News

Internal McDonald's emails indicate bleeding has slowed, but not stopped

October 27, 2016

Internal emails between McDonald's executives, obtained by Bloomberg.com, indicate that although the chain has corrected its low same-store sales this year, it is stalled when it comes to driving traffic. The emails indicate that traffic has dropped at the chain's locations over the last four years and that the path forward has not been uniformly successful.

After a September meeting of the chain's executives and its franchise leaders, Bloomberg.com reports that an email from the company indicates the brand's turnaround strategies are failing to deliver expected results.

"Today we are making uneven progress. …" states one email between staff of the Chicago-based brand. "Growing guest counts is our main challenge. Over the past 12 months, we have been pretty flat."

The chain's comparable sales through Q3 this year are down 0.1 percent from last year when they were down 3.1 percent at this time in 2015. Whether that is part of what many believe is an overall industry slump or the true continuation of a trend indicating its turnaround strategy is falling flat is unclear. 

When contacted by QSRweb.com, McDonald's said they do not comment on internal documents.