HOME & LIVING
TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2022
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — B3
McDonald’s shrinking menu drops healthier options
By LESLIE PATTON
Bloomberg News
McDonald’s diners have
said goodbye to salads.
Stock investors should be
glad they’re gone.
A pandemic-driven
menu overhaul at McDon-
ald’s Corp. has elimi-
nated more nutritious menu
options such as grilled-
chicken sandwiches and
fruit and yogurt parfaits.
The world’s biggest restau-
rant company is trimming
out off erings to move diners
through lines and drive-
thrus faster and with less
staff — a key necessity
as restaurants struggle to
attract and retain workers.
These items likely
won’t be returning any-
time soon, and that should
bolster profi tability, BTIG
LLC analyst Peter Saleh
said. While mounting com-
modity and wage expenses
have weighed on restau-
rants’ margins in recent
quarters, faster service
and higher sales can help
to off set that. McDonald’s
says it has shaved about 30
seconds off its drive-thru
wait times over the past
few years, in part thanks to
the menu cuts. This has a
noticeable impact for inves-
tors: Restaurant margin, a
key measure that takes into
account operating costs,
is expected to improve
to 16.2% in the second
quarter, up from 14% in
the prior period, according
to estimates compiled by
Bloomberg.
“With the shortage of
labor, you’re trying to keep
your menus as streamlined
and as simple as possible,”
Saleh said. “For many of
these restaurants, their
menus get bloated with
some of these new items,
and then you cut it off to
help with speed.”
Restaurant opera-
tors are happy with the
Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images-TNS
Employees serve customers at a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in New York on May 27, 2022.
new strategy, which cut
some healthy items due to
longer prep time and lower
demand. “Our simplifi ed
menu enables for speed,”
said the National Owners
Association, a large group
of McDonald’s franchi-
sees, in an email last month
viewed by Bloomberg
News. An effi cient car lane
is key to sales growth,
according to the group: “We
love fast drive thrus, happy
customers, and happy
crews.” Franchisees operate
about 95% of McDonald’s
US locations.
McDonald’s shares have
fallen about 9% so far in
2022, less than the decline
of the S&P 500 Index. The
stock has 27 buy ratings
from Wall Street analysts,
with 11 holds and only one
sell recommendation.
The losers, of course,
are health-conscious con-
sumers whose options are
now limited. Salads, which
McDonald’s fi rst introduced
decades ago and only made
up a very small percentage
of sales, are still available
in certain local markets,
but they’re no longer listed
on the McDonald’s web-
site. There are no plans to
bring them back nation-
ally right now. Also gone:
The 250-calorie Egg White
Delight McMuffi n, rolled
out with much fanfare in
2013 amid a push for nutri-
tion with Olympic gold
medalist Gabby Douglas. In
comparison, a regular Egg
McMuffi n has 310 calories.
McDonald’s still off ers
apple slices and oatmeal
with fruit. But it’s clear
the fast-food chain, which
has faced criticism for not
off ering more nutritional
options, is focusing on core
items including burgers,
fried-chicken sandwiches
and desserts such as a new
McFlurry that’s made with
chocolate-covered pretzels.
The company’s “Favor-
ites Under 400 Calories”
menu, started in 2012, is
no more. Off erings such as
kale salads and wraps with
cucumbers and tomatoes
have come and gone over
the years.
The Chicago-based
company says its menu is
fueled by customers’ appe-
tites. “Our transition to a
limited menu, involving
taking dozens of less pop-
ular national and regional
items off menus, helped
simplify operations for our
restaurant crew while also
improving our customers’
experience,” McDonald’s
said in an emailed state-
ment. “We continue to eval-
uate our menu through this
lens to improve order accu-
racy and speed.”
Since COVID-19
upended daily life, restau-
rant menus have been cut
more than 10% on average,
according to industry
researcher Datassential.
Nearly 60% of restaurants
last year axed items, espe-
cially in the appetizer, des-
sert and beverage catego-
ries, up from the 37% that
made cuts the previous
year. Burger King, for
example, has also gotten rid
of salads, removing them
from the chain’s national
menu in December.
Meanwhile, consumers
are tiring of cooking at
home, which has helped
restaurant sales. But com-
panies will have to work
to keep diners’ atten-
tion. McDonald’s’ healthy
options, while never a big
driver of revenue, helped
the company to stand out,
according to Tom Cook,
principal at restaurant con-
sultant King-Casey.
“You always need to
have something, some news
to drive traffi c, particu-
larly these days,” said Cook,
who worked with McDon-
ald’s in the mid-2000s to
help introduce a handful of
new salads, including one
with apples. He said the
leafy-green entrees were a
big deal at the time — even
though management knew
they’d never rival burgers
sales. The goal with salads
was to draw in female diners
and especially mothers with
children, he said.
“Here’s a case of
knowing that it’s never
going to be popular and
Come Check Out
Our New Location
& New Menu!
sell a lot, but we’re going
to make a big story out of it
to communicate that we’re
healthy,” he said. “It was a
very high priority.” Fast for-
ward to today, and “they’re
just probably saying, ‘we
don’t really need those,’”
Cook said.
To be sure, the menu
cuts have also included
indulgent items such as the
McChicken biscuit and a
bacon, egg and cheese bagel
that had more than 500 cal-
ories and half-a-day’s worth
of salt. But McDonald’s
seems to have gone farther
than some peers in cutting
low-calorie options. For
example, Wendy’s Co. and
Chick-fi l-A Inc. still have
salads and grilled chicken
on their national lineups.
The story changes to
some extent for McDon-
ald’s overseas. Australia
off ers oat milk, and salads
are still on the menu in
countries such as Italy and
the Netherlands. UK loca-
tions off er cucumber sticks.
But the disappearance of
healthy items at most of the
chain’s 13,000 US locations
is “a huge step backwards,”
said Lindsay Moyer, senior
nutritionist at food and
health watchdog Center
for Science in the Public
Interest.
“You have to wonder
if McDonald’s has almost
given up trying to pre-
tend they have something
to off er people who want
healthier items,” she said.
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by Stella Wilder
TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2022
YOUR BIRTHDAY by Stella Wilder
Born today, you are more of a thinker than
a doer, but you are known to jump into things
and have a go at the most unusual times -- and
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rying whether you are doing things according
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You tend to be a rather quiet individual.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22
CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- You may
wish you had trained more for today’s particu-
lar setting or situation, but you can prevail if
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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Instead of trying
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ences? You can learn more this way.
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pity never did you any measurable good, and
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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You
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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Your unique
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and should win you ample praise.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- Focus on
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You’ll likely have enough time.
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GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- You will
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