Connolly provided some possible reasons for the new behavior.

First, he said, consumers may be trying to save money because this summer will likely be “more travel intensive” than last year, something he believes will be a temporary shift.

Other reasons he gave include deflationary trends in a few single-ingredient items and lower pension incomes.

Regarding what the company can do to stimulate demand, Connolly said he is not a fan of deep-discount promotions, because those tend to train the shopper to look for deals.

“So we don’t like those kinds of promotions,” he said. “But in the current environment with the consumer that is cutting back and making other choices, we probably are more likely to see some players resort to harder deals to stimulate units.”

Blind tone deaf MBA piece of shit