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Chick-fil-A is now facing a class action lawsuit that alleges the fast-food chain has been up-charging customers for their delivery orders for years. This is so bad! Two plaintiffs from the New York area just alleged in court filings that the Atlanta-based chain’s “flat fee” delivery rate is deceptive. According to court papers first reported this week, the fast food giant states that they have a $3.99 flat “delivery fee,” but that in actuality when the order goes through the cost ends up being “actually much higher” and that the company charges a “hidden food markup” to eaters. If these claims are true, this is totally sketchy!
The lawsuit, which was filed by one person from New York City and another from New Jersey, raises a very good question in the era of pandemic-related food ordering: is a flat delivery fee really flat if the price of the food has gone up? As supply and labor shortages in the Covid-era cause menu prices to shoot up, the plaintiffs in the Chick-fil-A filing seem to be fed up with how fast food conglomerates are passing along the cost to customers.
The plaintiffs allege that Chick-fil-A started raising their menu prices for delivery in early 2020, right at the peak of quarantine. They continue that the ultimate price for food delivery shot up because Chick-fil-A charged *more* for food that was being delivered, versus food that was being picked up. The case docs reveal that the plaintiffs believe Chick-fil-A adds “a hefty 25 to 30 percent” markup for these orders. Yikes!
How does this work? For example, when you look at the Chick-fil-A app, an order of 8-piece chicken nuggets costs $3.85, but when you're having that same food delivered, it costs $4.99. Holy cow!
"To appeal to consumers in a crowded food delivery marketplace, Chick-fil-A has promised its customers low-price delivery in its mobile application and on its website, usually in the amount of $2.99 or $3.99," the filing states. "These representations, however, are false, because that is not the true cost of having food delivered by Chick-fil-A… Chick-fil-A secretly marks up food prices for delivery orders by a hefty 25 to 30 percent. In other words, the identical order of a 30-count chicken nuggets costs approximately $5 to $6 more when ordered for delivery than when ordered via the same mobile app for pickup, or when ordered in-store."
While it isn't uncommon for restaurants to set different prices for delivery, the lawsuit states that this should be made more clear, ie. how Instacart provides express warnings to consumers that the prices listed on its app are "higher than in-store prices." The NY plaintiffs just want Chick-fil-A to stop this practice--and of course, provide them with financial compensation. We'll see where this all shakes out, and how it affects restaurant delivery prices going forward!
