Fast-food chain strategy

Some experts say during the economic downturn, there will be an upward business trend for fast-food restaurants and the market for cheap eats will get bigger. It's a fair prediction. If you were in fast-food chain, what would you do to cultivate on such trend ? One way of course is to come up with a range of cheap menus to satisfy the need of the price-conscious consumers. Another way is to stick to the quality food image without slashing the prices. Maxim's has just launched shark fin soup so that consumer can still pamper themselves with"cheap luxury". No one knows which way is better. I can only guess that fast-food chains wouldn't want to slash prices to compete. The reality is that they still have to pay high rents for the shops with rental commitments from last year when the rents were still up there.