McDonald’s is reportedly increasing the price of its cheeseburger in the UK, for the first time in 14 years, by 20% due to increasing cost pressures.
The fast-food chain said that its UK restaurants will increase the cheeseburger’s cost from 99p to £1.19 ($1.43).
Go deeper with GlobalData
As inflation in the country hits the highest level in about 40 years, the company will also increase the cost of various other menu items by between 10p and 20p as a result of increased costs for items such as fuel, wages and ingredients.
The other items that are expected to see a price increase include large coffees, McFlurry desserts, McNugget share boxes and breakfast meals.
According to The Guardian, the cost of the ‘go large’ option, which increases the size of the drink and fries in a meal deal, is also doubling to 60p.
McDonald’s UK and Ireland chief executive Alistair Macrow said that the company was facing ‘tough choices’ about its prices.
Macrow said: “We understand that any price increases are not good news, but we have delayed and minimised these changes for as long as we could.”
The company also stated that prices will not be affected on some menus and would continue to vary across its UK restaurant network as some of its more than 1,300 locations are operated by franchisees.
Franchisees can set prices depending on recommendations from McDonald’s.
In total, McDonald’s has more than 36,000 restaurants in over 100 countries.
Prior to this development, the company reported a $1.19bn net income, or $1.6 per share, for the second quarter of the year.
