Check, please!
Denny’s enthusiasts are sizzling mad over a whopping price increase for one of the restaurant’s popular “slam” breakfast platters, which has tripled in cost in recent years.
The chain that brought Moons Over My Hammy to the world is the latest fast-food purveyor to embrace the trend of dramatically increasing prices as brands have struggled with inflation and increased labor costs as new minimum wage laws have gone into effect.
A recent post on the Inflation subreddit shows a picture of a Denny’s menu featuring the “Lumberjack Slam” — a popular breakfast offering which includes two buttermilk pancakes, a slice of grilled ham, two bacon strips, two sausage links, two eggs, hash browns and two pieces of white toast — for $17.99.
The hefty price tag doesn’t include the premium option of upgrading the pancakes to double berry banana, cinnamon roll, or “choconana” for an extra $3.09, which would bring the pre-tax, pre-tip total to $21.08.
“DENNYS: where you can order a $18 plate for one person instead of making it at home for 4 people for the same price,” one snide commenter remarked.
Another user who said they worked at a Denny’s throughout the 1990s noted the restaurant’s Grand Slams cost $1.99 at the time.
“We used to have old people come in all the time for two coffees and two Grand Slams and would leave with under a $10 bill,” he wrote.
The original poster, who didn’t mention the state in which the Denny’s he ate at was located, said the total bill for himself, his wife and his daughter — “3 meals and 2 coffees plus 20% tip” — came out to $78.
“Our usual breakfast place is kind of fancy, and less expensive than this abomination,” he said.
A recent study shows the troubling impact California’s new $20-an-hour minimum wage law for fast workers has had on the industry.
Beloved chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King — which for decades were a standby for families looking for an affordable meal — have jacked up prices to make up for higher worker salaries.
Since California’s law took effect April 1, all three restaurants have experienced foot traffic declines, according to a report by analytics firm Placer.ai.
Burger King’s business fell 3.86%, while Wendy’s dropped by 3.24% and McDonald’s slipped 2.5%.
