Just two words created a publicity nightmare for fast-food giant Wendy’s: dynamic pricing.

In late February 2024, news broke that the chain was considering charging different prices at different times of day — a tactic usually associated with airlines and ride-hailing companies. As headlines like “Wendy’s to roll out Uber-style surge-pricing” flooded the news, #BoycottWendys trended on social media. Wendy’s rival Burger King quickly took advantage of the news with a “No urge to surge” promotion.

The backlash put Wendy’s on the defensive.

Within days, Wendy’s said that it never intended to raise prices at times of peak demand, Instead, it only intended to lower prices when store traffic was slow. It also announced a monthlong $1 burger deal that observers were quick to connect to the pricing fiasco.

It looked like a classic PR disaster – and as a professor of marketing, I couldn’t turn away. How did this all go wrong?

I suspect this burger brouhaha came down to a classic case of investors’ interests colliding with those of consumers.

The whole mess seems to have started on Feb. 15, 2024, when Wendy’s released its fourth-quarter earnings and held a conference call with investors.

That day, Wendy’s........

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