Our Sourcing Standards
How we check restaurant prices
Most price sites publish a number with no source and no date. We publish the source and the date on every page. Here is the whole method, including the cases where we publish no price at all.
1,430
locations in the price study
528
items priced across stores
September 29, 2026
study last refreshed
1A price comes from the restaurant’s own menu
We open the chain’s public menu and read the number off it. We do not copy prices from other price sites, from old screenshots or from forum posts. When a chain shows prices only after you pick a store, we pick a store and say which one.
2Every page carries the date it was read
Restaurant prices move. A number with no date is worth little, so each page states the day we read it. When we re-read a menu, the date moves and the numbers move with it.
3We never invent a price
If a chain publishes no price, the page says so and shows no number. The Starbucks page is the clearest case. Starbucks shows no price on any public product page, so our page is built on sizes, calories, caffeine and Star costs, and it says above the fold why no dollar figure appears.
4We say when a price is a median, not a single store
Chains price by location. For the chains where per-store prices are public, we read many stores and publish the median with the store count beside it. The current study covers 1,430 locations across 5 chains and 528 priced items, last refreshed September 29, 2026.
5A block is an answer
Some chains refuse automated reading. When a menu refuses us, we stop. We do not work around a block to get a number. It means a few chains have pages built on menu structure and nutrition instead of prices, and those pages say so.
6We correct pages rather than leave them
When a reader tells us a price is wrong, we re-read the menu and update the page and its date. Write to [email protected] with the item and the store.
Why the price you pay differs from ours
Franchise locations set their own prices. Airport, stadium and highway stores run higher. Delivery apps add a markup on top of the in-store menu. Our numbers describe the menu we read on the date we read it, so treat them as a guide to what to expect and check your own store before ordering.
Who writes this
USA Food Journal is an independent site with no affiliation to any restaurant chain named on it. Read more about USA Food Journal or send us a correction.