A&W menu prices in Canada

I went through A&W's full posted price list, and this is the one A&W menu I've checked where every single item comes with a calorie count attached. That's rare. Most chains give you a price and nothing else. Here, I can tell you what something costs and what you're paying per calorie for it, and the answer isn't what you'd guess from the menu board.

A&W prices at a glance

• The cheapest items on the whole menu are the five dipping sauces, at $0.50 each.
• The priciest items tie at $10.79: the All-Canadian Special breakfast platter (860 calories) and the BLT Chicken Cruncher (960 calories).
• A Teen Burger costs $8.49.
• A Mama Burger costs $6.49.
• The best value per calorie on the menu is the Buddy Burger, at $2.99 for 334 calories, which works out to 0.90 cents per calorie.

Burgers ranked by price

Calories and cents per calorie are calculated from the posted price divided by the posted calorie count for each item.

The Buddy Burger is the anchor of the value end of the menu. Four different Buddy variants sit at $3.99, and three of them beat every named family burger on a per-calorie basis. The four burgers tied at $8.49, Teen, Papa, Mozza and Beyond Meat, are not equal once you weigh calories. Papa and Mozza pack more food into the same price than Teen or the Beyond Meat patty do.

Chicken and more

Chicken Strips are the outlier here. The 3-piece order costs 2.50 cents per calorie, more than double what any burger on this menu costs per calorie, and the 5-piece isn't much better at 2.06. If you're ordering chicken and calories matter to your budget, the sandwiches and wraps beat the strips by a wide margin.

Sides and sauces

The cheapest add-on on the whole menu is a sauce, at $0.50. I left cents per calorie blank for the sauces because the source lists one shared price across five sauces with calorie counts ranging from 60 to 320, so a single per-calorie figure would be misleading. Gravy is the worst per-calorie value of any item on the entire menu at 2.78 cents per calorie, though at $1.39 for a small cup, nobody is ordering it to fill up.

Kids' Pack against buying the parts

The source doesn't say whether the Kids' Pack price bundles a drink or a side, so I can't confirm exactly what you're paying for beyond the sandwich. What I can confirm is the gap against the equivalent solo item. A solo Buddy Burger® is $2.99 for 334 calories. The Kids Buddy Burger is $3.89 for 400 calories, $0.90 more for 66 more calories. A solo Chicken Buddy Burger® is $3.79 for 360 calories. The Kids Chicken Buddy Burger is $7.29 for 520 calories, $3.50 more for 160 more calories. If your kid will eat a regular Chicken Buddy Burger, ordering it solo instead of from the Kids' Pack saves real money.

One Kids' Pack item breaks that pattern. The Kids Chicken Strips are $7.29 for 360 calories, which is both cheaper and higher in calories than the solo Chicken Strips (3 pcs) at $7.49 for 300 calories. That's the one item on this list where the Kids' Pack version is the better order regardless of who's eating it.

Cost per calorie: A&W's real value ranking

This is where the menu gets interesting, because A&W is one of only three sources in this whole project that lists calories on every item, and the richest of the three. Once you divide price by calories across the burger and chicken lineup, a clear ranking falls out.

The best value per calorie on the entire menu is the Buddy Burger®, at $2.99 for 334 calories, or 0.90 cents per calorie. The worst is the Chicken Strips (3 pcs) at $7.49 for 300 calories, or 2.50 cents per calorie. That's a gap of nearly 2.8 times between the best and worst items on the menu, for food in the same broad category.

One honest limit on all of this: cheapest per calorie is not the same as best. It just tells you which item gives you the most calories for your dollar, and calorie count on its own isn't a nutrition recommendation.

The burger family ladder examined

A&W's named family sizes, Mama, Teen, Papa, Uncle and Grandpa, are supposed to represent a straightforward step up in size as you climb. The calorie data says otherwise.

Calories climb steadily up the ladder, from 400 at Mama to 760 at Grandpa, and that part looks like a clean progression. Price per calorie doesn't move the same way. Stepping from Mama to Teen actually gets worse before it gets better: Teen Burger costs 1.70 cents per calorie, higher than the smaller Mama Burger's 1.62. Then, at exactly the same $8.49 price point, the Papa Burger delivers 580 calories against Teen's 500, dropping the cost per calorie to 1.46. From there it keeps improving, down to 1.38 cents per calorie at the top of the ladder with the Grandpa Burger.

So the ladder isn't proportionally priced. The Teen Burger is the single worst per-calorie value in A&W's named family line, worse even than the smallest Mama Burger, and it shares its price tag with the Papa Burger, which gives you 80 more calories for the same $8.49. If you're climbing the ladder anyway, the Grandpa Burger at the top is the best per-calorie value of the group, not the Mama Burger at the bottom.

I also checked whether the English Muffin swap changes any of this math. Four sandwiches on the breakfast menu come in both a regular bun and an English Muffin version at the identical price: Bacon & Egger® ($4.99 either way), Sausage & Egger® ($4.99 either way), Cheese & Egger® ($3.49 either way) and Sausage & Cheddar ($3.99 either way). In every one of those four pairs, the English Muffin version is exactly 20 calories lower than the bun version, at no extra cost. I checked the rest of the menu for a similar substitution and didn't find one anywhere outside breakfast, so this identical-pricing pattern is specific to those four sandwiches. Where it does apply, it's a free way to trim calories.

Beverages and the size steps

The brewed coffee ladder is the cleanest size-step data on the menu: Small $1.99, Regular $2.29, Large $2.99. The first step, Small to Regular, adds $0.30. The second step, Regular to Large, adds $0.70, more than double the first jump. That's an uneven ladder. If you're going to size up at all, you're better off going straight to Large, since the Regular size costs you $0.30 for comparatively little compared to what the Large adds.

Fountain drinks behave differently. Root Beer runs $2.19 small and $2.59 regular. Coca-Cola runs $2.19 small and $2.59 regular. Iced Tea runs $2.19 small and $2.59 regular. That's a flat $0.40 step across all three drink families at the fountain, regardless of what's actually in the cup, which is a more even markup than the coffee ladder shows.

Elsewhere on the drinks menu, prices spread widely by category. A small Frozen A&W Root Beer® is $3.19, while a Regular Sweet Cream Shake, in chocolate, strawberry or mixed berry, runs $5.89. A hot Latte climbs from $3.19 small to $3.49 regular to $3.89 large, a smoother three-step increase than the brewed coffee shows. Specialty iced coffees and smoothies add still more variation depending on how much syrup or cream is stacked on top, but none of them move the core lesson from the size-step data: A&W's pricing isn't a single formula applied menu-wide, it's set drink by drink.

Item prices

What's the cheapest item at A&W?

The cheapest items on the menu are the five dipping sauces (BBQ, Sweet N Sour, Jalapeno Ranch, Honey Mustard, Chipotle Mayo), at $0.50 each. If you want the cheapest standalone food item rather than a condiment, that's the Root Beer Lollipop® at $0.69.

How much is a Teen Burger?

A Teen Burger® costs $8.49 on its own. It carries 500 calories, which works out to 1.70 cents per calorie, the single worst per-calorie value among A&W's named family burgers.

How much is a Mama Burger?

A Mama Burger® costs $6.49 on its own. It's the smallest of the named family sizes at 400 calories, working out to 1.62 cents per calorie.

Breakfast

A&W's breakfast lineup runs from $3.49 to $10.79. The Cheese & Egger® sits at the bottom of that range at $3.49 for 360 calories, and the All-Canadian Special tops it at $10.79 for 860 calories. In between, a Bacon & Egger® is $4.99, a Sausage & Cheddar is $3.99, and Pancakes with Syrup are $4.99. Every bun sandwich also comes in an English Muffin version at the same price. I haven't been able to confirm exact cutoff times for breakfast service, since that varies by location and isn't part of this price list. For the full sandwich, combo and calorie breakdown, see the A&W breakfast menu and prices.

PDF

I don't publish or link to A&W's own printed price sheet, since I can't guarantee it matches what's on this page at any given moment. If you want a copy of this list for offline reference, every table above is built to print cleanly straight from your browser. On most browsers, Ctrl+P (or Cmd+P on a Mac) and choosing "Save as PDF" will capture the full price list as it stands on the date at the top of this page.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Teen Burger cost at A&W?

A Teen Burger® costs $8.49 on its own, for 500 calories. It's priced the same as the Papa Burger® and the Beyond Meat Burger, but delivers fewer calories than the Papa Burger for that price.

How much is a Mama Burger at A&W?

A Mama Burger® costs $6.49, carrying 400 calories. It's the smallest of A&W's named family burgers by both price and calorie count.

What is the cheapest item on the A&W menu?

The cheapest items are the five dipping sauces at $0.50 each. Among full food items, the Root Beer Lollipop® is cheapest at $0.69, and the cheapest sandwich is the Cheese & Egger® at $3.49.

Does A&W charge extra for an English Muffin instead of a bun?

No. Across all four breakfast sandwich pairs I checked, the English Muffin version costs exactly the same as the bun version, while running 20 calories lower every time.

How much is A&W's Kids' Pack?

Kids' Pack prices range from $3.89 for the Kids Buddy Burger to $7.69 for the Kids Buddy Burger with Cheese. The Kids Chicken Strips and Kids Chicken Buddy Burger are both $7.29.

Which A&W burger offers the best value per calorie?

The Buddy Burger® is the best per-calorie value on the entire menu, at $2.99 for 334 calories, or 0.90 cents per calorie. Among the named family sizes specifically, the Grandpa Burger® is the best per-calorie value at 1.38 cents per calorie.

How much does A&W's poutine cost?

Poutine costs $5.99 for 610 calories, which works out to 0.98 cents per calorie, making it one of the better per-calorie values among the sides.

Do A&W menu prices differ by location?

Yes. The source list I worked from states prices may vary slightly by location, and doesn't specify whether the figures shown are counter prices or app and delivery prices. I've treated them as counter prices throughout this guide.

Methodology and disclaimer

I built this guide from a single publicly posted A&W Canada price list current as of August 2026, the same source that carries a calorie figure for every item, which is what made the cost-per-calorie analysis on this page possible. That source states prices may vary slightly by location, which lines up with what I've generally found checking chains across Canada, and it doesn't declare whether the listed prices reflect counter ordering or the A&W app. I've treated every figure on this page as a counter price. If you order through the app or a delivery platform, expect the total to run higher once service fees and any markup are added. Every price and calorie figure on this page traces back to that source file. Cents-per-calorie figures are my own calculation, price divided by calories, shown alongside the raw numbers so you can check the math yourself.

Froqel is an independent price guide. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by A&W. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.