There is a difference between what a market's food costs and what its cheapest possible item costs, and the gap is instructive. These are the lowest published prices we hold across every brand in every market - The absolute floor of each country's chain-restaurant board.
The floor, market by market
| Market | Cheapest burger | Cheapest coffee | Cheapest chicken | Cheapest side | Cheapest dessert |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand | ฿49 | ฿55 | ฿39 | ฿10 | ฿12 |
| United States | $1.00 | $0.99 | $1.49 | $0.59 | $0.36 |
| Singapore | S$2.80 | S$1.00 | S$2.40 | S$0.50 | S$1.50 |
| Philippines | ₱40 | ₱51.75 | ₱2.79 | ₱10 | ₱50 |
| Malaysia | RM0.99 | RM3.68 | RM5.00 | RM1.89 | RM4.00 |
| Hong Kong | HK$15 | HK$18.50 | HK$8 | HK$3 | HK$9 |
| Australia | A$2.95 | A$2.00 | A$1.10 | A$1.00 | A$2.95 |
| Canada | C$2.00 | C$1.39 | C$2.29 | C$0.25 | C$1.79 |
| United Kingdom | £1.09 | £1.49 | £1.79 | £0.30 | £0.99 |
| Ireland | €1.00 | €2.00 | €2.00 | €0.50 | €1.69 |
| New Zealand | NZ$2.19 | NZ$3.00 | NZ$2.49 | NZ$1.50 | NZ$1.50 |
These are lowest published prices across every brand we track in that market, including value ranges, single-piece snacks and promotional items. They are floors, not typical prices, and several are only available in a specific size or as part of a deal.
Why it is never a burger
In all eleven markets the cheapest item is a side or a small snack, and in most it is dramatically cheaper than the cheapest main. That is a pricing strategy rather than an accident. Small sides exist to hit a headline price point, to complete a combo, and to give a customer a way to add something without thinking about it.
The Canadian figure of C$0.25 for a side and the New Zealand NZ$0.20 are the clearest examples. Nobody builds a business on a 25-cent item; it exists to make a board look generous and to be added to something else. Our sides and fries directory holds 1,405 such items across all markets.
Coffee is the most consistently cheap hot item
Look down the coffee column and the range is remarkably tight once converted: roughly $0.79 to $2.36 across eleven markets, against a much wider spread for burgers. Coffee is the most competitive category in chain food, sold by bakeries, convenience formats, dedicated chains and every burger brand simultaneously - And that competition compresses the floor.
It also has the lowest input cost relative to price of anything on a menu board, which leaves room to discount aggressively at the entry point while making the margin back on flavoured, iced and speciality drinks. The Caramel Macchiato, at $2.67 to $6.95 across nine markets, is where that margin lives.
A floor is not an average
Malaysia shows a RM0.99 burger and the United States a $1.00 one, but Malaysia scores 18% below the all-market average and the United States 2% above. Cheapest-item comparisons make good headlines and bad conclusions. For the real ranking, use the country league table.
What a real meal actually costs
If you want to know what eating at a chain costs in a given market rather than what its cheapest item costs, the useful figure is the average price across the whole board. Every menu page on this site carries it, alongside the cheapest and most expensive item.
For a fast sense of a market, open a country page - Thailand, the United Kingdom or Canada are good starting points - Where every brand is listed with its cheapest and average price side by side. The gap between those two columns is usually more revealing than either number alone.
