McDonald’s store traffic fell further than expected in the first quarter as economic uncertainty weighed on diners.
The trouble was particularly acute in the U.S., where same-store sales — or sales at locations open at least a year — slumped 3.6%. That was the biggest U.S. decline McDonald’s has seen since 2020, when a pandemic shuttered stores and restaurants and other public spaces nationwide.
McDonald’s Chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski said lower- and middle-income consumers, worried about inflation and the economic outlook, cut back on fast food during the January-March period.
Industrywide traffic from consumers making $45,000 per year or less was down by double-digit percentages, he said, and traffic
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