Hold the fries: McDonald’s customers cutting costs
- McDonald’s executives say customers are ordering fewer french fries
- Company and industry analysts blame inflation for customers scaling back
- American’s wages “haven't kept up with inflation,” an expert said
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(NewsNation) — As many Americans continue to feel the sting of inflation, some are saying “no fries with that.”
According to McDonald’s executives, fewer customers are buying fries with their burgers.
McDonald’s fries are one of the best-selling menu items — with about nine million pounds of fries being made every day.
In the meantime, the cost of meals at fast food restaurants has jumped nearly 8% from last year. Analysts are also seeing Americans eat out more in hopes of paying less at the grocery store.
The food findings coincide with newly-released data showing the U.S. economy slowed sharply from January to March, decelerating to just a 1.1% annual pace as higher interest rates hammered the housing market and businesses reduced their inventories.
Dan Rocatto, a finance professor at the University of San Diego, told NewsNation that many Americans are “trading down” when it comes to their financial decisions — regardless of their perceived affordability.
“People are making strategic choices about exactly what to order … watching the pennies … because their wages haven’t kept up with inflation,” said Rocatto. “So trading down is the trend right now across the board.”
Meanwhile, in April, McDonald’s reported higher-than-expected sales in the first quarter as store traffic grew despite higher prices.
Global same-store sales rose 12.6% compared to the January-March period last year, the Chicago burger giant said Tuesday. That’s well above the 8.7% increase Wall Street had been forecasting, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
