The insane amount of money people are spending on…
McDonald’s is taking a enormous chew out of American wallets.
In a new research, financial tech company Self unwrapped startling stats surrounding supply apps in the US to better perceive the rising value of fast food.
By inserting the same McDonald’s order in the 100 largest cities in the nation on all the major supply apps — DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub — their search also revealed gaping price discrepancies across the US.
Each order included a Big Mac Combo Meal, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe Large Meal, a 6-Piece Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal and a Hamburger Happy Meal.
In 2025, the research confirmed that the average value of that order at a restaurant was $36.95 — a 23.7% increase since 2023.
That price almost McDoubled when delivered via third-party supply apps with an average value of $62.36 — a 7.8% increase since 2023.
In the 2023 research, they discovered that the same order for supply different as a lot as $33.88 between 100 cities.
While the price of food alone did increase by 19.3% on supply apps between 2023 and 2025, there are also supply charges, service charges, gross sales tax and other city-dependent charges that are taken into account.
In the 2025 research, DoorDash turned out to be the most costly supply app option, with the meal priced at $63.21, which is 71.1% greater than shopping for immediately from the Golden Arches.
Uber Eats was the second most costly app, with a 69.4% markup costing $62.60, and Grubhub was the most cost effective at $61.26, which is a 65.8% increase.
The research workforce positioned the same McDonald’s order in the 100 largest cities in the nation on DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub. Chatchai – stock.adobe.com
In 2023, the average markup between ordering immediately from McDonald’s and utilizing a supply app was 93.8% — and despite price hikes since 2025, the findings confirmed that metric decreased to 68.6% on average.
Uber Eats alone had the best markup distinction in the research, slashing by 34.8% between 2023 and 2025.
The research also factored in a 15% tip for the supply drivers, though that’s not essentially obligatory, and some people could select another tipping option.
Each order included a Big Mac Combo Meal, a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe Large Meal, a 6-Piece Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal and a Hamburger Happy Meal. gargantiopa – stock.adobe.com
According to the research, the most reasonably priced option for McDonald’s can be to go choose it up your self, but if you do use a supply app, the most reasonably priced option can be the app that has the best low cost code for you at the time of ordering.
“Remember: the codes can be account-specific, so someone else you live with may have discounts you aren’t able to use,” the research said.
The research authors also emphasised to keep in thoughts that the data is from an analysis that targeted just on McDonald’s.
“McDonald’s is a large corporation that can afford to keep its markup lower than smaller businesses; consequently, the price increase for a local independent restaurant, for example, may be even higher, or if they are running a promotion, it may be lower.”
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