McD’s fried profit
‘Opposite way’ on chicken a bad call
Why did the McDonald’s customer cross the road? To get some fried chicken.
Shares of McDonald’s dropped more than 5 percent on Tuesday after the world’s largest restaurant chain said US sales sagged last quarter while consumers were going bonkers for fast-food chicken.
Sales of grab-and-go chicken meals were already doing well when Popeyes unveiled its new fried chicken sandwich in August — kicking off a chicken sandwich war on social media with Chick-fil-A that saw Popeyes run out of inventory after just two weeks.
KFC, Popeyes and Chickfil-A, among others, have reported selling nearly twice as much poultry in July and August over a year ago, while McDonald’s, known primarily for its chicken nuggets, saw its chicken sales slump.
“We did go a little bit the opposite way on chicken,” Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ozan admitted to Wall Street analysts on an earnings call Tuesday.
McDonald’s said samestore sales globally grew 5.9 percent in the third quarter, beating expectations for growth of 5.4 percent. But in the US, where fried chicken reigned supreme, comparable store sales increased just 4.8 percent — below growth of 5.7 percent in the previous quarter and below expectations for 5.4 percent growth.
McDonald’s is also behind when it comes to the fake-meat craze, driven by Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, restaurant analyst Mark Kalinowski told The Post.
Rival Burger King saw its sales jump by 6 percent in the third-quarter — driven in good part by a new plantbased burger dubbed Impossible Whopper, according to an analysis by investment research firm Cowen.
McDonald’s has been testing a plant burger with Nestle in Germany and a Beyond Meat burger in Canada, where 28 franchises are selling it.
“We’re interested in this, clearly,” McDonald’s management said on the call. “But it’s very early days.”
McDonald’s shares closed down 5 percent at $199.27 a share Tuesday .