Americans’ concerns about affordability were one of the top concerns leading up to the midterm elections, and it seems that those concerns are also shaping deals at fast food giant McDonald’s.
During a third quarter earnings call this week, McDonald’s Chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski discussed the success of value deals this year as well as plans for more deals. He said McDonald’s plans to launch a new national program early next year.
“We know there’s particular interest in our U.S. value plan, so allow me to elaborate on the specific steps that we are taking and their expected timing,” Kempczinski said, according to a transcript of the Nov. 4 call provided by Fortune. “Just last week, we began an eight-week test of two new everyday affordable price menu constructs across all day parts in about 1,900 restaurants across a handful of regions.”
He also mentioned tests of mix-and-match bundles and fixed bundles, with around 40% of the U.S. system participating in tests of value meals. Going forward, McDonald’s plans to use the results of this testing to “determine which structure resonates most with customers, works best operationally, and delivers sustainable incremental traffic and sales for franchisees,” Kempczinski said.
“Our goal is to launch a new program nationally in early 2027. We've already made significant improvements to address holistic value across our menu, which contributed to improvement in value and experience scores across our top 10 markets,” he added. “Today, our base menu pricing across the industry’s most popular menu items in chicken, beef, and beverages is generally below that of our nearing competitors. Our $5 and $6 meal deals remain industry standouts, and our Extra Value Meals on everyday fan favorites have become a proven platform to drive incremental sales”
Kempczinski noted that McDonald’s success in the third quarter – especially the improvement in comparable sales in September compared to July and August – came after “a series of interventions we initiated during the quarter,” related to digital offers and marketing value offers. Ian Borden, executive vice president and CFO of McDonald’s added that a “broader range of regional and national digital offers,” helped drive up visits from loyalty members, including a $2 breakfast sandwich and free fries with a $1 minimum purchase.
“The initial responses to the mass digital offers exceeded expectations for both incremental guest counts and sales, and helped to reverse the decline in baseline trends we saw in Q2 and early in Q3,” Borden said. He also touted the $5 Sausage McMuffin and egg meal and an $8 Big Mac meal as well as specialty beverage offerings.
McDonald’s revived its extra value meal last September after Kempczinski said that the company was at risk of losing customers due to economic pressure. Earlier this year, news about new items like the Big Arch Burger were released, but excitement seems to follow the less expensive deals. This September, the company announced its “NEXT” strategy aimed at being the “first choice” for customers and the MONOPLY game at McDonald’s returned that month.
Leading up to the midterms Audacy tracked Americans’ concerns about affordability based on data from multiple polls. As of last month, the Pew Research Center found that 60% of Americans said they did not currently have enough income to lead the kind of life they want and that 27% were struggling to pay their monthly bills.
“McDonald’s delivered another quarter of global growth, with solid performance across much of our international business. In the U.S., we’re encouraged by improvement as the quarter progressed following our intervention on value,” Kempczinski said, per a press release about the recent earnings results. “We’re focused on building from here, strengthening the business today and investing in the next chapter of growth.”
