonald's MCD.N has been sued in federal court in Chicago in a proposed nationwide class action alleging the fast-food giant illegally coordinates menu prices across its franchises and company-owned restaurants through an AI-powered pricing system. Here are the details: The lawsuit, filed on Friday, said McDonald’s violated federal antitrust law by conspiring with independent franchisees to fix prices using algorithms that are trained on nonpublic data. The plaintiffs said they are suing on behalf of a class of potentially millions of McDonald’s customers "Independent businesses must set their prices independently," the lawsuit said The complaint alleges that McDonald’s has enforced a "coercive price-fixing agreement" on its franchisees since 2019 McDonald’s in a statement called the allegations speculative and uninformed. "AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item," McDonald's said. The company said McDonald’s imposes no pricing mandates and that franchisees make their own pricing decisions The plaintiffs' lawyers had no immediate comment (Reporting by Mike Scarcella)
By Mike Scarcella
WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - McDonald's MCD.N has been sued in federal court in Chicago in a proposed nationwide class action alleging the fast-food giant illegally coordinates menu prices across its franchises and company-owned restaurants through an AI-powered pricing system.
Here are the details:
The lawsuit, filed on Friday, said McDonald’s violated federal antitrust law by conspiring with independent franchisees to fix prices using algorithms that are trained on nonpublic data. The plaintiffs said they are suing on behalf of a class of potentially millions of McDonald’s customers
"Independent businesses must set their prices independently," the lawsuit said
The complaint alleges that McDonald’s has enforced a "coercive price-fixing agreement" on its franchisees since 2019
McDonald’s in a statement called the allegations speculative and uninformed. "AI does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item," McDonald's said. The company said McDonald’s imposes no pricing mandates and that franchisees make their own pricing decisions
The plaintiffs' lawyers had no immediate comment
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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