A Class Action Says Wolt Sold Price-Controlled Salt for ₪12 Instead of ₪2.09. Superclear's Own Data Shows the Same Product on Real Shelves for as Little as ₪1.40.

By מערכת סופרקליר · 2026-08-22 · 4 min read

×5.7 — How many times higher the price the lawsuit attributes to Wolt (₪12) is than the legal maximum for regulated table salt (₪2.09) — in Superclear's own data, as of August 22, 2026, the same type of salt sells at real chains for as little as ₪1.40

Plain table salt is one of the most boring products imaginable — which is exactly why the state gives it a legal price ceiling: ₪2.09 per kilogram, VAT included. According to a new class-action lawsuit that surfaced on August 20, 2026, someone who ordered it through Wolt paid ₪12. We checked Superclear's own data for what the same type of salt actually costs at real chains — and the gap says a lot about what happens when an everyday product moves from the shelf to the app.

What the lawsuit claims

Per TheMarker, the class action alleges that products under government price supervision are sold on the Wolt platform at markups of "hundreds of percent" above the legally permitted maximum — with salt as the sharpest example: ₪12 instead of ₪2.09, more than five times the legal ceiling. The suit claims Wolt itself profits from this price gouging and should compensate consumers. Wolt, for its part, responded according to the same report that "the businesses set the price for the consumer" — placing responsibility for the price itself on the independent merchants selling through the platform, not on Wolt.

That distinction is worth noting. Wolt also runs its own retail arm, Wolt Market, which publishes statutory price files like any other chain in Israel — and shows up in Superclear's own index as a result. But the lawsuit, and the company's response, appear aimed at a much broader layer: grocery stores, minimarkets and independent merchants selling through the Wolt app, where — by the company's own account — it doesn't set the price.

What a "price-controlled product" actually means

Table salt, like bread, milk, eggs and a handful of basic cheeses, sits on the official list of consumer staples the state has given a legal maximum consumer price, on the premise that these are essentials nobody should be able to exploit (Protocol). The violation isn't theoretical: per din.co.il, a 72-year-old grocer in Be'er Sheva was recently convicted on seven counts of selling dairy products 9%-47% above the legal ceiling, and fined ₪11,000 plus a ₪14,000 bond — with prosecutors arguing that gouging on an essential product is "equivalent to theft from the public." In other words: a physical store that raises a salt price by 47% is committing an offense serious enough to reach an indictment. The gap described in the Wolt lawsuit — over 470% — is in an entirely different league, but is, for now at least, playing out as a civil claim rather than a criminal case.

What we found in our own data

We checked Superclear's data, as of August 22, 2026, for what the same type of product — basic table salt and coarse salt, not sea salt or imported gourmet salt — actually costs at real chains that publish their statutory price files. At Machsanei HaShuk, five different branches (from Be'er Sheva to Jerusalem) sell table salt for just ₪1.40. At Victory, coarse salt sells for ₪1.90-2.30 across eight different branches nationwide. Neither of these chains is a premium operator — on Superclear's own priciness index they both rank as cheap: Victory 15th of 33 chains (5% below the median), Machsanei HaShuk 20th (6% below the median). The legal price holds, without any particular effort, at chains that are cheap across the board — not just at premium chains that can "afford" to sell low.

For comparison: Wolt Market itself — the chain that does publish an official price file and shows up in our index — ranks 7th of 33, 7% above the median, in the "expensive" bracket. That's not cheap either, but it's an entirely different world from a gap of 5.7 times the legal ceiling.

This isn't the first time

This isn't the first complaint about a gap between Wolt prices and shelf prices. Back in February 2025, TheMarker checked and found Wolt shopping baskets up to 20% pricier than the same basket at a physical branch — Carrefour items ran 17.4% higher, Rami Levy 14.9%, AM:PM 15.2% — beyond delivery and service fees. And in June 2025, a separate class-action request was filed against Wolt at the Be'er Sheva District Court, seeking ₪50 million, alleging the app charges customers full price even when the chain itself is running a promotion — per Calcalist, the plaintiff made a test purchase at a Victory branch through Wolt and showed a price gap between two identical orders placed the same day. Wolt said at the time it was conducting an "internal review."

The bottom line

Israel's price-control law exists to make sure salt, bread and milk don't become luxury items while you're standing in the checkout line. Our check shows that law working in practice, at cheap chains and pricier ones alike — when you're buying off the shelf. What the lawsuit against Wolt raises is a different question: what happens when the same product moves to a layer that no regulator, and no price-comparison index, ours included, necessarily sees — the app layer, where, according to Wolt itself, "the businesses set the price." Until the case is decided, the cheapest rule is still the old one: before you order something basic for the house, it's worth checking what it costs at the actual branch.