McDonald’s said on Tuesday that a 100-yen burger-and-drink combo is bringing Japanese back to the United States fast-food chain — but has eaten more than half-a-billion yen into its profits.
In April, the Japanese unit of the US burger giant launched a special set menu of a hamburger and a drink for 100 yen, or just less than $1 (R6,46).
McDonald’s Japan said the move helped it to double-digit growth in its number of customers in four of the first six months this year.
But its net profit slid 57,5% to 474-million yen ($4,2-million) in the six months to June, against 1,12-billion yen in the previous period.
Eiko Harada, CEO of McDonald’s Holdings in Japan, said it was worth it to bring Japanese customers back.
”Looking at the trend for the number of visitors, we think that our efforts to revive market share that we had lost in recent years are making good progress,” Harada said.
”And from now on, we will also make efforts to revive per-customer sales by launching value-added, high margin menus more frequently,” he said.
McDonald’s last month raised prices on seven items in Japan in a bid to translate better turnout into more profit.
Despite the drop in the first six months’ earnings report, McDonald’s Japan left its earnings forecast unchanged for the full year, with net profit projected at 3,5-billion yen.
McDonald’s was the pioneering fast-food chain in Japan, opening its first restaurant in Tokyo’s glitzy Ginza district in 1971, and now operates 3 800 branches across the country. — Sapa-AFP