Fast-food value deal battle expands as Sonic rolls out a $1.99 menu

The fast-food wars gained a new participant on Monday as Sonic Drive-In rolled out a value menu consisting of entrées, snacks and desserts.

Sonic said on Monday each of the food items on its "Fun.99 Menu" will carry $1.99 price tags not including tax.

Customers can order things like a quarter-pound double cheeseburger, Chili Cheese Coney hot dog, small tater tots and 16-ounce shakes from the new value menu, the fast-food chain said in a news release.

The "Fun.99 Menu" also offers Bacon Ranch Queso Wraps and Southwest Crunch Queso Wraps, Sonic said. It is the first time the chain has offered the queso wraps. 

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Sonic CMO Ryan Dickerson said the chain "wanted to do something different" so it "focused on variety" with its new $1.99 value menu.

"Now more than ever, consumers are focused on affordable food options, but they shouldn’t have to settle for the same old, tired discounts or boring meals," he said. "Many restaurant brands are touting value meals and discounts, and you see a lot of recycled ideas with limited options."

Fast-food consumers have in recent weeks seen value meal deals debut nationwide for brands like Burger King, McDonald’s and Taco Bell to run for limited amounts of time, as previously reported by FOX Business. At Burger King and McDonald’s, the meal deals cost $5, while Taco Bell’s is priced at $7.

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Meanwhile, the "Fun.99 Menu" will be "here to stay" at Sonic’s over 3,500 restaurants "all day, every day," the Inspire Brands-owned Sonic said.

Fast-food eaters have been feeling the squeeze on their wallets.

"It is clear that broad-based consumer pressures persist around the world," McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski, for example, noted in April. "Consumers continue to be even more discriminating with every dollar that they spend as they faced elevated prices in their day to day spending, which is putting pressure on the QSR industry." 

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