McDonald’s has many strengths that the rivals biting at its heels can only envy, including Ronald McDonald’s worldwide recognition.
NEW YORK – McDonald’s sales have been sputtering for more than two years and the company seems trapped in a cycle of bad headlines that likely won’t end soon.
Its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday aren’t expected to be pretty either, and there’s a chance its dominance will continue to wane as newer players keep coming onto the scene.
But don’t write the obituary just yet. McDonald’s has many strengths that the rivals biting at its heels can only envy, including Ronald McDonald’s worldwide recognition. The Golden Arches will need to put them to good use to remain the world’s largest restaurant chain.
Here are six reasons why McDonald’s is nowhere close to death’s door for now.
MASSIVE REACH: McDonald’s has more than 14,300 locations in the U.S. and that ubiquity continues to make it a default option for many diners. Burrito chain Chipotle is in growth mode but still only a fraction of that size, with around 1,800 locations. (Shake Shack, whose stock offering earlier this year garnered lots of attention, has fewer than 40.) Because of its recent struggles, McDonald’s plans to slow its growth to its lowest level in five years. But “slow” is relative: It still plans to add 600 to 700 restaurants around the world this year, on top of the more than 36,200 it already has.
Chipotle has said it plans to open up to 205 new stores this year, mostly in the US.
