Earlier this week, the National Franchisee Association filed a class action suit against Burger King, as reported Thursday on QSRweb.com. The suit, filed on behalf of Burger King operators, takes issue with Burger King's maximum pricing policy, specifically regarding the company's decision to add the quarter-pound Double Cheeseburger to the value menu.
Burger King issued a statement Thursday and has since revised it:
Burger King Corp. (BKC) believes the National Franchisee Association's (NFA) lawsuit regarding the addition of the $1 quarter-pound Double Cheeseburger to the BK Value Menu is without merit. The $1 quarter-pound Double Cheeseburger is simply an addition to the BK Value Menu, which has been in place since 2002.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided in June of this year that BKC has the contractual right to require franchisee participation in its BK Value Menu program. In fact, the Court (an appellate court immediately below the U.S. Supreme Court), could not have been clearer when it stated "[t]here is simply no question that BKC had the power and authority under the Franchise Agreements to impose the Value Menu on its franchisee."Additionally, it was and has never been BKC's intent to dictate prices across its menu. Other than setting a maximum price on a small group of items on the BK Value Menu, BKC has never set price restrictions for franchisees.BKC has been working with the NFA to try to resolve this dispute. The company is disappointed in the NFA's decision to file a suit regarding a value promotion that is allowing the brand to effectively compete in this difficult consumer environment by driving traffic and profitable sales.
