McDonald’s faces antitrust claims over alleged AI pricing system

It brings claims under Section 1 of the federal Sherman Act and the Illinois Antitrust Act.[1] Thomas seeks treble damages and attorneys’ fees.[1] The complaint says the system estimates customers’ willingness to pay and sensitivity to price changes, and links one restaurant’s price increases to whether other McDonald’s restaurants have raised prices on the same item.[1]

The complaint alleges McDonald’s has operated a centralized machine-learning pricing engine since at least 2019.[1] It says the engine uses data from millions of daily transactions across corporate and franchised restaurants to recommend item prices for individual locations.[1] Reuters likewise reported that the engine analyzes millions of daily transactions across nearly 14,000 restaurants and generates a recommended price for each item at each location.[4] Legal Reader reported that Tiger Analytics operates the system and that it examines sales records from nearly 14,000 U.S. restaurants.[3] The complaint says about 95% of McDonald’s roughly 14,000 U.S. restaurants are independently owned and operated.[1]

The complaint alleges McDonald’s heavily pressured franchisees to use the pricing algorithm and tracked deviations from its recommendations.[1] It says McDonald’s required franchisees to use its approved pricing consultant and tools beginning in January 2026.[1] McDonald’s rejected the allegations and said it would fight the case.[3] The company says artificial intelligence does not set menu prices and that its tools do not automatically set prices or coordinate decisions among restaurants.[3]

The complaint cites a McDonald’s fact sheet reporting that average menu prices rose about 40% from 2019 to 2024.[1] Reuters reported that a company-run Fresno restaurant sold a Big Mac for $5.69, while another two miles away sold one for $6.89.[4] Reuters said it could not confirm whether the observed price difference resulted from the engine’s recommendations.[4] That caveat matters: the reported price gap is an example of different prices at two locations, not evidence in itself that the system caused the difference.[4] The complaint’s allegations and McDonald’s response remain competing accounts in the case.[2][3]