Fast Food Chains Always Trick You Into Spending More. Here's How

Fast food restaurants are always there when you need a quick fix for your hunger, but making and serving food is not the only thing that's fast about these establishments. You can also guarantee they're always trying to make a quick buck. Even though most consumers head to their favorite fast food chain with the intention of getting a quick and cheap meal, the chains themselves are constantly scheming up new ways to make more money from their customers.

But how do they do it? Fast food chains use everything from marketing tactics to pricing tricks to get you to order more of their most popular fast food items, all disguised under the illusion of saving money. And it's clearly working, since in 2023, Americans spent most of their allocated food budgets to eating out, 58.5% to be exact, according to the USDA. Furthermore, if you look at the percentage of Americans' spending when dining out, fast food chains take almost 60%of that business, as found in a study conducted by US Foods. Let's dive into exactly how fast food chains keep you coming back for — and spending — more, so you can keep an eye out for these typical tricks the next time you head to the drive-thru.

Think of your favorite fast food restaurant and you likely associate a few things with that restaurant's brand. Perhaps you think of its logo, like the iconic McDonald's golden arches or the pink and purple bell dinging for Taco Bell. And who doesn't recognize the redheaded, freckled smiling girl as the mascot of Wendy's? These iconic images, signature colors, and characters are no accident; they help you remember each brand as singular and unique. But quality brand recognition is not enough: How it presents the actual food product matters as well.

Fast food chains use bright, saturated pictures and videos in their advertising to make sure they catch the consumers' eye... and appetite. Professional food stylists and photographers come into play here to help make the product look unbelievably appetizing to the consumer. Using lighting, composition, and sometimes props, these professionals can make what is just an ordinary order of fries into the most irresistible creation. And sometimes the look of that ridiculously mouthwatering hamburger in the TV commercial is truly unbelievable, as one of the things fast food chains don't want you to know is that the real product will never look as appealing as the commercial. Even the grill marks on a hamburger have been faked in the past. But with this combination of signature branding and quality visual representations of the product, fast food chains keep themselves at the forefront of consumer's minds.

Beautiful, sensory-descriptive language is proven to increase the appeal of food items to customers. Not only do food product descriptions inform the consumer about the product at hand, but when worded eloquently, it should entice the consumer as well. Think of sensory-rich adjectives like juicy, creamy, savory, soft, warm — all of these words can instantly make your mouth water. These words are just as important as the images or videos of a fast food chains' product. Combined, the brands can craft advertisements that will have you craving their products and ultimately, spending more.

But this descriptive language can be found in more places than just commercials or print advertisements. You've likely seen these yummy buzzwords on the food packaging itself. Everything from to-go bags to burger wrappers to napkins is up for grabs to keep the product on consumers' minds. 

Have you ever wondered why most prices at fast food chains never round up to the dollar? You'll often see a sandwich priced at $5.99 or a side priced at $2.50. This is the far too common, deliberate use of a deceptive technique called "charm pricing." Charm pricing aims to trick the consumer into thinking an item is cheaper than it looks. In this example, fast food chains use it in the hope that a customer will hone in on the number 5 and unknowingly shorthand the price of the sandwich to about $5 in their mind. But in reality, you're paying about $6 for the sandwich, and possibly more with the addition of sales tax.

Fast food chains also hope consumers look at this pricing method and believe they're getting a deal, especially if the $5.99 price is advertised as a limited-time offer. This method is called the rule of nines, where marketers use odd numbers like nine, seven, or five to give an item the illusion of being on sale, subsequently causing customers to act now and take advantage of this supposedly good deal of a price.

Fast food chains don't just trick people into thinking they're getting a deal, but frequently offer actual deals to turn buyers from infrequent visitors to loyal customers. Fast food chains know that consumers have started to become more wallet-conscious, especially with inflation and the rise of cost of living; so value meals are a great way to help the consumer save money. But the fast food chains' true hope is that the value deal that brings a customer in snowballs into them purchasing more than just the meal deal they came in for, resulting in higher sales.

Some of the fast food restaurants with the best value menus know that they have to lower prices in order to compete. In the summer of 2024, multiple fast food chains like McDonald's, Taco Bell, Wendy's, and Burger King launched meal deals to compete for the business of lower-income consumers. The McDonald's $5 meal deal was reported by the company as a success, with a noticeable increase in visitors to its restaurants.

Beyond penny-pinching consumers, there's another demographic fast food chains don't want to leave behind: kids and teens. From the use of toys in special kids-only meals to family-friendly mascots and advertisements, fast food chains know how to target kids and subsequently, their parents who will be purchasing the meals for them. Surprisingly, McDonald's was hesitant to establish its now-iconic Happy Meal at first, but it was ultimately launched in 1977 and the special, limited-edition surprise toys kept kids and families coming back. The chain is now the king of collabs, even if some were spotty at first, and often partners up with kids movie franchises to offer special Happy Meals with the film's characters.

But these fast food chains aren't solely interested in taking the parents' money. They also have a vested interest in making lifelong customers out of the kids themselves. So, while the toys might attract kids today, the food that goes along with it is what they'll keep coming back to as the grow older.

In the end, fast food chains know that if kids and teens won't listen to what the brand has to say about its food, there's someone that might work: their favorite celebrity. There's been a significant increase in celebrity and fast food chain partnerships in the past few years, kicked off by the success of "Tim Biebs," the limited edition donut hole creation of the Tim Hortons and Justin Bieber partnership in 2020. Celebrity endorsements and campaigns can help lure adult customers as well, earning the brand the cool factor simply by association with a famous face. Even Mariah Carey, the self-professed queen of Christmas, partnered with McDonald's to offer 12 days of deals during the holiday season. These partnerships also have the advantage of time sensitivity: If you want the deal, you have to act fast.

Sometimes ingenious fast food publicity stunts can make a splash as well. April Fools' stunts are a popular choice, like when Burger King advertised the release of a "Left-Handed Whopper." Sure enough, people showed up to try it. These flashy campaigns and stunts may seem silly, but they can work wonders in spiking up sales and word-of-mouth for fast food chains.

You've surely heard the phrase "for a limited time only" after the description of a product in a fast food advertisement. These items have been used in conjunction with celebrity partnerships, like with the Dunkin' special coffee creation of "The Charli" with Tik Tok star Charli D'Amelio. But limited-edition food items offer food chains valuable results beyond the celebrity endorsement as well.

A YouGov study showed that consumers are 38% more likely to order an item labelled as limited, with American consumers being specifically 31% more likely. Phrasing like "for a limited time only" enforces urgency onto the consumer, inspiring them to act quickly and make as many purchases of that special item as soon as possible. And if a limited-edition product is associated with a holiday or certain time of year, that product can cement loyalty as consumers look forward to enjoying it each year. Just think of the infamous Shamrock Shake from McDonalds! The best part is, if a fast food chain can lure you in with a limited-edition item, there's a chance you'll add on more products to go along with it, meaning the chains get even more money from your wallet.

When your local fast food worker asks if you want fries on the side, it's more than just a friendly colloquialism — it's an example of what's known as upselling tactics. These kinds of phrases aim to urge customers to add more items to their tab, whether they originally wanted them or not.

But with today's technology, a fast food worker doesn't even need to ask questions anymore. Self-serve kiosks have emerged in chain restaurants, saving the company money on staffing. These touchscreen kiosks come with pre-programmed questions that are designed to make you reconsider your selections at every move. They can also eliminate the stress and time pressure of figuring out what to order, but ultimately, the removal of human interaction places the sole focus on the consumer and the food they want (or the food the kiosk wants them) to purchase.

Fast food chains don't let distance hold customers back from spending money on an order. With the current reign of delivery apps, you can have access to your favorite fast food coming right to your doorstep. And a 2023 PYMNTS study showed that consumers spent nearly twice as much on deliveries than pickup orders. With high delivery fees in the picture, it's often not worth it to have food delivered unless one is willing to spend a certain amount. Naturally, this drives up total sales. But chains know delivery fees can be bothersome to customers, so they'll occasionally offer it free if you spend over a certain amount. This incentivizes the customer to rack up their bill, ultimately putting more money in the fast food restaurant's pocket than the delivery app's.

And even though these delivery apps often charge restaurants high service fees, many fast food chains still find it worth it. These chains can simply increase the price of items to cover the service fees and other operating costs. This passes the added cost onto the consumer, who ends up paying more for the convenience.