McDonald’s Canada to freeze price of small coffee, drop cost of value meals

When Annemarie Swijtink took the helm of McDonald’s Canada in September, fast-food companies were facing a lot of heat.

Reduced cattle herds had pushed up the price of ground beef, while climate change and crop disease challenged another restaurant staple: coffee.

Caught in the middle were consumers fretting about tariff tensions and watching their fast-food favourites inch higher than their desired price range.

Swijtink is now trying to deliver some relief.

She announced Tuesday that McDonald’s Canada will freeze the price of a small cup of coffee at $1 for at least a year and drop the price of its McValue meals to $5 for the same duration. The prices are “effective today,” according to a press release.

The meals have cost about $6 since they were introduced in 2024. They include either a Junior Chicken, McDouble or chicken snack wrap bundled with small fries and a fountain drink.

A new McValue breakfast segment includes a sausage McMuffin, breakfast burrito, bagel with cream cheese or a sausage McGriddle paired with a small coffee and a hash brown.

Swijtink said the reason for the price freeze is simple: it’s what customers are looking for.

“Canadians are facing challenges and are insecure financially. What we are doing is listening and giving them what they want,” she said.

WATCH | The battle for the future of fast food:

Can meal deals bring Gen Z back to fast food chains?

Fast food prices are climbing, and big chains like Chipotle say that they’re losing young adults who are cutting back on their spending. With cheap meal deals on the table at McDonald’s and Burger King, the battle for the future of fast food rests with Gen Z — but many of them are opting not to dine out.

Public perception of fast food has shifted

The chain’s global CEO, Christopher Kempczinski, said last fall that McDonald’s was expecting fewer sales from lower-income diners in the U.S. in 2026, due to a bifurcated “K-shaped economy” that sees higher-income consumers spending more while cash-strapped consumers spend less.

But the move by its Canadian arm doesn’t necessarily mean that McDonald’s is seeing fewer customers in its restaurants, said Robert Carter, a restaurant industry analyst with Straton Hunter Group in Toronto.

“This is more about a protecting the visit frequency of customers. You know, when you get a customer in a weekly routine, it’s very important for quick service restaurants to be top of mind for that routine,” Carter said.

“We have one of the highest daily uses of restaurants in the global restaurant world. So the challenge, again, is really around that value equation — making sure that consumers are feeling good about where they’re spending their money when they do spend it,” he said.

McDonald’s Canada was able to impose the price changes…