Burger King Reducing Nugget Count To Combat Inflation

By Aaron Perine

Burger King is dropping the number of nuggets given to customers to combat inflation. In a recent earnings call, Carrols Restaurant Group, one of the biggest franchisors for the restaurant in the United States, has confirmed that they will be dropping the number of nuggets in meals from 10 to 8 according to a transcript obtained by MarketWatch. In the statement from Carrols CEO Daniel Accordino, the company is claiming that inflation is to blame. (Other reports from reputable sources like NPR seem to find other conclusions. Namely that the increased profits are the main culprit as there is a rush to accrue more value and pass the bill to the customer.) At any rate, here's what the massive franchiser had to say about the nugget situation.

"As you may have recently read, the Burger King brand has about a dozen menu and promotional initiatives, some of which have already been implemented and some that will be implemented over the course of this year," Accordino began."Recent actions in this regard from our franchisor[s] include lifting price caps on value menu items and reducing the number of nuggets [in] meals from 10 pieces to 8. The Whopper, the brand's most popular product by a wide margin, has also been removed as a core discount item and is no longer available in the two-for-six or two-for-five promotions."

"Domestic food, paper producers and distributors supplying most of our commodities are dealing with labor constraints, along with higher fuel costs and are passing the increases on to us. As a result, commodity inflation overall was approximately 16% this past quarter compared to the prior year period," he added. "While we cannot predict when these inflationary cost pressures will end, we can say that we believe that in the back half of 2022, the year-over-year percentage increases for labor and commodity costs will moderate. We also intend to continue to move pricing to partially offset inflation to the extent possible without impacting traffic."

NPR talked to economics professor Isabella Weber about the inflation occurring around these record profits on All Things Considered.

"What we have seen is that profits are skyrocketing, which means that companies have increased prices by more than cost. In the earnings reports, companies have bragged about how they have managed to be ahead of the inflation curve, how they have managed to jack up prices more than their costs and as a result have delivered these record profits."

Do you want your normal 10 piece nugget? Let us know down in the comments!

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