Fast-food fans were aghast when news broke this week that burger chain Wendy’s would be testing out surge pricing — a mostly reviled strategy of raising prices during busy times made famous by Uber.
Click here to read this story at foodandwine.com.
Discussion Questions:
- What is dynamic pricing?
- Last week, it was widely reported that Wendy’s planned to test dynamic pricing. What does that mean?
- Why would they be interested in testing dynamic pricing?
- Based on what you learned from this story, what was the reaction from consumers to that news?
- What is publicity?
- How does negative publicity impact a business or brand?
- What is crisis management?
- How would you describe how Wendy’s handled the reaction from consumers?
- What is promotion?
- How might offering $1 burgers represent an example of both crisis management and promotion?
- Do you think Wendy’s was still going to offer $1 burgers even without the negative response to the idea of testing dynamic pricing? Why or why not?
