With traffic ebbing through much of the business, restaurant chains are resorting to the sort of deep discounting the industry hasn’t seen for a while. Sonic is hoping it can win back lapsed users with the enticement of a $1.29 chili cheese hot dog. Applebee’s is touting 50-cent fried-mozzarella sticks (though bargain-hunters have to purchase at least four of the gooey treats). Even Starbucks is offering bundled deals.
Yet those appeals to penny-pinchers are nothing compared to the price-slashing of three decades ago, when two industry giants rolled out menu lines that initially seemed as if the two, both master marketers, had been sampling too many of Applebee’s $1 cocktails. These were not limited-time offers. Taco Bell twice dropped the price of some tacos to 39 cents. In some markets, McDonald’s used 29-cent burgers as a lure.
How’d those tactics work? This week’s episode of Restaurant Rewind, RB’s retro-focused podcast, looks back at those bar-setting acts of deflation. Give a listen for a recount of what happened when those bargains were fly-cast into the business.
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