McDonalds

McDonald’s, the leading food chain selling hamburgers worldwide, has reportedly decided to close down some of its units in the USA. However, neither the locations nor the number of stores to be closed down has been revealed by the company. These closing stores in USA will include both franchise and company owned stores. This report has surely hinted that the food chain is having a troublesome phase regarding sales particularly in the USA market. The Associated Press has stated in its review,

“McDonald’s Corp. has not reported an annual reduction in U.S. locations since atleast 1970, according to archived filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For 1969, McDonald’s did not include a U.S. store count in its annual report.”

The under-performing stores have been closed down earlier also, but the number of new stores has always been more than the closing ones. Although, McDonald’s has been able to perform in difficult situations like recession and has also come up with strategies like customised burgers, testing all-day breakfast etc. specifically in the USA market. But still, increasing competition in the business with chains such as ‘Chipotle’ and ‘Five Guys’ has also affected company’s performance.

According to the industry tracker Technomic, even after the closure, McDonald’s will have more than double number of restaurants as compared to that of Burger King. Mike Donahue, the former Chief Communications Officer at McDonald’s said that,

“This downsizing appears to be a strategy of strengthening its base in food chain market. New stores would be opened in better locations after closure of loss making units”.

Whatever may be the reports, the company is still a leading food chain worldwide and is growing day by day. Currently, there are more than 36,000 McDonald’s stores across the globe and 300 more are likely to be added by the company.