Top McDonald's exec says $18 Big Mac meal is "exception," not the rule

A top McDonald's executive on Wednesday decried "poorly sourced reports" that the fast-food giant has hiked its prices faster than inflation. 

"I can tell you that it frustrates and worries me, and many of our franchisees, when I hear about an $18 Big Mac meal being sold — even if it was at one location in the U.S. out of more than 13,700," Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald's USA, said in a letter posted on the restaurant chain's corporate website. "More worrying, though, is when people believe that this is the rule and not the exception, or when folks start to suggest that the prices of a Big Mac have risen 100% since 2019."

Erlinger said the average cost of a Big Mac is now $5.29, up 21% from $4.39 in 2019.