The chain blamed its first cheeseburger price hike in 14 years on rising costs and said other big price hikes were on the horizon. McDonald’s UK and Ireland chief executive Alistair Macrow said it was committed to selling food at affordable prices but cost pressures meant it had to “make some tough choices”. He said: “This summer our restaurants will be adding between 10p and 20p to a range of menu items most affected by inflation. From today we will be increasing the price of our cheeseburger for the first time in over 14 years, taking it from 99p to £1.19. “We understand that any price increases are not good news, but we have delayed and minimized these changes for as long as we could.” McDonald’s said some menu prices would remain unaffected and would continue to vary across its 1,300 UK restaurants because the majority are run by franchisees. It is expected that its McFlurry desserts will be among the products affected by the price rises, and that the cost of the “go large” option – going up in size from a medium drink and fries in a meal – will double to 60p. On Tuesday Unilever, owner of brands such as Marmite, Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum ice creams, said it had raised its prices by 11.2% in recent months and expected further increases during the year. Subscribe to the Business Today daily email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter @BusinessDesk Official data shows inflation is at a 40-year high of 9.4%. Rising food costs are one of the major forces pushing up the cost of living, with sharp rises in the prices of staples such as milk, butter and eggs pushing food price inflation to 9.8%. Menu price hikes at McDonald’s are just the latest from high street big names. Rival chains Nando’s and KFC have already raised their prices as disruption to the supply chain caused by the war in Ukraine increases the cost of poultry. Even a morning coffee comes at a premium these days. In February Pret a Manger increased the price of its coffee subscription service by 25% following increases in the cost of milk, coffee beans and staff wages.
