| Moderated by: Ron, brodiescomics, beejmi | ||
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beejmi THE BIG KAHUNA 
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McDonald’s diners have said goodbye to salads. Stock investors should be glad they’re gone. A pandemic-driven menu overhaul at McDonald’s Corp. has eliminated more nutritious menu options such as grilled-chicken sandwiches and fruit and yogurt parfaits. The world’s biggest restaurant company is trimming out offerings to move diners through lines and drive-thrus faster and with less staff — a key necessity as restaurants struggle to attract and retain workers. These items likely won’t be returning anytime soon, and that should bolster profitability, BTIG LLC analyst Peter Saleh said. While mounting commodity and wage expenses have weighed on restaurants’ margins in recent quarters, faster service and higher sales can help to offset that. McDonald’s says it has shaved about 30 seconds off of its drive-thru wait times over the past few years, in part thanks to the menu cuts. This has a noticeable impact for investors: Restaurant margin, a key measure that takes into account operating costs, is expected to improve to 16.2% in the second quarter, up from 14% in the prior period, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. “With the shortage of labor, you’re trying to keep your menus as streamlined and as simple as possible,” Saleh said. “For many of these restaurants, their menus get bloated with some of these new items, and then you cut it off to help with speed.” Restaurant operators are happy with the new strategy, which cut some healthy items due to longer prep time and lower demand. “Our simplified menu enables for speed,” said the National Owners Association, a large group of McDonald’s franchisees, in an email last month viewed by Bloomberg News. An efficient car lane is key to sales growth, according to the group: “We love fast drive thrus, happy customers, and happy crews.” Franchisees operate about 95% of McDonald’s US locations. The losers, of course, are health-conscious consumers whose options are now limited. Salads, which McDonald’s first introduced decades ago and only made up a very small percentage of sales, are still available in certain local markets, but they’re no longer listed on the McDonald’s website. There are no plans to bring them back nationally right now. Also gone: The 250-calorie Egg White Delight McMuffin, rolled out with much fanfare in 2013 amid a push for nutrition with Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas. In comparison, a regular Egg McMuffin has 310 calories. McDonald’s still offers apple slices and oatmeal with fruit. But it’s clear the fast-food chain, which has faced criticism for not offering more nutritional options, is focusing on core items including burgers, fried-chicken sandwiches and desserts such as a new McFlurry that’s made with chocolate-covered pretzels. The company’s “Favorites Under 400 Calories” menu, started in 2012, is no more. Offerings such as kale salads and wraps with cucumbers and tomatoes have come and gone over the years. The Chicago-based company says its menu is fueled by customers’ appetites. “Our transition to a limited menu, involving taking dozens of less popular national and regional items off menus, helped simplify operations for our restaurant crew while also improving our customers’ experience,” McDonald’s said in an emailed statement. “We continue to evaluate our menu through this lens to improve order accuracy and speed.” Since Covid-19 upended daily life, restaurant menus have been cut more than 10% on average, according to industry researcher Datassential. Nearly 60% of restaurants last year axed items, especially in the appetizer, dessert and beverage categories, up from the 37% that made cuts the previous year. Burger King, for example, has also gotten rid of salads, removing them from the chain’s national menu in December. |
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Blazer Head Auditor, CPA 
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I wasn't aware they got rid of the grilled chicken. That was an ok go-to with an iced tea. |
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Kriss Citizen of nowhere 
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It was funny that this all started with Super Size Me. To recap, Morgan Spurlock ate McDonalds for three meals a day for a month and had to supersize his order if they offered it. He got all fat and depressed and got cravings when he hadn't eaten for a while. It was nothing to do with the food, the idiot was drinking almost a gallon of full fat Coca-Cola every day. He had given himself a serious caffeine addiction and we know how bad Coca-Cola and other soft drinks are for you. Quite amazing that this all ended with McDonalds completely changing their menu. Last edited on Sat Jun 18th, 2022 06:38 am by Kriss |
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beejmi THE BIG KAHUNA
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I don't really buy that they're 'streamlining their menu' as much as the items barely sold and impacted food cost (waste) |
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Infamous 必 勝 
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beejmi wrote: I don't really buy that they're 'streamlining their menu' as much as the items barely sold and impacted food cost (waste) A red flag in any restaurant (not just fast food) is too many menu items Lots of shit sits around & doesn’t move. Don’t try to appease everybody |
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beejmi THE BIG KAHUNA
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Yep. If you're going to offer a grilled chicken sandwich you need to cook one every half hour/hour/however long you are holding onto the cooked product. If you dont sell it. That's waste. And no dollars brought in either. They'd be better off selling hot dogs this summer |
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The Ultimate Sin HALL OF FAMER 
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Infamous wrote: beejmi wrote:I don't really buy that they're 'streamlining their menu' as much as the items barely sold and impacted food cost (waste) That's Five Guys philosophy. Burgers, Fries, and Shakes. |
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Franchise Low key big hog 
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The Ultimate Sin wrote: Infamous wrote:beejmi wrote:I don't really buy that they're 'streamlining their menu' as much as the items barely sold and impacted food cost (waste) In n out is the same way, i dont know that they have added a new item in 30 years. |
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Spatulapup
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Who in the hell goes to Mcdonalds for healthy food??? If i go it's for a Big Mac and fries. If you want healthy food there are much better places to go. Even healthy food there I think would be questionable. Lol |
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lobo316 MISTER MONDAY NIGHT 
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Good riddance to the 'health" items. Never ate the damn stuff. |
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beejmi THE BIG KAHUNA
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Spatulapup wrote: Who in the hell goes to Mcdonalds for healthy food??? If i go it's for a Big Mac and fries. If you want healthy food there are much better places to go. Even healthy food there I think would be questionable. Lol The answer on that is that someone somewhere convinced them that if they added lower calorie lower carb 'offerings' there would be sales that you wouldn't normally get from that 'section' of the population that seeks out that kind of a thing |
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kargol
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beejmi wrote: I don't really buy that they're 'streamlining their menu' as much as the items barely sold and impacted food cost (waste)They were not there to be eaten, they were there to stop one person in a group saying "we're not going to McDonalds, I'm vegetarian" or whatever. Having a token salad on the menu removed that argument. |
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BitterOldMan
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Salads were recently re introduced after being taken off the menu at the start of the plague. The replacements were no where as good as the originals, which featured a freshly prepared grilled or deep fried chicken breast filet, the same one used for the chicken sandwiches. It was replaced with a totally prepackaged salad, with nasty little pieces of chicken. No better than something you'd get at 7-11 or Circle K. Good riddance Last edited on Wed Jun 22nd, 2022 05:47 am by BitterOldMan |
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Kriss Citizen of nowhere
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More scandalous than this, for me, is that McDonald's here in Germany gas stopped tye breakfast menu. During the pandemic it went down to an all day bacon and egg McMuffin, but even that's gone now. Love me a McDonald's breakfast. Sad. |
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