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A proposed class action filed in federal court in Illinois alleges that McDonald’s used an AI-assisted pricing system and nonpublic sales data to coordinate menu prices across restaurants. McDonald’s disputes the claim, saying its tool offers optional recommendations and franchisees set their own prices. The filing is an allegation—not a court finding of price-fixing.
What the lawsuit alleges
Customer Michael Thomas filed the proposed class action on October 2, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, according to Bloomberg Law. The complaint alleges that, since at least 2019, a centralized machine-learning “pricing engine” has used confidential sales data from franchise-owned and company-operated restaurants to generate pricing recommendations.
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The plaintiff argues that sharing data through a central system and distributing recommendations can coordinate prices among restaurants that would otherwise make independent decisions. Reuters quoted the complaint’s framing: “Independent businesses must set their prices independently.” That is the plaintiff’s position, not a court ruling. Reuters describes the case as a proposed nationwide antitrust class action that could involve potentially millions of McDonald’s customers.
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What the plaintiff is seeking
The complaint seeks class certification, damages and an order preventing enforcement of agreements it alleges restrict competition, the Associated Press reports. Those are requests: the proposed class has not thereby been certified, and no requested remedy has been shown to have been ordered. The Associated Press
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McDonald’s response
McDonald’s calls the lawsuit inaccurate and says franchisees—not AI—set menu prices. The company says its tool provides optional, restaurant-specific recommendations; it does not set or change prices, price for individual customers, or change prices in real time. It also says franchisees are not required to accept its recommendations. These are McDonald’s descriptions of its system, not details independently established by the cited reporting. The Associated Press and McDonald’s statement
In its response, McDonald’s said: “AI does not set menu prices at McDonald’s restaurants – McDonald’s franchisees do.” Its corporate statement added that AI “does not set the price of a Big Mac or any other menu item. It does not change prices. And it does not determine what an individual customer pays.”
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Why the dispute turns on how the tool works
The central disagreement is not simply whether software produces a recommendation. It is whether data-sharing and recommendations merely inform each restaurant’s independent pricing choices, as McDonald’s says, or facilitate coordination among restaurants, as the complaint alleges.
- Data: The complaint alleges that the system pools nonpublic restaurant-level sales data. The cited reports do not independently verify what data the tool receives or who can access it.
- Recommendations: The plaintiff says centralized recommendations can coordinate prices. McDonald’s describes them as optional and specific to each restaurant.
- Decision-making: McDonald’s says franchisees retain final control. The available reporting does not establish whether franchisees were pressured to follow recommendations.
- Price outcomes: The cited reports do not establish that the tool caused price increases or that restaurants coordinated actual prices.
Those distinctions matter because a recommendation system’s existence alone does not resolve the allegations. The reported material presents competing accounts; it does not independently settle the tool’s design, how it was used or its effect on prices.
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What is known about McDonald’s franchise system
The Associated Press reports that 95% of McDonald’s 14,000 U.S. stores are owned and operated by franchisees, attributing those figures to McDonald’s. That structure helps explain why the lawsuit’s allegation focuses on whether pricing decisions remain independent across separately operated restaurants.
McDonald’s has said it has used an AI-enhanced pricing tool for more than a decade to help develop recommendations using store sales, location and other factors, including competitor prices, according to the Associated Press. The company also said franchisee participation in a separate proposed under-$3 value menu was not automatic: CEO Chris Kempczinski said 60% of U.S. restaurants offered it at the time of an August investor call. That figure concerns a separate value-menu proposal; it does not prove or disprove the allegations in this case. The Associated Press
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What has—and has not—been established
The reports establish that Thomas filed the proposed lawsuit and summarize the plaintiff’s allegations and McDonald’s response. They do not establish that franchisees coordinated prices, that the tool caused price increases, or that McDonald’s pressured franchisees. They also do not report a ruling or class certification. The reporting reviewed does not provide a docket number, judge or response deadline, so those procedural details should not be inferred.
For now, “AI-powered menu price-fixing” describes the accusation in the case, not a finding that McDonald’s broke antitrust law. The lawsuit’s outcome will depend on the facts and legal arguments developed in court.
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