McDonald’s reported its worst quarterly sales for the United States since the height of the pandemic in 2020, the last chain of restaurants to be affected by the turbulent economic environment in America.
The hamburgers giant said that store sales at the stores have dropped 3.6%, the largest decrease of three months since the second quarter of 2020 when they dived 8.7%. Forecasts had been a drop of only 1.7%.
“Consumers are now struggling with uncertainty,” said McDonald’s president and Chris Kempczinski, in a statement, because the chain cited the number of guests below.
In a follow -up call with investors, McDonald’s managers said traffic between intermediate income guests fell into “almost two figures” in parallel with a continuous decrease among low low -income income. For example, they said that more people seem to skip breakfast fully to reduce expenses or have breakfast at home.
“People visit less,” they said.
High income traffic, on the other hand, remained stable, they said.
This reflects the economy roughly: while less well -well consumers reduce transactions to focus on essential elements, rich consumers continue to spend freely.
McDonald’s is the last chain of restaurants to report low financial results among the signs that consumers are retreating to discretionary expenses. Chipotle, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Shake Shack and Starbucks have all seen slowing down or reducing sales in their quarter, many of which citing special weakness among low -income consumers.
McDonald’s also reported income that missed forecasts for the third time in four quarters.
The more volatile economic environment that has been accelerated by President Donald Trump’s pricing policies is also felt abroad.
In the call, the company officials said that even if the McDonald’s brand had not been affected by the worsening of the United States perceptions by foreign consumers, its internal surveys had taken a notable increase in anti-American feeling, especially among the guests in northern Europe and Canada.
“We have seen … an increase in people in various markets saying that they will reduce purchases of American brands,” they said.
However, it has maintained its annual financial prospects, including plans to open 2,200 locations, which, according to him, should help increase sales growth by just over 2%. He indicated that a promotional link with the “Minecraft film” had been a success, and that its refreshing value offers continued to position it strongly compared to the competitors.
However, officials declared on the call they had remained “cautious about the feeling of consumers”.
McDonald’s shares ended the day down almost 2%.
