Fast food companies raising prices is questionable.

They reap mega profits in the billions even during high inflation periods.

Fast food is generally a bell-weather area which normally makes good profits even during an economic downturn. When the economy gets tough, or the cost of living goes higher, people switch from going to sit-down restaurants to the relatively cheaper fast-food.

But many fast food companies are raising prices over the past 2 years even though they continue to make billions of dollars in profit. They are not taking a loss.

The problem here is with publicly held companies. Too often the shareholders are the #1 priority and the customer is secondary. A possible reason is each person who directly owns a share of stock has a vote in items that the board of directors vote on, and shareholders are often focused on short-sighted profits, not long-term stability of the company.

See the previous 5 years of profits for select US restaurant companies at this link. You should be able to view this spreadsheet.