Editorial policy

Froqel is a Canadian restaurant price guide written and checked by one person, Joshua C. Pulley. This page sets out where the numbers come from, what happens when they're incomplete or contradictory, and how the site is funded. A reader, an advertiser, or anyone else auditing the site should be able to check every claim below against a page on Froqel itself.

Where prices come from

Every price on this site comes from one of three sources: a chain's own posted menu, published menu data I can trace back to a specific listing, or a check I did myself in person. Each price page names its source and the date that source was checked. Where a page draws on more than one source, Kelsey's is the clearest case: it compares a commonly published price list against Kelsey's own Markham, Ontario menu and against Uber Eats, and all three sources are named and dated rather than folded together anonymously.

The channel rule

Counter, takeout, and delivery prices are different numbers, and this site never mixes them in one column without saying which is which.

That rule exists because of a specific finding. I compared five items on a widely published Kelsey's price list against the chain's own Markham menu and against Uber Eats. All five landed at exactly 1.2001 times the in-restaurant price, an exact match to Uber Eats to the cent. The same 1.2001 multiplier shows up on 27 of the price ranges listed for Montana's, a sister chain under the same parent company, Recipe Unlimited. That's not two chains independently rounding the same way. It's a delivery markup, folded into figures that get published elsewhere as if they were restaurant prices.

So on Froqel, a number that came from a delivery listing says so. A number that came from a counter check says so too. If a page doesn't label a price by channel, that's because the underlying source didn't distinguish one, and the page states that rather than guessing at a label.

The verification date

Every price page on Froqel shows a verification date near the top. That date is when the price set behind the page was checked, not the date the page went up. A page can keep the same publish date for months while its verification date moves every time the prices get rechecked. If you're deciding whether a number is still current, the verification date is the one to look at.

When data is missing

Some items don't have a confirmed price, and Froqel writes n/a rather than guess. Three examples, current as of this policy's last update:

The McDonald's page carries eight data points marked as not available, including the plain Hamburger, Cheeseburger, and Double Cheeseburger, because the source behind that page couldn't confirm a price for them at the single Toronto restaurant it covers.

Cineplex concession pricing doesn't appear anywhere on Froqel, including on the movie theatre snack guide, because I haven't verified it independently. That guide covers Landmark Cinemas instead, checked item by item, and a Cineplex breakdown will get its own page once its pricing is confirmed the same way.

Kelsey's doesn't have a complete item-by-item menu table on this site, because the source data behind that page doesn't support one. What it has instead is a smaller, verified comparison, the same one behind the channel rule above, rather than a full table padded with estimates.

When sources disagree

Sometimes two sources give two different numbers for the same item, and Froqel shows both rather than picking one silently. On the Harvey's page, two salads appear twice in the source data with calorie counts that disagree: the Crispy Chicken Salad lists 460 calories in one place and 390 in another, and the Buffalo Chicken Salad lists 560 in one place and 490 in another. Both pairs differ by exactly 70 calories, which is too precise to be a typo, and the page states the conflict instead of quietly reporting a single figure.

Corrections

If a price on this site is wrong, out of date, or missing a chain entirely, it can be reported through the contact page. Every correction gets checked against a source, chain menu data, a published listing, or a fresh check, before the page changes. When a page's numbers change, its verification date changes with them.

Independence

No restaurant chain pays Froqel for coverage, for placement, or for a favourable comparison against a competitor. The site is funded by display advertising, shown alongside content the same way on every page regardless of which chain it covers. There are no affiliate links on price pages.

All restaurant and brand names on this site are trademarks of their respective owners. Froqel is an independent price guide and isn't affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any chain it covers.

Prices are pre-tax

Every price on Froqel is the menu price before tax, because that's how Canadian restaurants post their prices. What gets added at the register depends on the province: 13% HST in Ontario, 5% GST alone in Alberta, and different combinations elsewhere. Froqel doesn't add tax to the figures it publishes, since doing so would mean picking one province's rate and presenting it as universal.

How often prices get rechecked

Higher traffic chains on this site get rechecked more often than smaller ones further down the list. That's a practical choice, not a promise that every page is equally current at every moment.

Froqel is one person, not a research team, and I want to be upfront about what that means. A chain-wide price change can take time to reach every page it touches, and a stale price on a lower traffic page can sit longer than I'd like before I catch it. The fix isn't to guess faster. It's the same one this whole page describes: check the source, date the result, and say so when something hasn't been confirmed yet. If you spot a stale price before I do, the contact page is the fastest way to get it fixed.