Yahoo Finance Supersize me: McDonald’s plots bigger burgers
McDonald’s is preparing to roll out a bigger burger to help boost the fast food giant’s flagging sales.
Ian Borden, the chief financial officer, on Tuesday said the restaurant’s chefs from around the world have created a “larger, satiating burger”.
The new product will be introduced in certain markets to test its global appeal, he told analysts during an earnings call.
The dish is designed to meet customers’ appetite for more filling patties, Bloomberg reported.
The bigger burger comes as McDonald’s grapples with sluggish demand as anti-Israel boycotts continue to hurt its sales.
Pro-Palestinan campaign groups have called for diners to boycott McDonald’s after photos and videos on social media showed franchised stores in Israel offering free meals to its soldiers following the Oct 7 Hamas attack.
Customers in the Middle East and Muslim-majority markets such as Indonesia and Malaysia have since shunned McDonald’s over its perceived support of Israel.
Sales across McDonald’s international developmental franchised markets fell 0.2pc during the first quarter of 2024, marking the segment’s first quarterly decline in two years.
The fast-food chain blamed this “slightly negative” performance on the continued impact of the war in the Middle East.
McDonald’s has denied taking any position in the ongoing conflict and said it is not responsible for the actions of its franchisees, which pay the group a fee to licence its brand and recipes.
Chris Kempczinski, the chief executive, warned in January that such “misinformation” about its support for Israel was harming its Middle East sales.
McDonald’s overall increased global sales 1.9pc last quarter, driven by strong sales in the US, according to its latest results.
Plans to introduce a bigger burger comes after McDonald’s unveiled plans in December to boost growth by focusing on core menu items.
This back-to-basics strategy has included a new advertising campaign highlighting improvements to its Big Mac, quarter pounder with cheese and double cheeseburger.
The upgrades reportedly mark the first time in the US company’s 84-year history that changes have been made to its classic burgers.
Chad Schafer, McDonald’s USA’s senior director of culinary innovation, previously said: “We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavourful than ever.”
It follows plans by fast-food rival Burger King to improve its flagship Whopper burger as part of efforts to turn around the business.
McDonald’s new burger could heighten competition with Burger King, whose efforts to offer customers more burger for their buck has previously culminated in the Big King XL and then the Big King XXL.
