Jes loves fast food, the convenient and affordable gastronomic answer to get energized on a busy work day. One February morning, however, shocked her when she dropped by her favorite “bee” store for a quick breakfast on her way to work.
Jes’s brown eyes rolled, and her mind perplexed: The usual P55 breakfast meal she orders is missing something. That something, fried and yellow stuffed on a small paper pack, is missing!
“Before, every time I order Jollibee’s Breakfast Yum Burger Meal, it had French fries. But now the P55 value meal only includes a regular drink,” the 22-year-old government employee and postgraduate student said.
She then told the BusinessMirror in dismay: “It’s upsetting because the money you spend can only buy fewer items.”
“If you think about it, even if your salary is increased, but if you can only get fewer serving from the product you regularly buy, then it seems like there’s no change after all,” Jes added.
Jes isn’t alone with this fast-food feeling. When Jensen, a third-year journalism student, dropped by at his favorite red-and-yellow fast-food joint, he did not expect a saddening scene.
Store crew in white uniforms and black scarves were dismantling and replacing the menu signage with new ones. The crew was not in a hurry, but students like him who were in queue were in a rush to maximize their free time. Murmurs of college boys and girls filled the store: What’s happening here?
When the new menu was put back in place, change came: The previous prices were already gone. “They covered the previous prices with new printed ones, having the same font as before,” Jensen recalled to the BusinessMirror.
The 19-year-old’s favorite lunch meal, Chicken Fillet à la King with fries and drink, increased by P6: from P89 to P95. Irk followed: “I got irritated because I knew that it was caused by the TRAIN [Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion] law, which hiked the prices of sweetened drinks like Coke.”
Price upticks
THIS latest consumer trend in fast food-crazy Philippines is not due to inflationary pushes.
A new tax regime, brought about by the current government’s TRAIN law, had pushed leading fast-food firms to jack up the prices of their value meals by as much as P10 per meal.
At the same time, the fast-food firms reoffered their value meals by removing some food items to maintain their “affordable” price levels.
How that came to be? The government just imposed a P6-per-liter excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Meanwhile, beverages that contain high-fructose corn syrup (a cheap, imported alternative to sugar) are imposed with a P12-per-liter tax.
The BusinessMirror sought McDonald’s and Jollibee’s sides for the story; the former politely declined to comment, while the latter did not respond to editorial queries.
However, managers at a Jollibee branch interviewed by the BusinessMirror confirmed that the fast-food giant increased prices by around P4 to P10 due to the implementation of the TRAIN law.
“The highest increases were seen in the soft drinks,” a Luzon-based male Jollibee store manager revealed to the BusinessMirror. He even disclosed that higher soft-drink prices led Jollibee to offer new value meals without soft drinks, just so to keep some of their customers.
Another store manager in Metro Manila affirmed that Jollibee indeed increased its prices. The usual regular Yum burger value meal is now priced at P79, from P75 previously.
Pricing that ‘doubled’
MEANWHILE, another Luzon-based McDonald’s store manager revealed to the BusinessMirror that they increased their value meals by at least P2 to P3, due to higher prices charged by their suppliers.
One supplier, the manager said, cited the “doubled price” of Coca-Cola products sold to them. “They said it was caused by the new tax law. So the price increase from the supplier’s side reflected to about P2 to P3 increment in our meals,” the manager said.
The manager added he was not allowed to disclose the prices of the suppliers before and after the implementation of the TRAIN law.
Another McDonald’s store manager confirmed the price hike in their food items, but did not offer explanations beyond a five-worded sentence referring to the price hike. “It came from the top management.”
Golden Arches Development Corp. (GADC) President and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Yang told reporters in January that McDonald’s may indeed increase its beverage prices due to the TRAIN law. GADC holds the master franchise of McDonald’s fast-food restaurants in the Philippines.
“We may have to raise beverage prices,” Yang was quoted in news reports as saying. “But what we try to do is we balance everything out. We continue to provide a lot of value for our customers.”
Pricing awareness for consumers
PAT YANGA, a graduating Bachelor of Arts student, said fast-food firms should be transparent by announcing impending price hikes in their food items.
“I was surprised when I ordered at Jollibee because my favorite meals weren’t anymore P50 or P99,” she said. “[This is quite a disadvantage] for a student like me because I could have spent the P5 for other expenses, like transport fare and printing my thesis.”
Jensen echoed Yanga’s sentiments. The fast-food firms, such as his favorite McDonald’s, could have informed their customers ahead of time that they are increasing their prices due to the TRAIN law.
“They could have given their customers a heads-up, just like what gas stations did, wherein they even put signs that they increased their prices because of the TRAIN law.”
However, a Jollibee store manager told the BusinessMirror that they did announce price increases in their food items so as not to deceive their customers. “As a company rule, we really need to announce the price increase because, if not, it is like we’re cheating on our customers,” the store manager said.
“We did it through advertisements, commercials and social media, such as Facebook and others.”
Yet, despite the price hikes, Jollibee store managers interviewed by the BusinessMirror said their foot traffic did not dwindle in the past months. One Luzon store manager said: “In fact, the price increase was a factor to the increase of our sales [in value].”
Perhaps, Jes was one of those loyal customers. She said she would still continue to have her breakfast at Jollibee, with or without the French fries in her favorite value meal.
“Well, because it’s part of my daily habit already.”
Image credits: Ognjen Stevanovic | Dreamstime.com
2 comments
French Fries and Soft-drinks as well as fast food is general is NOT HEALTHY for you!!! Sugar is BBADD!!!
Dont patronize Jollibess and similar fast food restaurants is they dont pay their employees fairly and competitively!