/ 5 March 2004

McDonald’s to trim its jumbo menu items

McDonald’s is already well on the way to phasing out the few ”super size” menu items that it offers in Europe, a regional spokesperson for the United States fast-food chain said on Thursday.

The Golden Arches announced on Tuesday that it would phase out jumbo servings in its core US market as it streamlines its menu to provide consumers ”with a range of choices that support a balanced lifestyle”.

”In most of Europe, there aren’t portions of that size,” McDonald’s Europe spokesperson Mike Love said in London.

”It’s not a national menu item” in Britain, France and Germany, where half of the 6 100 outlets in McDonald’s 51-nation European region are situated, Love said.

Jumbo sizes — such as 750ml colas and 183-gram fries — still exist in a handful of McDonald’s outlets in Britain, but they account for less than 0,1% of total sales, said McDonald’s UK spokesperson Amanda Pierce.

”We’ve been phasing out ‘super size’ portions for the last 12 to 18 months,” she said, and they should no longer exist by the end of this year as new items such as salads, fruit bags and organic milk are introduced nationwide. – Sapa-AFP