Chick-fil-A Hidden Delivery Fees New Jersey Class Action

Chick-fil-A, Inc., says the complaint for this class action, “has moved aggressively into the food delivery business” since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with people staying at home more of the time. However, the complaint alleges that Chick-fil-A has been promising customers free or low-priced delivery, then raising the prices of its food items for deliveries to compensate.

The class for this action is all persons in New Jersey who, between the applicable statute of limitations before the filing of this action and the date the class is certified, ordered food through the Chick-fil-A mobile app or website and were charged higher delivery charges than represented.

Originally, the complaint alleges, when Chick-fil-A began doing deliveries, it charged consumers a flat $4.99 delivery fee. This was the only difference, the complaint alleges, between the cost of a meal delivered to a consumer’s home and the cost of the same meal if ordered at a Chick-fil-A location.

But with the Covid-19 pandemic, many people became reluctant to leave their homes if it wasn’t necessary, and delivery orders from restaurants became very popular. The complaint alleges, “To appeal to consumers in a crowded food delivery marketplace during the national crisis, early in the pandemic Chick-fil-A began promising its customers “FREE DELIVERY” or low-priced delivery in its mobile application and on its website.” In fact, the complaint alleges, the restaurant promised to reduce its delivery fees.

But the complaint alleges that these representations are false, because it says Chick-fil-A imposes hidden additional delivery charges on customers by raising the prices on its menu items by twenty-five to thirty percent.

For example, it says, “the identical order of a 30-count chicken nuggets costs approximately $5-6 more when ordered for delivery than when ordered via the same mobile app for pickup, or when ordered in-store.”

Customers are not aware of this markup, the complaint alleges, because “Chick-fil-A designed its app to make it impossible for consumers to catch its hidden menu price inflation.” This is because consumers will only see the food prices after they have selected delivery or pickup. If they choose “delivery,” the complaint alleges, they will be shown the higher prices.

The complaint alleges that this “secret markup” is applied only to delivery orders and “renders false Chick-fil-A’s promise of a FREE or a flat, low-cost delivery fee of $2.99 or $3.99, which is made repeatedly in the app and the website, and then again in the ‘Delivery Fee’ line item on the order screen.”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Deceptive Advertising, Different Price for Same Products, False or Misleading Information