Reddit Is Divided Over Shrinkflation Reportedly Plaguing Chick-Fil-A

Although inflation usually means rising prices for consumers, sometimes, corporations take on the costs and decrease the size of a product being sold (via Fox News). This practice is called shrinkflation — a method that allows companies to maintain the same prices while still increasing profit. As a result of this, restaurant owners are starting to notice a difference. "You know, you notice a few things on some of the larger suppliers that, maybe their pack is slightly smaller, so that they don't have to necessarily increase the price of the pack, but at the end of the day, the price has still gone up," Harold's in the Heights restaurant owner Alli Jarrett lamented to Fox News.

One product that was hit with shrinkflation was Frito-Lay's Doritos, according to Quartz. The bag size went from 9.75 ounces to 9.25 ounces, resulting in five chips being removed. A Frito-Lay representative confirmed, "Inflation is hitting everyone ... we took just a little bit out of the bag so we can give you the same price and you can keep enjoying your chips." Now, Reddit users are debating about the possible shrinkflation hitting Chick-fil-A, and the opinions are certainly mixed.

In August of 2022, a debate started on Reddit regarding whether or not shrinkflation has hit Chick-fil-A. The post was about its salads in particular, in which a user posted a photo with the caption "Am I tripping, or did the salads get smaller? I swear they were bigger than this just a couple of weeks ago." Unfortunately, the photo has since been deleted, but the question and comments remain.

The comments below were a wide mix of "that's the way they've always been," and "yes, that's shrinkflation." One user wrote, "I just got a salad today, they are definitely smaller than a few weeks ago, almost like half the size it used to be." Another disagreed, posting "Nope, same size they've always been." One comment claimed that the size of the salads has stayed the same, although the price has not, and another user was altogether disappointed in Chick-fil-A's salads. "Every time I order a salad, the bottom has the ends of the lettuce heads in it ... it's never a full salad, just big chunks of nasty!" they wrote. It seems like the internet couldn't make a consensus, so the truth is anyone's guess.