Imagine two friends opening a restaurant app to order the same burger. One sees $14. The other sees $16 because information about the customers was used to tailor their prices.
That is a hypothetical example, not a reported incident at a named restaurant. But the question behind it is real: should what a business knows about you influence what you pay?
Maryland’s Protection From Predatory Pricing Act took effect October 1, 2026. It restricts certain personalized pricing by covered food retailers and third-party food delivery providers. It also sets a separate disclosure requirement for other merchants that use personalized pricing, subject to specified exceptions.
For food businesses and their customers, the important distinction is not simply whether two people receive different prices. It is how those prices were determined and which part of the law applies.
What Personalized Pricing Means
A sale price can reflect the product. A personalized price can reflect the buyer.
In January 2025, the Federal Trade Commission released initial findings from its surveillance-pricing study. The agency reported that intermediaries could use information such as location, browsing history, and shopping behavior to target consumers with different prices or promotions.
The intermediaries examined worked with at least 250 clients, including grocery stores and apparel retailers.
The FTC emphasized that its published examples were hypothetical because confidential business information had to be protected. It described the study as ongoing at the time of the release.
Those findings should not be presented as proof that a particular restaurant is charging individual diners different amounts. They explain the capabilities under examination, not a documented incident at every business using customer data.
What Maryland Changed
The Maryland General Assembly’s official legislative record identifies the measure as HB 895, enacted as Chapter 154 and effective October 1.
For covered food retailers and third-party food delivery providers, the law prohibits using personalized pricing or personal data to set a higher price for food exempt from Maryland sales and use tax.
The food-retailer definition has two requirements: an establishment must be at least 15,000 square feet and sell food that qualifies for the exemption.
These details limit the scope of the food-pricing restriction. It is not a blanket prohibition covering every restaurant, every grocery purchase or every delivery transaction.
The law also restricts covered providers from using protected-class data in ways that withhold or deny an accommodation, advantage or privilege available to others.
Why Restaurants Still Have a Reason to Pay Attention
Maryland’s food exemption does not cover food for immediate consumption or specified food served for consumption on the premises. That helps distinguish the covered-food provisions from ordinary restaurant-menu pricing.
But the analysis does not end there.
A separate section of the enacted law addresses merchants communicating prices set through personalized pricing or personal data. Subject to its exceptions, it requires a clear and conspicuous statement:
“This price was set by an algorithm or by using your personal data.”
The required disclosure must appear with the price communication and be easily visible and understandable.
That means a restaurant should not assume it has no obligations simply because it falls outside the covered-food-retailer definition. Whether a particular business or pricing practice is subject to the disclosure requirement depends on the statutory definitions and exceptions.
Related: “Gable at the Hollywood Roosevelt: The Bold New Restaurant Aiming to Win Over LA Locals”
Not Every Price Change Is the Same
In everyday conversation, the term “dynamic pricing” can describe several practices. Maryland uses a specific definition centered on a personalized price based on a consumer’s personal data.
That is different from assuming every changing price is prohibited.
The law lists exceptions for promotional offers, loyalty benefits, certain objective costs, location differences, subscriptions, and other specified circumstances. It also addresses price corrections and restoring prices after system outages.
The precise wording matters. Calling an offer a “promotion” does not replace checking whether the practice meets the applicable exception.
For readers, the takeaway is straightforward: a discount and a data-driven markup aren’t automatically treated the same.
The Restaurant Question Is Still Developing
Restaurant Business examined the restaurant implications in an October 7 report, highlighting the growing attention to pricing based on consumer information.
However, discussing what technology could enable should not be mistaken for an accusation about what restaurants already do.
This article does not identify a restaurant using personal data to charge an individual customer more. Nor does the FTC’s initial release establish that such pricing is standard restaurant practice.
The immediate news is a legal framework taking effect, with definitions that require businesses to distinguish these practices from ordinary menu changes and discounts.
How Enforcement Works
Before enforcing the new pricing provisions, Maryland’s Consumer Protection Division must notify the alleged violator and give it 45 days to cure the violation.
If it is cured within that period, the division may not initiate the specified enforcement action for that violation. The enacted law also excludes these pricing provisions from the general consumer-protection private-action mechanism.
Those are enforcement rules, not permission to disregard the requirements. Businesses evaluating their obligations should consult the enacted text and obtain advice specific to their operations.
The Question Behind the Price
Maryland’s approach distinguishes covered food-price restrictions from disclosure requirements for other merchants. For customers, the broader issue is whether the reason behind a price is visible.
A loyalty offer may be recognizable. A price shaped by information collected about the buyer can be harder to identify.
As food ordering becomes increasingly digital, what would make personalized pricing acceptable to you: a lower price, a clear explanation, or the ability to choose whether your data is used at all?
