I posted yesterday what I thought McDonald’s was going to do to turn around its faltering earnings. I was thinking reformulate, Steve Easterbook was thinking restructure. Financial announcements to investment jockeys are usually about business and operations and that was, indeed, what we heard. I was hoping, naively so, that McDonald’s was going to talk about menu changes and healthier-for-you options that would mirror the tastes of today’s demographic and psychographic. And perhaps take it a step further and lead those who don’t care about healthier-for-you fair down the path of improved diet offerings that still taste good.
Some of this is happening, but Mr. Easterbrook buried the lead. Mostly what he talked about was global reorgs, less layers of management and bottom-line alterations.
Changing McDonald’s into a healthier for you fast food chain cannot happen overnight. I get it. But it has to start somewhere. And it has…by removing antibiotics from the chicken it now buys. For me though, this was the lead and they did not go far enough. This is where the market is going. This is where leaders take the reins.
An announcement about reformulation not a reorganization would have been bold. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Perhaps we should give them another quarter or two.
Peace.
