McDonald’s hopes to reverse drop in visits

New York — McDonald’s acknowledged that it lost 500 million customer transactions in the U.S. since 2012, and said it plans to use tempting value deals to help win people back.

The world’s biggest burger chain said much of that business was lost after it did away with its Dollar Menu. It noted that an upside was that the majority of those customer visits were lost to other major fast-food chains, rather than to newer rivals.

“Those are the easiest customers to get back,” said CEO Steve Easterbrook, who took over in March 2015 and has been working to revive the company’s image.

McDonald’s outlined its plans after having recorded its fourth straight year of declining guest counts at established U.S. locations in 2016, despite the fanfare over the rollout of an all-day breakfast menu. The company also trimmed its domestic store base for the second year in a row.

To get more customers in the door, McDonald’s said it will also more aggressively market coffee and pastries and offer mobile order-andpay by the end of the year. Easterbrook also noted the huge potential of delivery, and that 75 percent of the population in the company’s top five markets — including the U.S. — living within three miles of a McDonald’s.

Asked by an analyst why a person would order McDonald’s once delivery is widely available in the restaurant industry, Easterbrook said the chain’s expansive footprint gives it the advantage of being able to get food to people more quickly.

Richard Adams, a restaurant industry consultant and former McDonald’s franchisee, noted that the restaurant industry has never been more competitive. While McDonald’s may be able to spur more customer visits, he questioned whether the company will be able to get back to the level of total transactions it had four years ago.

“If you look at the eating out options, it’s just so much more than 10 years ago,” Adams said.