Good morning. Restaurants’ maneuvers for cost-conscious consumers are reaching new heights this spring.

McDonald’s $3 menu arrives on Tuesday, going up against similar plays so far this year ranging from Taco Bell’s “Luxe Value” $3 menu to Panera’s first value menu, priced at $4.99.

Red Lobster might even bring back “Endless Shrimp” as soon as this month. (Don’t worry, it would be a limited-time promotion this time, not open-ended, and the chain’s Chapter 11 was never as shrimp-centric as it seemed.)

Here’s WSJ Leadership Institute’s Megan Graham on her recent evening at not one but two restaurant publicity events, each with a different spin on value:

It’s a good thing I was hungry Tuesday night, because I had signed up to visit first a tasting of Mediterranean fast-casual chain Cava’s new salmon and then a courtroom-themed pop-up promoting Chili’s value meals.

Cava is debuting the pomegranate-glazed salmon as a premium protein option next week after more than two years in development, a time during which the pressure to offer value only grew.

Executives say their menu is flexible enough to appeal to a range of customers.

A basic Cava bowl costs around $10 to $12, Cava’s chief experience officer, Andrew Rebhun, told me at the event in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, illuminated by the golden reflections from a large pita chip-shaped disco ball. “I really feel like we've done a really nice job positioning the brand—you have that kind of base entry bowl, then you certainly have a little bit of a premium for harissa chicken and then you see a premium for your steak, your lamb, etc.,” he said.

I asked him if he was aware that Cava’s kids’ menu has become a “hack” for young women on TikTok seeking a cheap lunch.

“I totally get it,” Rebhun said. “I understand it, and I think those who do it, they do it, and others who want more ingredients, more toppings, etc., will trade up.”

After filling up on a truly inappropriate number of mushroom baklavas, I headed over to Union Square, where the value play was very obviously the focus.

Chili’s took over a storefront immediately next door to a McDonald’s, setting the stage for the over-the-top trolling that would occur inside. Guests at the “Food Court” were urged to examine a gallery of evidence, such as a scale comparing the weight of a Chili’s chicken sandwich to a McDonald’s McCrispy, while enjoying its chips and salsa and margaritas.

A simulated court proceeding continued the conceit by pitting fast food against Chili’s 3 For Me meal, which includes a drink, chips and an entree with fries for $10.99. A deluge of chicken sandwiches to sample followed.

Kevin Hochman, CEO of Chili’s parent Brinker, said on an earnings call in January that the value pitch has been working.

“High prices are more relevant than ever,” Hochman said. “Every time we think that the consumer is going to get bored of our messaging, this just keeps coming back up in social media and in the zeitgeist.”

Restaurants’ white-hot competition continues:

Little Caesars is now taking orders through an app within ChatGPT. [CNET]

Starbucks designed its new app in ChatGPT to drive menu discovery by recommending drinks and customization based on users’ specifications, moods, outfits or even photos of the weather. [CNBC]

Applebee’s O-M-Cheeseburger, served sliced in half and cut-side down in a skillet of bubbling cheese, packs so many trends into one product. [Restaurant Business]

Smashburger, which recently admitted it had gotten “a little lost” in areas including brand positioning, hired the newly formed agency Understory to help revive its cultural relevance. [Restaurant Dive] 

Papa John’s and Pizza Hut are each exploring separate deals to go private amid rising costs and weakening appeal with consumers. [Reuters] 

Barneys New York is the latest 1990s brand to get a reboot, Suzanne Kapner writes for the Journal. 

Authentic Brands Group, which owns the Barneys name, is working on opening a small-format Barneys store in Naples, Fla., next year and scouting for other potential locations, according to people familiar with the situation.

Authentic is also considering reopening a full-scale Barneys store in its original Madison Avenue location, which has remained vacant, but has yet to secure an operating partner for the venture, the people said.

The department-store chain, which was founded in 1923 and gained a cult following in the 1990s for showcasing cutting-edge designers, closed all its U.S. stores in 2020 after filing for bankruptcy for a second time.

Tip for Barneys fans abroad: There are still nine Barneys stores in Japan.

The Federal Trade Commission and eight states have reached a proposed settlement with Publicis, WPP and Dentsu to resolve a probe into whether the ad firms broke antitrust laws by coordinating boycotts against platforms like Elon Musk’s X, Suzanne Vranica reports.

The companies colluded on “brand safety” standards for brands in a way that steered ads away from venues for conservative news and commentary, the FTC alleged.

Such coordination would be forbidden under the terms of the deal, according to the FTC.

The advertising powers’ cooperation on common brand-safety standards “deprived advertisers of the benefits of differentiated brand-safety standards that could be tailored to their unique advertising inventory,” FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in a statement.

“This unlawful collusion not only damaged our marketplace,” Ferguson added, “but also distorted the marketplace of ideas by discriminating against speech and ideas that fell below the unlawfully agreed-upon floor.”

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Paramount has a new streaming pitch to catch up to its rivals: more shows and sleeker technology. [WSJ] 

An unusually large number of creators are posting on TikTok about getting invited and then uninvited to Coachella by brands. [Ad Age] 

A federal jury found that Live Nation illegally monopolized ticketing for major concerts in the U.S., a win for a group of states that accused it of overcharging fans and pressuring venues to use its Ticketmaster service. [WSJ] 

The organizer of New York’s annual SantaCon bar crawl belongs on the naughty list, federal prosecutors said Wednesday, alleging he stole money that he claimed would go to charity. [WSJ] 

Skechers doesn’t care if creatives say its ads reek of AI. [Creative Bloq] 

IKEA said it will make its April Fool’s joke a reality and give out one million meatball-flavored Chupa Chups lollipops in stores this June. [People]

Sustainable-shoe company Allbirds, which last month struck a deal to sell its brand name and most of the rest of its assets, plans to change its name to NewBird AI and start renting out access to AI chips. [WSJ] 

A “Thelma & Louise” musical is coming. [Variety]