In their more than half a century of existence, McDonald’s has become a staple of fast food everywhere. With more than 35,000 restaurants open in 118 countries, and with its 1.9 million employees, the franchise serves around 68 million customers every single day. But that doesn’t put them out of harm’s way.
Thanks to a growing number of smaller companies offering fresher and larger products, as well as lower prices (such as Five Guys and Smashburger), McDonald’s has been bleeding sales over the past couple of years. The company has been in decline for a while, and in order to help save the restaurant, officials have to employ new marketing strategies.
Fresh Quarter Pounders
As a limited time offer, the restaurant’s Quarter Pounder burgers will be cooked with fresh meat. However, the fresh beef will only be available in fourteen restaurants around the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas. Plus, the patrons will not be informed of the changes, but they will instead be asked if they notice a difference in taste.
The test began this past November in an attempt to revitalize the franchise and increase sales. This isn’t the first promotion offered by restaurant since then, as the higher-ups are of course interested in pumping fresh blood into the decreasingly popular chain of internationally famous restaurants.
Lisa McComb, a McDonald’s spokeswoman said this in a recent interview:
Like all of our tests, this one too is designed to see what works and what doesn’t within our restaurants by considering the operational experience, consumer response, price points and other important information which may inform future decisions.
Other attempts
Previous tests McDonald’s used to see what they could do to raise their sales once again include the recent hit that were the Gilroy Garlic Fries, which sold out earlier this week. The fries were available only the San Francisco Bay Area, and they hugely successful.
McDonald’s is also testing out various burger sizes, particularly Big Macs, in restaurants around Ohio and Texas. The Grand Mac is meant to compete with the larger burgers offered by other restaurants, while the Mac Jr. is competing against the smaller burgers of other restaurants, such as Wendy’s Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger.
Other promotions included 125 restaurants in Milwaukee serving Johnsonville Brats for a very limited time, some seven years after they were initially discontinued. The opening of a new location in Missouri this July will be accompanied by an all-you-can-eat French fry promotion.
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