Skip to footer

How McDonald's in Europe are beating their American counterparts

While sales in the US are continuing to slow, European franchises are exceeding analyst predictions.

|
Charles Platiau/Reuters
A McDonalds fast food restaurant near the entrance of a Metro station in Paris in February. Sales at the fast-food franchises in Europe helped offset continued weakness in the United States last month.
  • By Lisa Baertlein Reuters
  • Nayan Das Reuters

McDonald's Corp posted a smaller-than-expected drop in worldwide sales at established restaurants in May after a lift from value meal deals in Europe helped offset continued weakness in the United States, its top market for profit.

The world's biggest restaurant chain by revenue is fighting to lure back customers lost to slower service, more nimble rivals and increasing consumer demand for fresh, less-processed food.

Shares of the world's biggest restaurant chain by revenue inched up 0.2 percent to $95.39 in midday trading.

Global sales at McDonald's restaurants open at least 13 months fell 0.3 percent in May, marking a full year of monthly sales declines. Analysts polled by research firm Consensus Metrix had expected a decline of 0.9 percent.

European sales were up a better-then-expected 2.3 percent.

The biggest boost came from the United Kingdom, which served up strong results from its "Great Taste of America" campaign, Bernstein analyst Sara Senatore said in a client note.

Germany and France each were up slightly after promoting "everyday value" and premium food. Analysts had expected sales in Europe to rise just 0.6 percent.

U.S. same-restaurant sales disappointed, dropping 2.2 percent in May. Traffic to its domestic restaurants fell again as rivals, ranging from sandwich chain Chick-fil-A to burrito seller Chipotle Mexican Grill, continued to pick off customers. Analysts had expected a decline of 1.7 percent.

McDonald's USA is running a variety of tests aimed at luring back customers. Those tests include extended breakfast hours, custom burgers and new food such as breakfast bowls made with kale and spinach. Frustrated franchisees are clamoring for the company to trim and simplify its massive menu, which they blame for service slow-downs that turn off diners.

May sales were off 3.2 percent in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region, less than analysts' estimate for a 3.8 percent drop. Japan and China, which are still grappling with fallout from food safety scandals, weighed on APMEA results.

McDonald's new Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook recently said the fast-food giant would join other companies that only report quarterly same-store sales. June will be the final monthly sales report for the chain.

Most major U.S. restaurants and retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Target Corp and Starbucks Corp, report only monthly same-store sales.

Those companies say monthly sales reports add costs and put too much emphasis on short-term performance. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Nayan Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Nick Zieminski)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to How McDonald's in Europe are beating their American counterparts
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/0608/How-McDonald-s-in-Europe-are-beating-their-American-counterparts
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe