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Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
How McDonald's Lost Its Value Edge—and Is Trying to Claw It Back
When Americans hit hard times, McDonald's has relied on a simple recipe to keep sales humming: being fast and cheap. PREMIUM How McDonald's Lost Its Value Edge—and Is Trying to Claw It Back For many people these days, McDonald's is just fast. 'Bro what happened to McDonald's dollar menu?!?!' a Seattle woman asked on TikTok earlier this year, sharing images of a $12 McDouble meal and $3 fries. The once-golden formula faltered. The number of fast-food customers who said the restaurant chain offered good value fell to its lowest point in a decade last year, according to a UBS Evidence Lab survey. Lower- and middle-income households have cut back on visits, contributing this year to the biggest drop in McDonald's quarterly U.S. sales since 2020. The burger giant's leaders are all too aware there's a problem. Competition for the food dollar is stiff, with fast-food outlets fighting each other as well as higher-ticket options like Chipotle and Chili's, and even customers' own kitchens. 'There are better options,' said Kyle Elliott. The 30-year-old music producer from New York tends to visit Chick-fil-A, Shake Shack or the neighborhood food cart for a quick meal rather than McDonald's. But the chain that pioneered the modern fast-food industry is caught between a corporate office that wants beefier, more attractive deals and many restaurant franchise owners who say their bottom lines can't absorb much lower prices. Some operators warn that the kind of deals McDonald's is now promoting to draw in customers—some of which chop between 40% and 50% off the regular price—are eroding their already shrinking profits. Profit margins for the chain's U.S. restaurants started to decline last summer and haven't snapped back since, securities filings for McDonald's show. McDonald's is on a mission to claw back sales—and its value edge. In the middle of last year, it took a fresh shot at appealing to stretched consumers: a $5 meal deal that included a McDouble or McChicken sandwich, small fries, small soft drink and a four-piece Chicken McNuggets. Earlier this year it launched a new McValue menu, including options to add a second menu item for $1 after buying one for full price. McDonald's has been pushing for beefier deals that will draw in more customers. The $5 meal deal boosted visits. The add-an-item offer hasn't brought in as many customers so far. McDonald's is now mulling other value options, recently testing a $3-and-less menu in some restaurants, according to company documents. A new round of Snack Wraps debuted at $2.99. 'We're probably still in the first inning' of the new value approach, McDonald's U.S. President Joe Erlinger said in an interview. Value in the inflation era At McDonald's corporate offices in Chicago, strategists analyze billions of dollars' worth of customer transactions to figure out what deals will entice repeat visits. Marketers and finance employees review promotions that franchisees use locally and test whether they could be replicated nationally. Effective deals typically need a discount of at least 30%, depending on how long they run, executives said. Working with franchisees to test and implement the deals is a delicate dance, often requiring lengthy discussions. Franchisees own and operate 95% of the roughly 13,500 McDonald's locations in the U.S. They largely set their own prices and have raised them in recent years to compensate for higher hourly wages and more expensive supplies. They can, and at times have, voted against promotions advanced by the company. In January 2024, McDonald's pitched franchisees in Kansas and Oklahoma on acting as a testing ground for new deals. Customers would be able to buy one item and get another for a dollar as well as obtain drinks for $1 or $2, according to an internal presentation viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Some U.S. franchisees had locally run versions of the buy-one-item deal prior. The franchisee group voted against the proposal, fearing it didn't make financial sense. McDonald's executives started lobbying individual operators to reconsider. The group later reversed course. Another test would come with a different meal deal. When franchisees in upstate New York ran a promotion starting in 2023 offering a bundle of food for a flat $5, McDonald's spotted a chance to take the deal nationwide. First, though, the company had to convince a national group of franchisees helping to oversee a roughly $1 billion advertising fund to back the promotion. After a franchisee board committee voted against the proposal in April 2024, McDonald's leaders directly pitched franchisees for their support. Eventually the meal bundle made it out of committee and went up for wider approval. McDonald's helped sweeten the deal by negotiating with Coca-Cola, its beverage supplier since 1955, to provide nearly $5 million in marketing funds. Restaurants would receive some reimbursement per meal, according to an internal message to franchisees asking for their support. But pressure was building. Labor costs and wholesale prices on everything from beef to eggs continued to rise for operators, while economic uncertainty kept more Americans' purse strings tied. Angry consumers had gone after fast-food companies since prices started to escalate through the pandemic—and kept climbing afterward. Executives warned about the inflation fatigue and the need to offer more affordable meals. 'Our relative superiority on affordability has declined,' CEO Chris Kempczinski said during an earnings call in April 2024. A year earlier, the brand had become an inflation punching bag. A social-media post showing a Connecticut restaurant's menu—items included roughly $18 Big Mac and McCrispy meals—went viral, fueled by consumer rage over sharply rising prices. 'We got offsides' on prices, said Erlinger, the company's U.S. president. Operators are dealing with rising prices on everything from beef to eggs, as well as higher labor costs. The average cost of a large Big Mac meal in the U.S. crossed the $10 mark for the first time last year, according to market-research firm Technomic. Prices for the signature burger meal rose 27% between 2019 and 2024, McDonald's said. With some people online saying Big Mac prices had doubled in that time, Erlinger decided to write an open letter to 'our U.S. fans' in May 2024 to shoot down that math. He denied the chain was gouging consumers and said most U.S. franchisees sold meal bundles for $4 and less. He also teased coming deals. That same month, McDonald's gathered enough operator support to offer the $5 meal deal nationally for roughly a month. Some franchisees pushed to keep the promotion limited, arguing it was too expensive to run long-term and that McDonald's needed to provide more financial backing. 'To provide the consumer with more affordable options, they must be affordable for the owner,' the National Owners Association, an independent advocacy group of McDonald's franchisees, wrote to its hundreds of members. Mark Kalinowski, an industry analyst who surveys McDonald's franchisees, said operators remain concerned about the value approach as it relates to their profits. 'Great sales cures a lot of ills, at least temporarily, and great sales are hard to come by these days,' Kalinowski said. The $5 meal deal carries a discount of around 40% to 50% of the cost of the items purchased a la carte, said Tom Dillon, finance chief for McDonald's U.S. operations. However, he added, the promotion is a moneymaker for operators. It's been extended and is driving some of the highest increases in customer visits in company history. 'The total check is still very profitable from a franchisee perspective,' Dillon said. Discounts, dollar menus and divisions McDonald's has staked its name on affordability since Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1948 devised an assembly line-style cooking system that allowed them to sell 15-cent burgers to San Bernardino, Calif., families. Longtime leader Ray Kroc's rapid expansion through franchising supercharged the formula. 'A McDonald's bought more buns, more catsup, more mustard, and so forth, and this gave it a terrific position in the marketplace,' Kroc wrote in his book on the company, 'Grinding It Out.' From early on, McDonald's set a precedent of fast, affordable food. McDonald's low-cost position was challenged in the late 1980s when an expanding Taco Bell released a menu of 59- to 99-cent options. McDonald's responded with its own range of $1 items. In the 2000s, New York City McDonald's franchisees were looking for a way to prop up sagging sales in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Jim Lewis, then a franchisee, backed a controversial idea: a dollar menu of about a dozen items sold across the day. 'We fought like crazy,' Lewis said. 'Some of this we could afford, but how long can we sell stuff for a dollar?' Instead of a slow boost in sales, the new dollar menu delivered results within months, Lewis said. President Trump, then a real-estate developer and New York celebrity, appeared in ads in 2002 hawking the Big N' Tasty burger's turn on the dollar menu. McDonald's later rolled it out nationwide, boosting sales and winning new fans. Around 2008, with the U.S. economy headed into another recession, McDonald's started promoting $1 cold drinks in some locations. The deal expanded to beverages of all sizes in 2010. The discounts helped McDonald's sales rise between 2008 and 2011—growth that outpaced the overall fast-food industry, Technomic said. But franchisees were having a harder time affording it. By 2012, inflation had driven consumer-goods prices up by 28% compared with 2002. Other chains were facing similar issues. In 2009, Burger King franchisees sued the Miami company over its $1 double-cheeseburger promotion, saying they lost money on it. Burger King pushed up the price in 2010. Three years later, Wendy's bumped up some prices on its 99-cents menu. In November 2013, McDonald's followed suit, rebranding its offering as a 'Dollar Menu & More' with items ranging from a buck to $5. 'We knew we couldn't maintain the $1 price point,' Peter Bensen, then McDonald's chief financial officer, said in 2014. 'Three-legged stool' Kroc, who continued to be involved in McDonald's until his death in 1984, described his corporate philosophy as a 'three-legged stool.' One leg stood for McDonald's franchisees, the second its suppliers and the third the company's employees. The stool was only as strong as its legs. The fast-food industry's brutal economics mean those factions don't always get along. McDonald's and its franchisees have tussled over the past decade as the chain has asked operators to invest millions of dollars in restaurant upgrades and scrutinized their operations. After escalating costs for wages, ingredients, utilities and materials prompted franchisees to raise prices in 2021 and 2022, operators said they couldn't afford to sell dollar drinks anymore. McDonald's eventually relented. Restaurant worker salaries at McDonald's had ballooned around 40% since 2019, while costs for food, paper and other goods were up 35%, McDonald's said last year. As franchisees' expenses continued to climb, corporate employees coached operators to limit price increases to less visible parts of the menu like sauces, cheese or other extras, and to particular locations rather than across all of their restaurants, one former executive said. But McDonald's affordability image suffered. 'Fast-food in general and McDonald's specifically no longer feels like the good value that it once did, the kind where you can get a filling meal for $5 to $8,' said Terry Wu, 36. The healthcare worker, who lives in Pittsburgh, said the price increases don't seem as bad when compared with other living expenses such as groceries and rent. But, he added, that's mostly because of the new discounts. Still, Wu consciously reduced his visits to McDonald's after the jump in prices—and the habit stuck. By last fall, a few months after launching its $5 meal deal, McDonald's said the promotion was helping improve the brand's perception among consumers. That was crucial as the company worked to recover from an October E. coli outbreak that resulted in one death and over 30 hospitalizations. McDonald's wanted to broaden the offering to include the buy-one, add-one for a dollar deal it had tested earlier in the year. Franchisees voted to back the expanded McValue menu, and this January, the promotion debuted with actor John Cena sitting down in ads with trays of breakfast sandwiches, hash browns and fries. But even the WWE champion hasn't been strong enough to cut through customers' concerns around continued economic uncertainty. McDonald's in May reported its U.S. same-store sales in the recent quarter declined 3.6% from last year. Burger King and Wendy's also reported U.S. declines for the three months, though by lesser degrees. In a January survey of 400 McValue customers, 44% said they planned to go to McDonald's regardless of the value menu's presence, market-research firm Numerator said. Eight percent of those surveyed said they hadn't planned to eat fast-food until they heard about the deals menu. 'Most customers are looking for the next deal with very little brand loyalty,' said Jana Zschieschang of Revenue Management Solutions, a consulting company that is telling restaurant clients to better tailor deals so they stand out. Mansur Shaheen, a 27-year-old New Yorker, eats out several times a week and regularly turns to McDonald's deals. Compared with a Cava bowl or Just Salad in Manhattan, a $7 McDonald's sandwich is a better deal, he said. 'It isn't cheap but not expensive,' he said. Erlinger said McDonald's has put its consumer-science acumen behind McValue in a way that makes it distinct. Some McDonald's operators say the company is showing increased urgency in working with franchisees to draw in more customers in other ways, too. A Happy Meal tied to 'A Minecraft Movie' this spring sold out weeks earlier than anticipated. The company in July brought back chicken tenders rolled in tortillas after customers lobbied for them, and some operators said initial sales were so strong they ran low on toppings to dress them. New beverages, particularly cold ones catering to Gen Z, are on tap for testing. 'It's a tough environment, and we are going to step up,' said Danielle Marasco, a Texas-based McDonald's owner who heads the chain's official U.S. operators group, the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance. McDonald's is still pushing for discounts. Corporate officials also want franchisees to continue selling the existing $5 meal deal at the current price. In July, some franchisees intended to push up prices on some of their premium meal deals to $6. The costs, particularly on the McDouble burger, have gotten too high, they said. McDonald's says its $5 meal deal helped improve the brand's perception among consumers. Write to Heather Haddon at How McDonald's Lost Its Value Edge—and Is Trying to Claw It Back How McDonald's Lost Its Value Edge—and Is Trying to Claw It Back How McDonald's Lost Its Value Edge—and Is Trying to Claw It Back
Mint
5 days ago
- Business
- Mint
How McDonald's lost its value edge—and is trying to claw it back
When Americans hit hard times, McDonald's has relied on a simple recipe to keep sales humming: being fast and cheap. For many people these days, McDonald's is just fast. 'Bro what happened to McDonald's dollar menu?!?!" a Seattle woman asked on TikTok earlier this year, sharing images of a $12 McDouble meal and $3 fries. The once-golden formula faltered. The number of fast-food customers who said the restaurant chain offered good value fell to its lowest point in a decade last year, according to a UBS Evidence Lab survey. Lower- and middle-income households have cut back on visits, contributing this year to the biggest drop in McDonald's quarterly U.S. sales since 2020. The burger giant's leaders are all too aware there's a problem. Competition for the food dollar is stiff, with fast-food outlets fighting each other as well as higher-ticket options like Chipotle and Chili's, and even customers' own kitchens. 'There are better options," said Kyle Elliott. The 30-year-old music producer from New York tends to visit Chick-fil-A, Shake Shack or the neighborhood food cart for a quick meal rather than McDonald's. But the chain that pioneered the modern fast-food industry is caught between a corporate office that wants beefier, more attractive deals and many restaurant franchise owners who say their bottom lines can't absorb much lower prices. Some operators warn that the kind of deals McDonald's is now promoting to draw in customers—some of which chop between 40% and 50% off the regular price—are eroding their already shrinking profits. Profit margins for the chain's U.S. restaurants started to decline last summer and haven't snapped back since, securities filings for McDonald's show. McDonald's is on a mission to claw back sales—and its value edge. In the middle of last year, it took a fresh shot at appealing to stretched consumers: a $5 meal deal that included a McDouble or McChicken sandwich, small fries, small soft drink and a four-piece Chicken McNuggets. Earlier this year it launched a new McValue menu, including options to add a second menu item for $1 after buying one for full price. McDonald's has been pushing for beefier deals that will draw in more customers. The $5 meal deal boosted visits. The add-an-item offer hasn't brought in as many customers so far. McDonald's is now mulling other value options, recently testing a $3-and-less menu in some restaurants, according to company documents. A new round of Snack Wraps debuted at $2.99. 'We're probably still in the first inning" of the new value approach, McDonald's U.S. President Joe Erlinger said in an interview. At McDonald's corporate offices in Chicago, strategists analyze billions of dollars' worth of customer transactions to figure out what deals will entice repeat visits. Marketers and finance employees review promotions that franchisees use locally and test whether they could be replicated nationally. Effective deals typically need a discount of at least 30%, depending on how long they run, executives said. Working with franchisees to test and implement the deals is a delicate dance, often requiring lengthy discussions. Franchisees own and operate 95% of the roughly 13,500 McDonald's locations in the U.S. They largely set their own prices and have raised them in recent years to compensate for higher hourly wages and more expensive supplies. They can, and at times have, voted against promotions advanced by the company. In January 2024, McDonald's pitched franchisees in Kansas and Oklahoma on acting as a testing ground for new deals. Customers would be able to buy one item and get another for a dollar as well as obtain drinks for $1 or $2, according to an internal presentation viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Some U.S. franchisees had locally run versions of the buy-one-item deal prior. The franchisee group voted against the proposal, fearing it didn't make financial sense. McDonald's executives started lobbying individual operators to reconsider. The group later reversed course. Another test would come with a different meal deal. When franchisees in upstate New York ran a promotion starting in 2023 offering a bundle of food for a flat $5, McDonald's spotted a chance to take the deal nationwide. First, though, the company had to convince a national group of franchisees helping to oversee a roughly $1 billion advertising fund to back the promotion. After a franchisee board committee voted against the proposal in April 2024, McDonald's leaders directly pitched franchisees for their support. Eventually the meal bundle made it out of committee and went up for wider approval. McDonald's helped sweeten the deal by negotiating with Coca-Cola, its beverage supplier since 1955, to provide nearly $5 million in marketing funds. Restaurants would receive some reimbursement per meal, according to an internal message to franchisees asking for their support. But pressure was building. Labor costs and wholesale prices on everything from beef to eggs continued to rise for operators, while economic uncertainty kept more Americans' purse strings tied. Angry consumers had gone after fast-food companies since prices started to escalate through the pandemic—and kept climbing afterward. Executives warned about the inflation fatigue and the need to offer more affordable meals. 'Our relative superiority on affordability has declined," CEO Chris Kempczinski said during an earnings call in April 2024. A year earlier, the brand had become an inflation punching bag. A social-media post showing a Connecticut restaurant's menu—items included roughly $18 Big Mac and McCrispy meals—went viral, fueled by consumer rage over sharply rising prices. 'We got offsides" on prices, said Erlinger, the company's U.S. president. Operators are dealing with rising prices on everything from beef to eggs, as well as higher labor costs. The average cost of a large Big Mac meal in the U.S. crossed the $10 mark for the first time last year, according to market-research firm Technomic. Prices for the signature burger meal rose 27% between 2019 and 2024, McDonald's said. With some people online saying Big Mac prices had doubled in that time, Erlinger decided to write an open letter to 'our U.S. fans" in May 2024 to shoot down that math. He denied the chain was gouging consumers and said most U.S. franchisees sold meal bundles for $4 and less. He also teased coming deals. That same month, McDonald's gathered enough operator support to offer the $5 meal deal nationally for roughly a month. Some franchisees pushed to keep the promotion limited, arguing it was too expensive to run long-term and that McDonald's needed to provide more financial backing. 'To provide the consumer with more affordable options, they must be affordable for the owner," the National Owners Association, an independent advocacy group of McDonald's franchisees, wrote to its hundreds of members. Mark Kalinowski, an industry analyst who surveys McDonald's franchisees, said operators remain concerned about the value approach as it relates to their profits. 'Great sales cures a lot of ills, at least temporarily, and great sales are hard to come by these days," Kalinowski said. The $5 meal deal carries a discount of around 40% to 50% of the cost of the items purchased a la carte, said Tom Dillon, finance chief for McDonald's U.S. operations. However, he added, the promotion is a moneymaker for operators. It's been extended and is driving some of the highest increases in customer visits in company history. 'The total check is still very profitable from a franchisee perspective," Dillon said. McDonald's has staked its name on affordability since Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1948 devised an assembly line-style cooking system that allowed them to sell 15-cent burgers to San Bernardino, Calif., families. Longtime leader Ray Kroc's rapid expansion through franchising supercharged the formula. 'A McDonald's bought more buns, more catsup, more mustard, and so forth, and this gave it a terrific position in the marketplace," Kroc wrote in his book on the company, 'Grinding It Out." From early on, McDonald's set a precedent of fast, affordable food. McDonald's low-cost position was challenged in the late 1980s when an expanding Taco Bell released a menu of 59- to 99-cent options. McDonald's responded with its own range of $1 items. In the 2000s, New York City McDonald's franchisees were looking for a way to prop up sagging sales in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Jim Lewis, then a franchisee, backed a controversial idea: a dollar menu of about a dozen items sold across the day. 'We fought like crazy," Lewis said. 'Some of this we could afford, but how long can we sell stuff for a dollar?" Instead of a slow boost in sales, the new dollar menu delivered results within months, Lewis said. President Trump, then a real-estate developer and New York celebrity, appeared in ads in 2002 hawking the Big N' Tasty burger's turn on the dollar menu. McDonald's later rolled it out nationwide, boosting sales and winning new fans. Around 2008, with the U.S. economy headed into another recession, McDonald's started promoting $1 cold drinks in some locations. The deal expanded to beverages of all sizes in 2010. The discounts helped McDonald's sales rise between 2008 and 2011—growth that outpaced the overall fast-food industry, Technomic said. But franchisees were having a harder time affording it. By 2012, inflation had driven consumer-goods prices up by 28% compared with 2002. Other chains were facing similar issues. In 2009, Burger King franchisees sued the Miami company over its $1 double-cheeseburger promotion, saying they lost money on it. Burger King pushed up the price in 2010. Three years later, Wendy's bumped up some prices on its 99-cents menu. In November 2013, McDonald's followed suit, rebranding its offering as a 'Dollar Menu & More" with items ranging from a buck to $5. 'We knew we couldn't maintain the $1 price point," Peter Bensen, then McDonald's chief financial officer, said in 2014. Kroc, who continued to be involved in McDonald's until his death in 1984, described his corporate philosophy as a 'three-legged stool." One leg stood for McDonald's franchisees, the second its suppliers and the third the company's employees. The stool was only as strong as its legs. The fast-food industry's brutal economics mean those factions don't always get along. McDonald's and its franchisees have tussled over the past decade as the chain has asked operators to invest millions of dollars in restaurant upgrades and scrutinized their operations. After escalating costs for wages, ingredients, utilities and materials prompted franchisees to raise prices in 2021 and 2022, operators said they couldn't afford to sell dollar drinks anymore. McDonald's eventually relented. Restaurant worker salaries at McDonald's had ballooned around 40% since 2019, while costs for food, paper and other goods were up 35%, McDonald's said last year. As franchisees' expenses continued to climb, corporate employees coached operators to limit price increases to less visible parts of the menu like sauces, cheese or other extras, and to particular locations rather than across all of their restaurants, one former executive said. But McDonald's affordability image suffered. 'Fast-food in general and McDonald's specifically no longer feels like the good value that it once did, the kind where you can get a filling meal for $5 to $8," said Terry Wu, 36. The healthcare worker, who lives in Pittsburgh, said the price increases don't seem as bad when compared with other living expenses such as groceries and rent. But, he added, that's mostly because of the new discounts. Still, Wu consciously reduced his visits to McDonald's after the jump in prices—and the habit stuck. By last fall, a few months after launching its $5 meal deal, McDonald's said the promotion was helping improve the brand's perception among consumers. That was crucial as the company worked to recover from an October E. coli outbreak that resulted in one death and over 30 hospitalizations. McDonald's wanted to broaden the offering to include the buy-one, add-one for a dollar deal it had tested earlier in the year. Franchisees voted to back the expanded McValue menu, and this January, the promotion debuted with actor John Cena sitting down in ads with trays of breakfast sandwiches, hash browns and fries. But even the WWE champion hasn't been strong enough to cut through customers' concerns around continued economic uncertainty. McDonald's in May reported its U.S. same-store sales in the recent quarter declined 3.6% from last year. Burger King and Wendy's also reported U.S. declines for the three months, though by lesser degrees. In a January survey of 400 McValue customers, 44% said they planned to go to McDonald's regardless of the value menu's presence, market-research firm Numerator said. Eight percent of those surveyed said they hadn't planned to eat fast-food until they heard about the deals menu. 'Most customers are looking for the next deal with very little brand loyalty," said Jana Zschieschang of Revenue Management Solutions, a consulting company that is telling restaurant clients to better tailor deals so they stand out. Mansur Shaheen, a 27-year-old New Yorker, eats out several times a week and regularly turns to McDonald's deals. Compared with a Cava bowl or Just Salad in Manhattan, a $7 McDonald's sandwich is a better deal, he said. 'It isn't cheap but not expensive," he said. Erlinger said McDonald's has put its consumer-science acumen behind McValue in a way that makes it distinct. Some McDonald's operators say the company is showing increased urgency in working with franchisees to draw in more customers in other ways, too. A Happy Meal tied to 'A Minecraft Movie" this spring sold out weeks earlier than anticipated. The company in July brought back chicken tenders rolled in tortillas after customers lobbied for them, and some operators said initial sales were so strong they ran low on toppings to dress them. New beverages, particularly cold ones catering to Gen Z, are on tap for testing. 'It's a tough environment, and we are going to step up," said Danielle Marasco, a Texas-based McDonald's owner who heads the chain's official U.S. operators group, the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance. McDonald's is still pushing for discounts. Corporate officials also want franchisees to continue selling the existing $5 meal deal at the current price. In July, some franchisees intended to push up prices on some of their premium meal deals to $6. The costs, particularly on the McDouble burger, have gotten too high, they said. McDonald's says its $5 meal deal helped improve the brand's perception among consumers. Write to Heather Haddon at
USA Today
22-07-2025
- Business
- USA Today
McDonald's adds new cheeseburger option to its McValue Meal Deal
McDonald's new Daily Double cheeseburger is now part of the chain's popular McValue Meal Deal options. The fast-food giant added the Daily Double to its menu in late June. The sandwich, made with two beef patties, a slice of American cheese plus shredded lettuce, slivered onions, mayo and two tomato slices had previously only been available in limited markets including Chicago, Miami, and Seattle. McDonald's says the sandwich will be on the menu nationwide through 2025. Starting Tuesday, July 22, you can make the Daily Double the centerpiece of a McValue Meal Deal ($6 or $7; pricing depends on your restaurant) with a 4-piece order of Chicken McNuggets, small fries and small soft drink. Coca-Cola: Is the soft drink's US recipe changing? What we know so far If double cheeseburgers are your fave, McDonald's also has the traditional double cheeseburger, Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Double Bacon Quarter Pounder with Cheese, and the McDouble, which has pickles, diced onions, ketchup and mustard – no lettuce, tomato or mayo – and can be ordered as a Bacon McDouble, too. McDonald's McValue Meal Deal options now include Daily Double Beginning July 22, you can get the Daily Double cheeseburger as part of a McValue Meal Deal (priced at $6 or $7, depending on your market). In addition to the Daily Double, the meal comes with a four-piece order of Chicken McNuggets, small order of french fries, and small drink. McValue Meal Deals will remain on the menu at McDonald's at least until the end of 2025, McDonald's says. Also among the McValue Meal options is the $5 Meal Deal, which includes: Other options on the McValue menu include the Buy One, Add One for $1 deal, where you select one full-priced menu item from the options below and pay $1 to purchase another item: Breakfast: Lunch and Dinner: McDonald's snack wrap returns Of course, the other big news recently at McDonald's has been the July 10 return of the Snack Wrap. The menu item, which was phased out nationally in 2016, has been brought back and is served as one McDonald's new McCrispy Strips, topped with shredded lettuce and shredded cheese and wrapped in a soft flour tortilla. McDonald's Snack Wrap: Beloved menu item is back, and we tried it: Here's our review The Snack Wrap, which comes in either the "Spicy" or "Ranch" flavor, can be ordered á la carte ($2.99) or as a combo meal ($8.99), which includes two Snack Wraps, a medium order of french fries and a drink of choice. Contributing: Amaris Encinas and Gabe Hauari Mike Snider is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @ & @mikesnider & msnider@ What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
McDonald's Snack Wrap is back, Goldman upgrades the stock
McDonald's is bringing back a fan favorite — the Snack Wrap. The news is one of the reasons why Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral. Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Brooke DiPalma explains why the addition is a big deal for the company. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here. McDonald's, hot off a new Goldman Sachs upgrade, is celebrating the rerelease of its fan favorite snack wrap, and today, Yahoo Finance's senior reporter Brooke DiPalma joins us to discuss the fast food giant, Brooke. Absolutely. Goldman Sachs upgrading McDonald's today from neutral to from neutral to buy, that is. And it's largely because of this product and marketing innovation that the company has been able to push through. They say that they could likely gain market share because of their ability to do this. That includes the return of that coveted snack wrap out today on July 10th. Now the addition in addition to that, they also added the daily double burger to their McValue platform. Goldman Sachs likes that too. But just to set the scene here, we're currently in this environment where we know that the low-income consumers are still under pressure there. They said that McDonald's could see a benefit from that. They also said that they have an advantage when it comes to scale, marketing, and their digital capabilities to really navigate this environment where consumers are still under pressure. But we've seen McDonald's do pretty poorly over the past year. They had that E. coli outbreak last fall, and over the past four quarters, we've seen same source sales growth down about 1%, and fall uh 3.6% in just the latest quarter here in the US as really less customers. They went to McDonald's, and in this environment, you think they would go. So marketing innovation, really the push here that Goldman Sachs likes. I feel like Goldman is really sleeping on the true hit here, the star of the show, the Oreo McFlurry. But let's move on. So, all right, that's the take on McDonald's. I see here though, love for McDonald's, not so much for Cheesecake Factory. They downgraded it, they downgraded that one to neutral. How come? Not so much love there. That's because Cheesecake Factory's, the stock is up more than 30% year to date. Great run. Limited upside here, according to Goldman Sachs, as they really evaluate, okay, what has worked for Cheesecake Factory? And exactly how much run do they have left in their? You see what worked here. They've proved their ability to really navigate this environment. They're able to, you know, get more customers in, get large groups in, and really beat on that value proposition. They've also benefited from those higher income customers. They're turning to Cheesecake Factory now in order to get the best bang for their buck. And also what Goldman Sachs previously liked here doesn't think has much upside now is that menu variety. They said that that's going to present a tailwind here, ultimately because of the fact that they were able to cater towards healthier consumers, maybe those looking for a sweet treat, also healthy. You know, large menu there, maybe that's presenting a bit of a tailwind now, not as many customers coming in as when they once were. They say, "We believe the more immediate catalysts in the near term have been have been already priced in." That's their takeaway. Thank you, Brooke. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNBC
10-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Goldman upgrades underperforming McDonald's stock, citing menu changes as Snack Wrap returns
McDonald's stock has plenty of upside despite concerning signs about the fast food industry broadly, according to Goldman Sachs. Analyst Christine Cho upgraded the restaurant stock to buy from neutral, saying in a note to clients that McDonald's is better positioned than its rivals to win over customers who are feeling strain in their wallets. "We believe MCD ultimately has the scale/marketing/digital advantage to successfully navigate through this environment. Management has firmly committed to market share gains through product and marketing innovation (including return of snack wraps, addition of daily double burger to the McValue platform in the US), and we think this could drive a reversal to positive comp trends," Cho said. The early signs from McDonald's menu changes have been positive and point toward the company taking share from other burger brands, Cho added. McDonald's once popular chicken Snack Wrap returns to menus Thursday. "MCD has maintained [mid single digits] YoY observed sales growth while other fast food peers have slowed to [low single digits]/negative YoY observed sales growth," the note said. The upgrade comes as the fast food giant's stock has been struggling. Shares of McDonald's are up just 1% year to date, and down 2.5% over the past month. For comparison, the S & P 500 is up about 6.5% year to date. MCD YTD mountain Shares of McDonald's are underperforming in 2025. Cho kept her price target on McDonald's at $345 per share. That is about 18% above where the stock closed Wednesday. — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
