McDonald's debuts new value menu, extends $5 meal deal
McDonald's began rolling out a new value menu at its restaurants on Tuesday as part of a bid to rejuvenate traffic among its budget-conscious consumers.
The "McValue" menu category, part of the fast-food company's comeback strategy, offers customers a "Buy One, Add One for $1" option for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The company is also launching app-specific deals to drive customers to the platform, such as free medium fries with a $1 purchase every Friday in 2025 and a free McCrispy chicken sandwich for new app users.
MCDONALD'S TO ADD 'MCVALUE' MENU, BOOST MEAL DEAL OFFERINGS
The company said its local franchisees are also launching their own special deals on items such as the McGriddle and app-exclusive offers like 20% off $10 or more.
McDonald’s has more than 13,500 restaurants in the U.S.
In its third-quarter earnings call in October, executives said the company was working to create a "more holistic U.S. value platform" starting this year to gain an edge over competitors.
HOW MCDONALD'S PLANS TO BRING BACK CUSTOMERS
The quick-service sector has been facing slowing traffic in back-to-back quarters as inflation-wary consumers continue to eat at home more often. McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said the trend continued in the third quarter.
While the company "anticipated a challenging environment in 2024," its performance for the year had fallen short of its expectations, Kempczinski said.
He acknowledged that its "value leadership gap has shrunk." In response, Kempczinski said the company "moved with urgency in partnership with our franchisees" to improve its value offerings in most of its major markets.
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The company said on Tuesday that its latest value menu offering is cheaper than its $5 Meal Deal, which is also being extended a second time. This time it will last through next summer and will be part of the McValue platform.
In October, McDonald's CFO Ian Borden said the $5 meal deal was responsible for "drawing customers back" into restaurants throughout the third quarter.
Borden said that deal, which launched in June, gained traction "particularly with low-income consumers, successfully growing traffic share with this group for the first time in over a year."
Here is the new value menu platform:
The $5 meal deal features a choice of a McDouble or McChicken sandwich with a small fries, 4-piece Chicken McNuggets and a small soft drink for $5.
The McValue Breakfast Buy One, Add One for $1 menu items include:
The McValue Lunch/Dinner Buy One, Add One for $1 menu items include: