New York Woman Sues Arby’s Over Shrinkflation Fries

The New York Post is reporting ​​on the newest lawsuit to hit the national fast food chain, Arby's. The lawsuit, which was filed in December 2024 in Queens County Supreme Court, targets Arby's over its fast food sizes and what is being described as “deceptive” business practices.

The lawsuit accuses the fast-food dining establishment of “shrinkflation.” This is a term used to describe how businesses have combated economic inflation by downsizing products without downsizing their cost. In the case against Arby's, the company is accused of not letting its consumers know its products, specifically its fries and drinks, were downsized while their prices remained the same.

The lawsuit comes just months after the introduction of the Shrinkflation Prevention Act of 2024, which was brought in front of Congress last year by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and others. Under the Act, the practice of selling products at the same price while reducing the amount of product the consumer gets would become an unfair or deceptive practiceconsumer protection lawConsumer protection law is the body of federal and state laws designed to protect people from unfair, deceptive, fraudulent, or abusive practices in the marketplace. These laws regulate areas such as advertising, sales, lending, debt collection, credit reporting, warranties, financial services, and consumer products.Read more → unless the change in size/cost per unit is disclosed to the consumer. The Act would allow the Federal Trade Commission to pursue civil actions against companies that are engaging in shrinkflation.

The recent lawsuit was filed on behalf of Melissa Nelson of Ridgewood New York. According to the New York Post, lawyers representing her included screenshots of nutritional facts about Arby’s products, including their fries. In the screenshots, there is a noticeable reduction in the nutritional value of different portions of Arby's fries, signifying a change in size.

The comparison of the nutritional facts indicates that Arby's phased out its kids-size fries and instead made those portions the new Small fries product. Additionally, the prior Small fries is now the new Medium size and the prior Medium size is now the new Large. Arby's allegedly took the same downsizing approach to its fountain drink products as well.

The lawsuit accuses Arby’s of “deceptively” making this adjustment to the size of its fries without letting consumers know about the shrinkflation. Claims in the lawsuit are that Arby’s "deceptively continues to sell its fries and beverages in smaller sizes which are now substantially smaller than the old sizes."

Nelson and her legal team are attempting to recover compensation for customers who were deceived by Arby's shrinkflation practices. This lawsuit seems to anticipate passage of the Shrinkflation Prevention Act, although that bill is not yet law. The proposed legislation was introduced into Congress in February last year and has sat in committee since May.

In 2023, Arby’s was hit by a similar lawsuit in which a New York man also sued the fast food company over misrepresenting and overstating the portion sizes of its food in its images and advertising. As a result, the suit alleges that customers were provided with lower-value products than what they paid for. Arby filed a motion to dismiss that lawsuit, but it has yet to be decided.