The day after the E.coli outbreak surfaced, McDonald’s customer visits dropped 6.4 percent across the US, and 24 percent in Colorado, where the outbreak was apparently centred. And McD’s now faces a challenge to recoup lost fanss…
There are two sides to every coin… And ‘tails’ for the McDonald’s E.coli outbreak saga has been a dig drop in sales since the emergency was announced…
Customers fled in droves…
Citing a survey by Placer.ai, which tracks foot traffic to restaurants and retailers, CNN reported that the customer visit numbers dropped further in following days, to – 9 percent nationwide and – 31 percent in Colorado.
During a quarterly results conference call in the middle of the crisis, McD’s CFO Ian Borden admitted there had been an, “impact in the US business as a result of the food safety incident.” But he played down the situation.
Borden told investors the company had a strategy to get back the fans it had alienated. At the core of that effort, he explained, were the recently-introduced $5 Value Meals (including the new Arch Bur-ger), and the impending introduction of the eagerly-awaited new Chicken Big Mac. Planned adver-tising programs might be paused for a special emphasis on McDonald’s commitment to Food Safety and quality.
The bigger picture
CNN reported the E. coli outbreak came as the chain – and virtually all other major players in the fast Food sphere – were struggling to win back customers put off by high prices. “The average price of McDonald’s menu items is up around 40 percent over the past five years.”
McDonald’s announced, at its earnings meeting, that year-over-year sales had edged up 0.3 percent in the United States during the third quarter of 2024. But had fallen 1.5 percent globally.
Meanwhile…
The source of the E.coli outbreak was found not to be its Quarter Pounder burgers, per se. As of this writing, tests are continuing on other McD’s ingredients, but slivered onions remain the prime sus-pect.
McD’s has announced sales of the Quarter Pounder will resume ASAP. As soon as the supply chain could deliver fresh burgher patties to its locations in affected regions. Before once faithful fans can drift any farther away.
My take
“We stand ready to do more if we need to to make sure that we are bringing the full resources of McDonald’s to bear to re-engage [customers],” CEO Chris Kempczinski says. Obviously.
And as a foodservice industry insider (albeit just barely ‘inside’, on the fringes) I can confidently pre-dict that McD’s corporate HQ these days is like the proverbial worried duck, looking placid and in control of everything above the surface of the water, but paddling away for dear life underneath…
~ Maggie J.