These Companies Are Raising Their Prices – Here’s What to Expect

Parent Company: Starbucks
Reason: Higher Supply Chain Costs
Result: 1% Average Increase On Products

Starbucks, unlike many of the other companies on this list, has actually seen the cost of their raw materials (its coffee beans) decrease recently, yet the prices of some of their drinks have increased by an average of 1% – with some beverages costing 30 cents more than they previously had.

Starbucks @Starbucks / Facebook.com

The coffee giant has claimed that the increased prices have been implemented in order to help offset the continuously rising staff wages and the increase in merchandise manufacturing costs. To put things into perspective a little, a 1% increase in revenue for Starbucks equates to more than an $11 million gain. 

Parent Company: Conagra Brands, Inc.
Reason: Increase Cost of Raw Ingredients
Result: Higher Prices For Cake Mixes and Frosting

Duncan Hines has been providing households with low-priced easy-bake cake mix options for more than 50 years. However, because of the ballooning costs of many of its ingredients, as well as higher than normal packaging and transportation bills, its parent company, Conagra Brands, has had little option but to raise the price of the products that are sold under the Duncan Hines trademark.

Duncan Hines @DuncanHines / Facebook.com

Conagra Brands, President & CEO, Sean Connolly is confident that the company is in a good place when it comes to the challenges that product inflation has posed, and has not held anything back when it comes to the company’s action plan, stating that there are planned price increases for many of Conagra’s retail products.

Parent Company: Procter & Gamble
Reason: Various
Result: 7%-10% Increase In Price

In 2020, a lot of people found themselves spending more time than usual at home with their loved ones. The result, babies…lots of them. An estimated 10%-15% more babies will be born in 2021 than were born in 2020, and one thing that babies need more than almost anything else is plenty of diapers. 

Pampers ©Ruslan Huzau / Shutterstock.com

The increased demand for diapers has coincided with disruptions in the chain of supply and the skyrocketing shipping costs, that have plagued companies the world over, to cause a perfect storm of reasons for Pampers to raise their prices by almost 10%. It’s not like parents have many choices other than to pay the asking price. Most parents will agree that an expensive diaper is better than no diaper at all.

Parent Company: Hormel
Reason: Counteract Inflation
Result: Increased Demand  

The Hormel Foods Corporation first introduced Spam to the world in the late-1930s, however, it wasn’t until its use during World War 2, that the popular canned pork product gained the notoriety that would eventually help make it a mainstay in American pantries for generations to come.

Spam ©Daniel Holking / Shutterstock.com

Due to the inflated cost of grain recently, the expense of feeding livestock has increased accordingly causing the cost of deli meats to go up as well. In response to the inflation, that has affected Hormel, the price of many of its products, including Spam, has risen. The resulting price hike has not negatively affected the business, in fact, with the increase in the number of people working from home, the demand for Spam has soared.

Parent Company: Yum! Brands, Inc.
Reason: Shipping Issues & Labor Shortages
Result:  10% Price Increase

When the economy began to open up again following the economic closures of 2020, people were quite hesitant to return to work in hospitality, more specifically, the fast-food industry. In order to combat the hesitation companies, like Yum! Brand’s Taco Bell, began to offer incentives like higher wages to the employees who did come back. 

Taco Bell @tacobell / Facebook.com

Higher staff wages and issues with shipping have both contributed to many companies in the food industry raising their prices. Few, however, have increased prices more than Taco Bell, which has seen a 10% increase in almost all of its menu items.

Parent Company: Conagra Brands Inc.
Reason: Rising Costs Of Production
Result: Stock Price Has Fallen ~5%

Over the past 9 decades, Slim Jims have spread all across the world but, with more than half of a billion dollars in domestic sales, have proven to still be most popular amongst people in the United States. The ownership of the smoked beef stick company has changed hands multiple times over the years, but the quality and the cost of the product have, mostly, remained the same.

Slim Jim @SlimJim / Facebook.com

Due to the events of the previous few years, beef production has been down, and transportation costs have increased. As a result, for the second time in a decade, in order to help offset the increase in the cost of the beef Slim Jim’s parent company, Conagra Brands Inc., has found itself with no other option than to raise the price of the beef sticks.

Parent Company: Domino’s Pizza, Inc.
Reason: Offset Wage Increases
Result: Higher Menu Prices

Domino’s Pizza has been around for more than half of a century, and in that time has made quite its mark on the world with a footprint in a little less than 100 countries. Similar to its long-time rival, Pizza Hut, Dominos raised the prices on its menu in order to offset the higher average wage that its employees would be receiving. 

Domino's Pizza ©Tricky_Shark / Shutterstock.com

According to Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison, “the only thing that is sacred” is that they are going to “bring value to the customer”. In other words, anything on the menu, including the pizzeria’s famous value deals, can change at any time. So, although the price of pizza is going to go up, the value of what the customer is receiving will as well.

Parent Company: Harley-Davidson, Inc.
Reason: Increased Cost Of Materials
Result: 2% Price Raise

Harley-Davidson Inc. has been manufacturing top-quality American motorcycles for almost 120 years. The company has created a brand that is known around the world and had been seeing annual revenue of more than $5.5 billion prior to the financial crisis that has aided in the demise of many businesses over the past 2 years.

Harley-Davidson @harley-davidson / Facebook.com

In 2020, Harley-Davidson Inc. saw their revenue decrease by over $1 billion – that’s approximately 20% of their total sales. As the company’s answer to the lost sales, and the inflated costs of raw materials, Harley has increased the prices of a selection of its products by about 2%, and although the increase won’t offset the cost increase, it will have to do for now.

Parent Company: Hasbro Inc.
Reason: Supply Chain Issues
Result: Price Increase Of Less Than 10%

In the 1920s, Hasbro Inc. began as a textile company, but before the decade was up, it had moved into the pencil case and school supply industry. It wasn’t until two and a half decades later, that the company would begin making and selling children’s toys – which it has been doing ever since. 

Hasbro Inc @Sintechness / Pinterest.com

Earlier this year, Brian Goldner, Hasbro Inc.’s CEO, announced that the company would be raising the prices of its products effective Q3 of 2021, which also happens to line up with the start of seasonal holiday shopping. The price increases are the result of higher transportation, and although it is unknown just how high the prices will go, Goldner did state that a 10% hike would be “a bit too high”.

Parent Company: PepsiCo, Inc.
Reason: Increased Production Costs
Result: Multiple Price Increases

Pepsi Cola has been a mainstay in the “Cola Wars” for more than 50 years, with it peaking during the late-‘80s and early ‘90s with its patented “Pepsi Challenge”. These days, the main challenge that Pepsi has had to deal with has been inflation.

Pepsi @pepsi / Facebook.com

In order to combat the increased input costs associated with producing and transporting its namesake beverage PepsiCo, Inc. has, over the course of the past quarter, been raising the prices of its drinks. It doesn’t look as though the price hikes are going to end there as, company CFO, Hugh Johnston has said that he expects to see a further increase in prices during Q1 of 2022.

Parent Company: Chipotle Mexican Grill
Reason: Offset Increased Staff Wages
Result: $15/Hour Average Wage

In the first half of 2021, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced that the costs of all of its menu items would be increasing by up to 4%. The rise in prices, however, will be benefitting the company a little bit differently than one might expect, as it is going to use the extra money to help raise employee morale.

Chipotle @chipotle / Facebook.com

Chipotle Mexican Grill will be using the increased profit in order to help offset the raise it has implemented for its employees. The raise will see the average hourly wage of Chipotle’s staff going up to $15, which might not seem like much, but it is an increase of $2 from what they were previously receiving – that equates to a 15% raise across the board.

Parent Company: McDonald’s
Reason: Labor & Transportation Costs
Result: An Average of 8% Higher Prices

With almost 40,000 locations that serve approximately 70 million daily customers, McDonald’s is by far the biggest and most profitable fast-food establishment in the world. Recently, the burger chain which has, for a long time, been known for its low-priced meals, has announced that it has decided to raise its prices.

McDonald's @McDonaldsGeo / Facebook.com

McDonald’s blames truck shortages that are raising the cost of transportation, and the increase in labor costs as two of the reason why the company, that has been synonymous with great value, has been able to justify the 8% average increase it has implemented on its products.

Parent Company: Mattel, Inc.
Reason: Costs of Shipping & Raw Materials
Result: More Expensive Children’s Toys 

For close to 50 years Barbie has been one of the biggest selling children’s toys, having sold more than 1 billion total units. In recent years, however, there had been a sharp decline in interest for the popular doll; that is, until 2020 when Mattel saw close to a 40% increase in Barbies sold compared to just 3 years earlier.  

Barbie ©Vach cameraman / Shutterstock.com

While the global economy has been attempting to recover from the financial crisis that crippled it less than two years ago, the higher than normal costs of raw materials, and the inflated costs of shipping, offset the added profit that Barbie brought in and has caused Mattel to raise the prices of many of its popular children’s toys, including Barbie.

Parent Company: Sherwin-Williams Co.
Reason: Offset Inflation On Raw Materials
Result: 7% Increase In Prices

The Ohio-based paint and coating company, Sherwin-Williams Company, has stores in 120 countries and, during 2020, saw an increase in sales, most likely, due to the increase in the number of people who took it upon themselves to perform their own home renovations. As the raw materials needed to manufacture the supplies began to diminish, however, the demand for the products only grew. 

Sherwin-Williams Co @swcollingwood / Instagram.com

Already in 2021, in hopes of making up for extra money spent on the inflated prices of the raw materials needed to make its products Sherwin-Williams has increased its prices by around 7%.