MenuGauge AI Price Pulse

MenuGauge AI Price Pulse —
New York City Burger & QSR

What to review this month.
One market-level price decision worth checking.

Updated March 2026 US-NYC · USD 🍔 Burger / QSR Monthly reference
This month's danger zone.

For comparable NYC cheeseburgers and classic smash burgers, prices in this band are the easiest place to check first this month.

Item Type
🍔 Cheeseburger & Classic Smash Burger
⚠ Danger zone — current pricing
$9.59 $11.21

Prices in this band sit below the upper mid-market cluster
for NYC fast-casual smash burgers on delivery platforms.

Price context
Danger zone
$11.21
Reference
$12.59
Suggested
$11.90

Bars are relative to the visible reference scale.
Full analysis requires your actual menu data.

The one item type to focus on.

One category. One action. Based on the New York City Burger & QSR reference signal for March 2026.

🍔
Review priority — March 2026
Cheeseburger & Classic Smash Burger

Current posted NYC prices for comparable fast-casual smash burgers on delivery platforms cluster tightly between $9.59 and $12.59. Shake Shack, Smashburger, Five Guys, and independent smash concepts have established $11–$13 as the mid-market norm. If your core cheeseburger or smash burger is priced below about $11.21 in this delivery-visible range, you're leaving margin on the table in a tier where customers are already conditioned to pay more.

⬇ Below competitor range ⚠ Margin check recommended
Four numbers.
One clear decision.

These are the four fields MenuGauge AI surfaces in every full analysis.

Competitor Price Range
$11.21 – $12.59

Single public reference range across NYC mid-market fast-casual smash burgers this month — Shake Shack, Five Guys, and leading independents. Reference only.

Suggested Price
$11.90

Rounded to a psychologically sensible USD price point, targeting the mid-market core. Public page suggestion only—your actual sheet may differ.

Profit Gain / 100 Servings
+$69

Illustrative estimate using a representative current price of $11.21 and a suggested price of $11.90. Ingredient cost held constant.

Reason
⬇ Below competitor range

NYC's mid-market smash burger cluster ($11.21–$12.59) is now well-established across Shake Shack, Smashburger, and Five Guys. Pricing below $11.21 leaves measurable margin behind in a segment where customers are conditioned to pay more.

Send this month's signal

NYC burger margins are under pressure.
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Our NYC burger menu's cheeseburger and smash burger may be sitting in this month's public danger zone ($9.59–$11.21 — reference range, suggested $11.90). This is a market-level signal only; the actual recalculation against our menu needs MenuGauge AI. Can we put 15 minutes on the calendar to review this together? https://menugauge.com/price-pulse/us-nyc/burger-qsr/
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Your numbers.
Your actual margin.

Price Pulse shows the public market signal. MenuGauge AI shows which items in your own menu need attention.

Template is free. Install starts on the Free plan.

What this signal is
—and what it isn't.

Price Pulse is a public reference signal, not a personalized menu analysis.

Data Source

Source type: public_menu_pricing. Based on direct-order and posted menu prices checked on March 31, 2026, reviewed against the official MenuGauge AI US-NYC BurgerQSR template (v3.1). Not live market scraping.

Coverage

City: New York City (US-NYC)
Industry: Burger / QSR
Currency: USD
Period: March 2026

Competitor Range Basis

The page shows a single reference range anchored on the NYC mid-market fast-casual smash burger cluster ($11.21–$12.59), not p25, p50, or p75. Five delivery-platform observations from leading brands were used to define the range. It is designed to answer one question quickly: what to review this month.

Suggested Price Logic

Suggested prices are set at or above current pricing only. MenuGauge AI applies psychological price rounding for USD price points, targeting mid-market positioning. No downward adjustments are suggested.

Profit Gain Formula

This public page uses a representative example at the low end of the competitor range: ($11.90 − $11.21) × 100 = $69. Treat it as a directional estimate, not a personalized forecast.

Update Cadence

Price Pulse is updated monthly. This page reflects March 2026. The page is maintained by the Founder and may be recalibrated as better market inputs become available.

Source checks used for this March 2026 signal

All prices are delivery-platform posted prices (March 2026). DoorDash prices typically run 8–30% above in-store pricing. The initial dataset was revised after research confirmed a sampling gap in the mid-market tier.