McDonald's Sales Take Major Dive
McDonald's released a less-than-golden earnings report today, with same-store sales falling by 4.8%. That was dramatically higher than the predicted 1.2% slump and reinforced the famous chain's struggle in a shifting fast food (or, if you insist, "fast casual") marketplace. Perhaps most troublingly, Asian same-store sales plunged 12.6%, an ominous sign in a market that had until recently been ascendant.
The most recent helping of bad news comes amid an attempt by McDonald's to remake its image and update its menu in a restaurant world clamoring to keep up with customers' demands for fresher, more local ingredients. And it follows the stunningly successful IPO of Shake Shack, which has a miniscule fraction of McDonald's 38K stores but a deafening amount of buzz over its relatively gourmet burgers and other American fast food classics.
The most recent results were the first in 12 years to show declining same-store McDonald's sales and represented the fifth consecutive quarter of revenue declines.
