Restaurants revive retro pricing for anniversaries — but does the trend make ‘cents’?

Restaurants are increasingly leaning into nostalgia with limited-time promotions that bring back menu prices from decades ago to help celebrate anniversaries.

Across the country, eateries marking milestone birthdays are temporarily slashing prices, offering everything from burgers and cocktails priced as they were when the restaurants first opened to specials tied to the anniversary number — such as $1.65 fries for 65 years in business.

At Burgerville, a Pacific Northwest burger chain...