Posted on 02/09/2015 11:42:27 AM PST by rickmichaels
OAK BROOK, ILL.—McDonald’s said Monday that a key global sales metric fell 1.8 per cent in January, weighed down by persistent struggles in Japan and China.
The world’s largest hamburger chain said that sales at locations in the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region open at least 13 months dropped 12.6 per cent. That showing more than offset a 0.4 per cent rise at U.S. locations and a comparable 0.5 per cent increase in Europe.
McDonald’s shares fell $1.09 to $92.90 in afternoon trading. McDonald’s Corp. said that its performance in the segment that includes the Asia-Pacific region was hurt by broad-based consumer perception issues in Japan as well as the ongoing fallout from a food-safety scandal in China and shift in the timing of the Chinese New Year.
Last year an undercover TV report in China showed one of McDonald’s major suppliers repackaging meat that was alleged to be expired. The claim has not been publicly confirmed by the supplier or the government. The plant stopped operations, and many of McDonald’s restaurants in the country were left unable to sell burgers, chicken nuggets and other items. The chain’s reputation took a hit as well.
Chief Financial Officer Peter Bensen said during a January conference call that McDonald’s estimates it will take at least three to six more months for its business in China to return to a normalized level. The executive said Japan has taken longer to recover. Worsening perceptions are expected to hurt Japan’s results for “the foreseeable future.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...
McDonalds: the Radio Shack of fast food.
That was my point. 20 years ago they were among the best, now they taste the same as they did 20 years ago and they can’t hold a candle to 5 Guys, Freddies, Culvers and a bunch of others. Sure they’re still better than Wendys, BK and JIB, but nobody eats those places either. If your 5 Guys isn’t good pick better toppings.
: McDonalds is having a difficult time shaking rumors that their hamburgers still contain beef.
Be quiet and pay them their $15 an hour...
We had a hectic weekend so there were 2 trips to fast food/ casual: Sauce and 5 Guys. Culvers and Wing Stop were in the debate. We joked about McD but were never going to go to one, there’s just no reason to anymore, much better food is available for basically the same price.
No one wants to be the customer embarrassed by having to hug someone or sing for a meal.
In Hong Kong’s Kowloon Park they have a McDonald’s kiosk.
Don’t even sell burgers or fries. Maybe that is the problem!
(They do sell various drinks, to include smoothies.)
***Ever seen one of those Cafe’ du Monde coffee & beignet shops (based out of New Orleans)? There are more of them in Japan than in Louisiana.***
Asia still has Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurants.
“Not fast food, good food served quickly.”
“That the Chinese care less about safe meat than the Japanese???”
Well, if McDonald’s won’t say it, I will. You could find some week-old roadkill, through some soy sauce on it, skewer it, and people in China would eat it.
A KFC in the area is now closed up and the space is for rent. I told the manager of that very place six months ago that KFC was pricing themselves out of the market. He didn’t believe me.
I can’t prove it, but McD’s fries, burgers and shakes tasted better (to me as a kid, anyways) back in the 60’s.
The quality has declined a bit though. No beef tallow for the fries anymore is a big drop in quality. Also, there was the whole “pink slime” incident, and even though they don’t use that anymore, the meat quality in their burgers still seems very poor.
Remember in the 60’s when two chains dominated the fried chicken business, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Chicken Delight? I think there is still one Chicken Delight location left, in Canada.
The chicken business is a gamble!
I wonder if any of their declining sales could be related to these bogus online videos, blog postings, etc. that have gone viral about their hamburgers being made out of supposedly artificial ingredients because they’ll “never mold”, wherein they leave them in an environment to where they get completely dried out, and thus mold cannot develop as there is no moisture, and people think it is legit.
The tallow has probably impacted the fries, but there’s ways around that. 5 Guys fries are cooked in peanut oil and they’re really good, they’re also seasoned with more than just salt. I think the big thing with the meat is we’re just getting better stuff now. A lot of their newer competition don’t freeze anything, no freezing means no freezer burn, and fresher over all product. Also there’s pride in the product at the competition, which I think impacts both the actual quality and the perceived quality. Most of their competition use “open back” design where you can actually see them make your food, which really increases perceived quality. In this day and age of food scares McD’s “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” store design sends a message that people don’t want anymore.
It was exciting as a kid, especially in the early days of franchise food. Also the smaller menu probably lent itself to better quality. If you watch any of those restaurant rescue shows you see big menus are a constant and one of the first things the rescuer changes. A restaurant has to know who they are and stick to that, I’ve lost count of how many times McD has “introduced” salads to the menu, only to have them fail because who the heck goes to McD for a salad. But those salad failure take money, time and real estate that could be getting used to make better burgers. They could also probably due to borrow a page from Dominos and mount a “we get it, the food sucks, and now we’re going to fix it” campaign.
Face it Mickey D, ain’t nobody believin’ that you don’t use pink slime and strange ingredients in your mcnuggets. Nobody’s buying, even at $1.49 for a dozen.
Wow! I hadn't thought about Chicken Delight in over 40 years. I remember eating there in the '60s.
They did, The fries now are terrible. Had better cardboard.
It’s all in your mind.
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