Research by found that two of the largest fast food chains in the US sell regular portion fries that weigh less than a small portion.
visited six of the country’s most popular fast food chains in New York City to find out which fries offer the best value – and the results aren’t what you might expect.
We tested small, medium, and large portions of the popular potato-based side dish, comparing their weights and prices to determine which offered the most competitive fry-to-dollar ratio.
Wendy’s, Chick-fil-A, Five Guys, McDonald’s, KFC, and Popeye’s Fries all went head-to-head in our experiment, and although all prices used were centered in Manhattan, they all scaled consistently across the country.
Since KFC and Popeye’s only offer small and large options, they were not included in the medium portion test.
In honor of National French Frie Day on July 13, here are the cheapest french fries your hard-earned money can buy — and the restaurants where you can get more bang for your buck if you buy a small one instead of one order medium sized.
visited six of the country’s most popular fast food joints in New York City to find out which fries offered the best value
Averaged over all sizes, McDonald’s offered the worst value for money of all fast food chains tested. For the same amount of money, Five Guys served twice the amount of fries by weight
The overall best value option based on fries weight per dollar was the large portion at Five Guys, priced at $7.70 for a whopping 16.3 ounces of fries.
For those who prefer to focus on the burger, the most affordable small portion fries are from Popeye’s, where a 6.0 ounce small portion costs $3.99 ($0.67 per ounce).
Chick-fil-A and Wendy’s were the two restaurants where we found small orders weighed more than the more expensive medium sizes.
At Chick-fil-A, a small order of $3.09 weighed 3.6 ounces, while the medium order of $3.65 weighed 3.1 ounces.
At Wendy’s, a small order of $2.99 weighed 4.0 ounces, while the medium order of $3.49 weighed 3.2 ounces.
And it’s bad news for die-hard McDonald’s fans. Small and medium orders at McDonald’s offered the worst overall value compared to other chains. Although the big McDonald’s offered better value for money, it still wasn’t competitive.
Five Guys shone as the test winner due to the price-performance ratio. The restaurant offers more than twice as many fries for each serving size compared to its five competitors, and serves almost twice as much at a medium-sized restaurant as it does at a small restaurant.
Also, the restaurant’s pricing structure was the most intuitive of all.
While the number of fries per serving varies from store to store and from day to day, some restaurants’ pricing structures seemed to make more sense and be fairer overall.
Here’s the breakdown of all of our results by restaurant.
Wendy’s – Small offered the best value
At Wendy’s, a small portion is the best value
Small – 4.0 ounces – $2.99 - $0.75 per ounce (BEST VALUE)
Medium – 3.2 ounces – $3.49 – $1.09 per ounce (WORST VALUE)
Large – 5.2 ounces – $4.19 – $0.81 per ounce
Although Wendy’s fries were reasonably good value for all sizes, the medium portion was very little value.
In this case, the smaller order was 15 percent cheaper and weighed a whopping 25 percent more fries.
At Wendy’s, the smallest order offers the best value. So, according to this review, when you buy fries from Wendy’s, you should stick to the small quantity and order more if needed.
Chick-Fil-A – Small was a lot cheaper than Medium
At Chick-fil-A, a large portion is the best value
Small – 3.6 ounces – $3.09 – $0.86 per ounce
Medium – 3.1 ounces – $3.65 – $1.18 per ounce (WORST VALUE)
Large – 5.8 ounces – $4.09 – $0.71 per ounce (BEST PRICE VALUE)
This test was created as a result of the claim that if you order a medium portion of fries from Chick Fil-A, you might get less than if you bought a cheaper small portion, and these results support that claim.
The small order contained around 15 percent more fries than the medium-sized order and was around 15 percent cheaper. For this reason, waffle fries should always be avoided at Chick-fil-A.
However, the large fries are only slightly more expensive, but are significantly larger and are therefore the best choice in terms of value for money.
Five Guys – Large portions and reasonable pricing
At Five Guys, a large section offers the best value for money
Small – 7.6 ounces – $5.49 – $0.72 per ounce (WORST VALUE)
Medium 13.0 ounces – $6.39 – $0.49 per ounce
Large – 16.3 ounces – $7.79 – $0.48 per ounce (BEST PRICE VALUE)
Overall, Five Guys was by far the most generous company in terms of value for money, and the pricing system was also the fairest and most intuitive.
As expected, small was the worst value and large was the best. However, the price difference between medium and large was relatively small, so either a medium or large price seems like a good choice in this chain.
McDonald’s – Poor value for money but mainly small and medium sized
At McDonald’s, a large portion is the best value
Small – 2.5 ounces – $2.99 - $1.20 per ounce
Medium – 3.3 ounces – $3.99 – $1.21 per ounce (WORST VALUE)
Large – 5.8 ounces – $4.99 – $0.86 per ounce (BEST PRICE VALUE)
McDonald’s offered pretty poor value for money across the range. The middle portion contained more fries than the small one, but was almost identical in price, as it is also around 20 percent more expensive.
The small and medium portions of fries offer worse value for money than any other offering from the chains tested.
The large portion at McDonald’s, while offering significantly higher value, weighed the same as Chick-fil-A’s large waffle fries, which were a dollar cheaper.
KFC – Large offered better value for money than Small
At KFC, the larger portion offers the best value for money
Small – 3.9 ounces – $3.69 – $0.95 per ounce (LOWER VALUE)
Large – 9.8 ounces – $5.29 – $0.54 per ounce (BETTER VALUE)
At KFC, the large option offered a lot more fries for a comparatively small increase in price. For an extra $1.60, we got double the weight of fries.
This was to be expected for the most part, so overall KFC offers good value for money and an intuitive pricing structure.
Popeyes – A small portion is better value
At Popeyes, the smaller portion offers the best value
Small – 6.0 ounces – $3.99 – $0.67 per ounce (BETTER VALUE)
Large – 9.8 ounces – $6.99 – $0.71 per ounce (LOWER VALUE)
While both small and large Popeyes servings offer great value, the smaller is actually better than the larger.
They also cost just 30 cents more than the small KFC fries, but weighed nearly 50 percent more. Contrary to intuition, you’ll save money no matter how hungry you are when you buy the small fries at Popeyes.