Guides: prices compared across chains
Every other page on this site covers one chain. These compare several, using the same dated prices.
A guide only gets published here when the comparison needs numbers from more than one chain to answer the question. Where a chain is missing from a table below, it is missing because its prices haven't been checked yet, and that gap is named on the page rather than filled with an estimate.
- Airport fast food in Canada: why it costs more past securityWhat drives the price premium at Canadian airport food counters, what CATSA actually lets you carry through security, and the street-level prices worth comparing against at Pearson, YVR and Trudeau.
- Breakfast hours at Canadian fast food chains in 2026Only Tim Hortons serves breakfast all day in Canada. McDonald's, Burger King, A&W and Wendy's cut off by 10:30 or 11 a.m. Compare hours by chain.
- Bring your own mug in Canada: what the discount is actually worthTim Hortons takes 10 cents off any hot or cold drink for a clean reusable cup. What that adds up to over a year, the drive-thru rules, and why the municipal cup fees you've read about mostly don't exist.
- Canadian fast-food shrinkflation: how to measure it yourselfShrinkflation is measured in cost per gram or per calorie, not in dollars. How to read a Canadian chain's own nutrition disclosures to catch a portion cut, with a 2026 baseline to check against.
- Cheap fast food that actually feeds you: cost per calorie in CanadaWhich Canadian fast-food burgers give the most food per dollar, worked out from verified prices and published calorie counts at A&W, Harvey's and McDonald's.
- Cheapest fast food in Canada: 5 chains, August 2026A five chain Canadian fast food price comparison covering the cheapest item, cheapest meal, and cost per calorie, from a $0.25 sauce to a $5.69 combo meal.
- Drive-thru vs app ordering in Canada: what you actually overpayApp offers change weekly and cannot be tabled honestly. What can be checked is the combo step-up you accept by default at the speaker, and at McDonald's eight of nine meals charge more for fries and a drink than buying them separately.
- Eating light under $12 in Canada: what the calorie data saysEvery item under $12 with a published calorie count at four Canadian chains. The lightest choices cost the most per calorie, and a salad can cost 14 times what a burger does.
- Fast food delivery app markup in Canada: what the menu price hidesTwo Canadian chains price delivery openly enough to measure: Kelsey's runs a flat 20.0% above its own menu on Uber Eats, Swiss Chalet adds a flat $1.40 per single-serving item.
- Fast-food combos under $10 in Canada: the complete verified listEvery full combo under $10 across five verified Canadian menu files, from Burger King's $5.69 small combo up, and the one sandwich whose combo step-up is $2.01 instead of $6.10.
- Feeding four for under $40 at Canadian chains, rankedEleven ways to feed four people for under $40 at Canadian restaurant chains, ranked by cost per head from $1.50 to $8.84, and the three that only fail once tax is added.
- Footlong or two 6-inch subs? The size math on a Canadian sub menuOne 12-inch sub against two 6-inch subs, worked out on Mr. Sub's verified Sub of the Day pricing: the large is $9.59, two smalls are $13.18, and the bread is the same length either way.
- Free birthday food in Canada: the one offer with published termsDenny's free Build Your Own Grand Slam is the Canadian birthday freebie with terms you can read in advance: photo ID, actual birthday, dine-in, no substitutions, three excluded locations.
- Kids eat free in Canada: what the deals are worth, and when to skip themBoston Pizza's Kids Card is the one kids-eat-free deal with published terms: $5 for five free $9.99 meals, six if you register it. Plus the chains where the kids' menu costs more than the adult one.
- Landmark popcorn and snack prices in Canada, August 2026Full Landmark Cinemas concession prices for Canada, plus the arithmetic on whether the $30.99 refillable popcorn bucket beats free membership refills.
- Pizza math in Canada: the real cost per square inchA 14-inch large gives 36.1% more pizza than a 12-inch medium for 26.7% more money at Pizza 73. Cost per square inch worked out across every size at two Canadian chains.
- Scene+ dining rewards: what your points are worth at the tableScene+ pays a flat cent per point at Recipe Unlimited restaurants, but earning at the table takes $3 of food to make one point. What that means in real dollars at Swiss Chalet and Harvey's.
- Senior discounts at Canadian restaurants: what's real and what it's worthNeither McDonald's nor Tim Hortons runs a national senior discount in Canada. What the franchise-level offers are actually worth in dollars, and how to ask for one.
- Student food discounts in Canada: what the SPC card is actually worthAn SPC card costs $11.99 a year, or nothing with an eligible CIBC student account. What a 10% discount returns on real Canadian menu prices, and the 15% that beats it.
- The $4.00 line: Ontario's tax cliff, chain by chainOntario taxes prepared food at 5% up to $4.00 and 13% above it. At Harvey's a $0.40 sauce can cost $0.76. At Kelsey's the rebate never applies at all.
- The best and worst ways to spend fast-food points in CanadaWhich redemption to pick at each tier of Tims Rewards and MyMcDonald's Rewards, calculated from verified Canadian menu prices, and the two habits that quietly halve what your points are worth.
- The Canadian coffee price index: what a cup costs at 8 chainsEvery brewed coffee Froqel has verified in Canada, ranked from $1.00 to $3.49, with the one order that beats them all: a McDonald's carafe at $1.47 a cup.
- The fast-food add-on tax: what cheese, bacon and sauce cost in CanadaWhat a slice of cheese, two strips of bacon and an extra dipping sauce actually cost at Burger King, Harvey's, A&W, McDonald's and Tim Hortons, derived from each chain's own menu ladder.
- The six-doughnut tax rule: why the sixth doughnut costs 35% of listHow CRA rules make six doughnuts tax-free in Canada while five are taxed, what the sixth one actually costs, and why the third doughnut is the expensive one.
- Tim Hortons coffee by the millilitre: which size is actually cheapestCost per 100 ml for every Tim Hortons coffee size, worked out from verified Canadian prices: the extra large holds 71.5% more than a medium for 28.4% more money.
- Tims Rewards vs MyMcDonald's Rewards: which returns more in CanadaWhat each Canadian loyalty app gives back as a percentage of what you spent, calculated from verified menu prices: McDonald's returns 7.5% to 16.5%, Tim Hortons 2.7% to 6.6%.
- What a tip actually costs at Canadian restaurant chains, 2026Tipping on the post-tax total instead of the pre-tax total costs 13% more in Ontario. Worked out in dollars on verified menu prices at eight Canadian chains.
- Wing night math in Canada: the real cost per wingWhat wings cost at everyday prices at St. Louis, Montana's, Boston Pizza and Swiss Chalet, per piece, and the number a half-price night has to beat before it saves you anything.