Look for a Strong Q4 from McDonald’s

Sometimes life is good and the fall McDonald’s franchisee will be happy with the return of the McRib one of the restaurant industries best Limited Time Offers in the minds-eye of McDonald’s customers and franchisees according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

The McRib for those of you who do not know is a seasoned boneless pork, barbecue sauce, onions and pickles on a hoagie-style bun – was last on menus in November 2017; and was first launched in 1981.

Hedging it’s bet on Q4, McDonald’s also unveiled its new value offering a $6 Classic Meal Deal. It launches on Nov. 1 for a limited time at participating restaurants nationwide. The $6 Classic Meal Deal is comprised of one of four McDonald’s menu items – Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Big Mac, 10-piece Chicken McNuggets or Filet-O-Fish – along with any size soft drink or sweet tea, a small fries and a seasonal or apple pie.

The hedge is the McRib will ease the pain of the PRICE hike in the meal deal from the current industry standard of $5 a meal to $6 a meal?  Regular readers of this blog know what happened to Subway when they tried to back away from the $5 foot long that created the customer platform of the $5 Meal Deal.

When McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook stated “The environment is competitive around value,” he was 100% correct.  Easterbrook continued “It’s a market share fight on traffic,” “We don’t see many people out there in the sector growing traffic. It’s a scrap. It’s a market share fight.”

The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes McDonald’s marketing power will elevate the dinner meal deal driving incremental sales and moving consumers from the $5 price point to acceptance of a $6 price point and not only will that be good for McDonald’s it will benefit all fresh fast food retailers. 

The simple fact is according to Johnson in 2019 What’s good for McDonald’s will be good for all fresh food retailers. Success does leave clues and McDonald’s marketing messaging, limited time offers, edifying brand relevance will once again be the platform of retail envy.

Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization? Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information