The introduction in October of around-the-clock Egg McMuffins and hash browns helped the Golden Arches enjoy its best quarter in nearly four years as it comes off two years of declines. The stock hit a record high today on the news.
The companys results are also showing up its competitors. McDonalds U.S. same store sales growth of 5.7% in the period outperformed the rest of the fast food sandwich segment by 2.9 percentage points, the company said on its analyst call this morning.
CEO Steve Easterbrook, in the job since March, clearly loves all-day breakfast, too, but he stressed on the call that those sausage burritos and hotcakes werent the only initiatives serving up good results. He said that the company had been building momentum heading into the quarter and that while breakfast was the primary driver, it was not the sole factor.
Breakfast was the headline grabber but other initiatives were contributing as well, he said, pointing to a streamlined menu, improved order accuracy, investments in food quality and ingredients, and menu simplification.
Easterbrook likely wants to turn the focus away from breakfast because the company needs more force to propel the company from turnaround mode to prolonged growth. We dont want it to be a single initiative turnaround, he said.
with a quarter pounder or 10 nuggets, not sure what else.
