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Burger King rolls out BK Rib to bust McRib by McDonald's.

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Dollar General looks to hire 10,000 new employees this month.Continue reading...

Take that, Hamburglar and all your little mischief-making fiends: McDonald's may already be back in the U.S. just one month after poor sales brought about the departure of the head of its U.S. operations.

McDonald's surprised the restaurant world by announcing a 2.5-percent jump in comparable-store sales in the United States, after analysts had expected a U.S. drop in sales of as much as 1 percent for the month.

The chain attributed the unexpected rise to the "ongoing popularity" of its breakfast in the U.S. along with "balance across everyday value offerings, premium menu options including the limited-time Cheddar Bacon Onion sandwiches, and the beverage lineup," according to McDonald's press release. Holiday cheer, despite stepping up around Thanksgiving, didn't really move the needle on sales.Continue reading...

It was leaked that it's coming this month, and now it's been confirmed: The McRib sandwich is returning to McDonald's American restaurants on Dec. 17 in a year-end boost for the chain and its new US head, Jeff Stratton. Let the line-ups begin and the McRib Locator get started.

Whatever McDonald's next US CEO, Jeff Stratton, does after he takes over from ousted McD's veteran Jan Fields on Dec. 1st, outsiders agree that it'll probably involve significant new menu launches and refreshing old favorites. As in most businesses, it's product innovation that provides the most effective promotional opportunities and does the most to drive sales and pique consumer interest.

Especially in an increasingly competitive environment where Americans seem to have grown inured to a simple value pitch, expect the icon of fast food to turn more, and more often, to variations of its signature products, and other new items, to reverse the October U.S. same-store sales slide that cost Fields her job. 

Some analysts are suggesting that Stratton, a four-decade veteran of McDonald's who championed sustainability in his role as Chief Restaurant Officer, will rely on his expertise in operations to shore up the bottom line and that he'll turn to improved marketing to boost the top line. But in picking apart the reasons for this year's slide and putting together ways to reverse it, Stratton also must balance menu expansion with the traditional simplicity at the heart of McDonald's business model.

In 2012, the chain relied more on "limited-time" menu additions in the US such as Chicken McBites and a Cheddar Bacon Onion burger that was introduced in October.  The pandemonium-causing McRib sandwich, meanwhile, is rumored to return in December — and not a moment too soon. As Peter McGuinness at DDB Chicago, McDonald's agency, commented about the pre-Christmas McRib timing in a reference to Coca-Cola's classic holiday theme, "We don't really do polar bears."Continue reading...

As global economic bellwethers go, McDonald's sales results probably rank right up there with oil prices and consumer-confidence measures. So its shareholders, analysts and executives aren't exactly lovin' it when the company reports lackluster results, as it did for the third quarter.

The fast-food leader reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the period as it battled a weak global economy and accommodated more budget-minded consumers from Europe to China. Both sales and profits fell during the quarter, a rarity for McDonald's.

Of course, McDonald's results aren't directly synonymous with the status of the world's appetite for quick fare. The stronger dollar hurt international sales too. Also, competitors in many markets have been upping their game lately, including both Burger King and Wendy's in the United States, and the new strains from rivals also are reflected in McDonald's results.Continue reading...

McDonald's recent emphasis on limited-time menu offerings not only is attracting customers to come in for their favorite menu items before they disappear for at least a little while. The promotional strategy is helping McDonald's quickly generate traffic for new "value" menu items in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

Analyst Jeffrey Bernstein of Barclays Capital sees emphasizing more low-priced menu items and platforms in both European and U.S. markets where many consumers are struggling financially as a smart way to meet immediate financial concerns while introducing them to non-value menu items. It's a classic sales strategy — get their nose in the tent — that's paying off handsomely for McD's.

"After the introduction of value platforms, customers will often heavily use the value menu based on the perception that the platform is short-term in nature and will soon no longer be an option," he wrote, according to Nation's Restaurant News. "Once customers realize the value emphasis is longer-term in nature, they increasingly use other portions of the menu, helping in the recovery of both the average check and restaurant margin."Continue reading...

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The McDonald's juggernaut just keeps going. Global same-store sales were up 5.5 percent in October, fueled by the chain's popular annual Monopoly promotion (this year featuring LeBron James), featured products such as the McRib in the United States, and strong performance in international markets.

And now, eager to protect that solid growth, McDonald's is hatching a plan for how it will continue to defy the mature-company label in the future. Its three-pronged growth plan includes a continued emphasis on menu options, on modernizing the customer experience, and on broadening access to its stores, CEO Jim Skinner told attendees at its Investor Day conference last week.

McDonald's so-called Plan to Win strategy is similar in terms of concept and success to the One Ford plan that Ford CEO Alan Mulally hatched a few years ago and has carried out with great success. There's nothing that can push a company through the kind of awful stretch suffered by the global economy lately like a visionary CEO with a well thought-out plan, who executes with deliberation and determination. Alan Mulally, meet Jim Skinner.Continue reading...