If you’re old enough to remember $5 footlongs from Subway, keep reading.
by Brooks Johnson
Star Tribune
Fast food has long been a staple of American diets because it is, or was, so inexpensive.
Not so much anymore.
Over the past five years, prices for popular menu items at chains like McDonald’s and Taco Bell have risen dramatically. The cost of a Big Mac or a Chalupa has doubled since 2019, according to archived and current pages of the Fast Food Menu Prices online tracker.
Restaurant inflation overall has been significant, though much tamer by comparison, with dining-out prices up 30% on average since 2019.