Have Burger Prices At Fast Food Gone Too High For You?

If I’m ordering a burger, I’m at a fast-food spot. Nothing against the burgers at a table-service restaurant, but when I’m in those places, I normally order something else.

But the days of cheap burgers at a fast-food restaurant are long gone. Swinging through a drive-thru on the way home from work is likely to leave me with sticker shock. Add in the “meal deals” that I always end up ordering anyway, and it’s hard to roll out of the drive-thru with less than $10 for just me. Of course, I still do it, so it’s a little my fault.

Delish recently published a list of the most expensive fast-food burgers, but it focused on the Los Angeles area. So I used that as a template, and with the help of a few food-delivery services, found the most expensive fast-food burgers in St. Cloud.

I focused on the sticker-price of a quarter-pound burger, if available. Normally, you can save a few bucks if you order the meals or use any number of app deals, but I needed a baseline for comparison.

Here’s what I learned: the prices vary, sometimes wildly, between towns. Especially between a small town (St. Cloud) and a larger suburb (Maple Grove), you can see the price of the same burger shift by a dollar or two.

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So, in general, here are the fast-food burgers in St. Cloud, ranked from cheapest to most expensive.

Culver’s Single ButterBurger:

• Culver's ButterBurger prices vary by location and type (single, double, triple, with or without cheese), but generally, a single ButterBurger is around $4-$6
• That’s my go-to. In my opinion, the best burgers in the business!

Hardee’s Famous Star:

• The price of a Hardee's Famous Star varies by location and whether you buy it à la carte or as a combo (with fries & drink), but expect around $5-$7 for the burger alone
• The only Hardees in St. Cloud closed earlier this year. No word on whether a replacement is coming or not.

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese:

• The price of a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese varies by location, but expect around $5.50 - $7.00+ for the sandwich alone
• McDonald’s prices have reportedly doubled over the past ten years.

Wendy’s Dave’s Single:

• Wendy's Dave's Single price varies but generally falls between $6 to over $8 for the sandwich alone, depending heavily on location.
• I used to live just a few blocks from Wendy’s and ate there all the time. I haven’t been back since I moved.

Burger King Whopper:

• Expect to pay roughly $5.79 to $8.19 in different US areas, with Minneapolis pricing often on the higher end.

Five Guys:

• Five Guys burger prices vary by location but generally range from around $9 for a single-patty "Little Hamburger" to $13-$15 for a double-patty Cheeseburger
• I’m not sure Five Guys counts as fast-food, but if you want burgers, they’re the granddaddy of the bunch!

In the grand scheme of things, I shouldn’t complain about the price of a cheeseburger. After all, I can always stay home and make my own for a lot less. But it leads to a more complicated question; fast-food burgers used to be a cheap, on-the-road food you could grab and go. While the franchises tried to jump on the upscale burger bandwagon, they’ve lost that segment of the audience.

So I ask you – where do you go for a cheap meal on the road? What St. Cloud spot did I miss? Leave a message on any social media, or click here and email me!