Fortunately for fans of Mickey D’s, a drop in commodity prices has helped lessen the bite that these supply-chain decisions would have made on consumers wallets, Reuters noted, citing McDonald’s United States of America president Mike Andres. Other steps it is taking include removing corn syrup from its buns (replacing it with sugar) and it has already gotten rid of artificial preservatives in its Chicken McNuggets and a number of its breakfast items, including scrambled eggs.
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These changes also follow what AP’s Candice Choi called “three straight years of declining guest counts at its established USA locations”.
Last week, McDonald’s said the USA restaurant industry will raise prices far more than supermarkets this year, sending a chill through a sector that is searching for ways to protect itself from higher worker wages. The $100bn (£75.79bn; €89.48bn) company disclosed that one of the changes is the removal of high-fructose corn syrup, an ingredient linked with obesity and diabetes, from its hamburger buns.
In the past year and a half, McDonald’s has also switched to butter from margarine for its Egg McMuffins and added kale and spinach to its salads.
Although numerous new ingredients will be more expensive to buy, the cost will not be passed on to customers, according to Marion Gross, senior vice president for supply chain at McDonald’s.
Subway has introduced a “rotisserie chicken” and “carved turkey” that have more texture and look more natural than its regular chicken strips and turkey. “I think people who are happy to go to McDonald’s will still go, and people who have deep reservations about going to McDonald’s will still have deep reservations”, said Mr. Kalinowski of Nomura. “We’re really cooking with real ingredients”.
Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports, praised McDonald’s today for meeting its pledge ahead of schedule to stop selling chicken that has been raised on a diet of medically important antibiotics.
A new commercial from Leo Burnett Chicago and directed by Story Films’ Blair Hayes uses a split-screen technique to tell a “parallel lives” story of the two McNuggets eaters.
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Kiwi model and competitive eater, Nela Zisser, never fails to impress with her eating challenges. Food makers from General Mills Inc.to Yum Brands Inc.’s Taco Bell have begun stripping their products of ingredients that have made many customers wary. Chick-fil-A does not face the same pressures because its food has a better reputation in the first place, so it will likely receive a pass from consumers as it waits to implement these changes.
