麦当劳如何重振美国人的食欲？

麦当劳如何重振美国人的食欲？

麦当劳作为一家全球大型跨国连锁餐厅，在世界各地拥有共计约三万家分店。然而今年第二季度该公司的业绩表现不佳，在美国本土区域的销售和利润都有明显下降。如今这家全球最大快餐连锁品牌正在经受考验，亟待重新点燃美国本土客户的食欲，而该公司推行的新策略是否起效还需要我们拭目以待。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

install 任命

rebound 弹回

tumble 暴跌

closure 停业

stiff 严厉的

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McDonald’s struggles to rekindle US appetites（673words）

By Lindsay Whipp in San Francisco

* * *

McDonald’s sales and profits sank in the second quarter, underlining the struggle the world’s biggest fast food brand is having rekindling consumers’ love for its burgers and fries, particularly at home.

Steve Easterbrook, the Chicago-based company’s recently installed chief executive, called the results “disappointing” and told investors on Thursday that operations in the US were working to bring “more discipline back in business [and] react better to trends”.

He promised that the third quarter would finally bring a rebound in global comparable sales, and that this rise would happen regardless of the bounce it would receive from a recovery from the Asian supplier scandal last year.

Sales tumbled 10 per cent to $6.5bn, while net income fell 13 per cent to $1.2bn, or $1.26 a share. The results, however, were in line with analysts’ estimates, sending shares 0.5 per cent lower to $97.09 by close of trading in New York.

The company said it was also reviewing its dividend policy but declined to give any indication of whether this would be a positive or negative for investors until November as the process was ongoing.

The earnings statement highlighted the particular problems McDonald’s is having in its home market, where it will have net restaurant closures for the first time in its 60-year history this year. The company blamed about 80 per cent of the second-quarter decline in operating profit on the US and Japanese markets.

Comparable sales in the US fell 2 per cent and operating income was down 6 per cent, adding to nearly three years of declines for the market.

It blamed the declines on a lack of response to some of its menu features, which have included a “summer break menu” and an “artisan grilled chicken sandwich”, and its promotions.

McDonald’s is testing all-day breakfasts and menu simplification to boost the US market, but it faces stiff competition from Taco Bell, the Yum Brand chain, which has seen some significant success in this area.

Amid concerns that McDonald’s plans to simplify would be compromised by something as complex as all-day breakfast, Mr Easterbrook emphasised that there would have to be simplifications elsewhere in McDonald’s operations.

He said it was important to understand that the improvements the group was making to its core menu — whether better quality beef or tastier salads — were just as important as the locally sourced meals it was developing for the regions, such as a lobster dish in Boston.

McDonald’s is also being challenged in the US by new rivals such as Mexican food chain Chipotle and the Shake Shack burger outlets, which have captured the millennial demographic.

The group’s struggle to revive its brand and popularity also comes at a particularly difficult time for its international operations as, like other multinational companies, it is hit by adverse currencies, a struggling eurozone amid the Greek debt crisis, and slowing emerging markets.

Mr Easterbrook said he was confident of a turnround, however.

“I am confident that we will create the transformation necessary for McDonald’s to become a modern, progressive burger company delivering a contemporary restaurant experience,” Mr Easterbook said in a statement, reusing a phrase from his turnround plan announced when he took over earlier this year. That plan left many analysts and investors hungry for more detail.

McDonald’s is relying on Mr Easterbrook to bring some of the success that he had in stoking growth in the UK and other European markets to the company’s global operations.

The region outperformed others in sales, posting a comparable sales increase of 1.2 per cent, thanks to demand in the UK and Germany mitigating a difficult quarter in France. However, on an operating basis, income in the region sank by a fifth, reflecting the tricky macroeconomic environment that many multinationals are facing, the euro weakness and some restructuring charges.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1. Which of the following regions is mainly blamed by the company for the second-quarter decline?

a. US

b. China

c. Germany

d. UK

2. Which of the following is not mentioned by the author as McDonald’s competitor?

a. Taco Bell

b. Yum Brand chain

c. KFC

d. Shake Shack burger outlets

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards McDonald’s current situation?

a. Objective

b. Subjective

c. Favorable

d. Disappointed

4. Which of the following is mentioned by the author as a challenge that McDonald is facing in the domestic market?

a. Adverse currencies

b. The Greek debt crisis

c. Competitors in US

d. Slowing emerging markets

[1] 答案a. US

解释：文章第六段最后提到麦当劳公司将第二季度业绩下滑主要归咎于美国市场和日本市场。

[2] 答案c. KFC

解释：文章中作者在第九段提到麦当劳的竞争对手包括Taco Bell和Yum Brand chain，在倒数第五段提到Shake Shack burger outlets，全文没有提到KFC。

[3] 答案a. Objective

解释：文章中作者基本都是以叙述口吻梳理麦当劳目前面临的状况及其提出的解决方案等细节，几乎没有添加个人感情色彩，因此可以看出作者的态度是相对客观的。

[4] 答案c. Competitors in US

解释：文中倒数第四段提到作为国际公司McDonald面临着多重来自国际市场的挑战，三项都是来源于国际，而文中倒数第五段提到的竞争者则是在美国本土，即国内市场。