Chipolte Struggles to Stop Food-Borne Illnesses, Win Back Customers
Chipotle Mexican Grill responded quickly when four of its workers called in sick last week with suspected cases of norovirus. The Boston-area restaurant was shuttered for cleaning, and no customers got ill. The company’s management considers that a successful outcome — a sign its updated health protocols are working. But customers, still wary of the chain after a string of outbreaks, didn’t see it that way. Headlines about the...
McDonald’s Japan Selling Chocolate French Fries
Tokyo — Is this the answer to McDonald’s problems in Japan? The “McFry Potato Chocolate Sauce”? Yes, you read that right. French fries covered with not one but two types of chocolate sauce. It’s the fast food chain’s latest effort to turn around its business in Japan after a slew of bad news ranging from a tooth found in the food to a shortage of fries that resulted in rationing. Recently, McDonald’s launched the Makku Choco Poteto,...
All-Day Breakfast Fuels McDonald’s
McDonald’s Corp., waging a comeback effort under Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook, posted its best quarterly growth in almost four years after a move to serve breakfast all day helped fuel U.S. sales. Global same-store sales surged 5 percent in the fourth quarter, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company said in a statement on Monday. Analysts had estimated 3.2 percent. Profit also topped predictions, raising optimism that...
All-Day Breakfast Helps McDonald’s Reverse Slump
Turns out that an Egg McMuffin for lunch hit the spot at McDonald’s. The fast-food giant’s decision this fall to offer breakfast items all day in the U.S. market is one reason why McDonald’s is ending 2015 on a notable upswing after starting the year in a deep slump. Under the guidance of Steve Easterbrook, who took over as McDonald’s chief executive in March, the chain’s U.S. comparable-store sales — that is, sales at restaurants...
Pizza Hut: Convenience Is Key to Increasing Sales
New York — Yum CEO Greg Creed thinks he figured out why sales at Pizza Hut have gone cold: The chain needs to be more like the car-hailing service Uber. “If you think about the Uber experience, it’s easy to use, it’s easy to pay, it’s very easy to track,” Creed said in a phone interview from Dallas late Thursday after Yum Brands’ investor day. During a presentation, Creed said there was a time when the way to beat the competition was...
