McDonald’s sales in the US are slowing after deal fatigue

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN

New York (CNN) — McDonald’s recently revved up the amount of deals and discounts it offers to attract more customers. That strategy seems to have hit a roadblock.

The burger chain on Tuesday reported its slowest growth since 2025, with US sales rising just 0.8% in the second quarter. McDonald’s blamed some of the decline in visits on slower service because of the number of value offerings launched over the past few months. It now plans to re-evaluate its menu selection.

CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the earnings call that is US business “slowed significantly” during the second quarter and that results were “below our expectations.”

McDonald’s introduced several promotions in recent months, like limited time FIFA World Cup and KPop Demon Hunter meals, plus a revamped $3 menu. Kempczinski said that restaurants “were overwhelmed by too many deployments in the quarter, which led to less efficient restaurant operations… and impacted customer service times.”

McDonald’s has doubled down over the past few years on value deals and lower-priced menu items in order to drive up business and convince consumers it’s affordable.

Earlier this year, it phased out many digital promotions and its “Buy One, Get One for $1” deal in favor of a new McValue menu that sold many items under $3.

But the deal was seeing “inconsistent execution” at franchises, said McDonald’s Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden, with only about 65% of restaurants using the “recommended pricing architecture.” Some locations even used the promotion to raise prices on some items while still keeping it under the $3 threshold.

“In combination, all of these factors negatively impacted visits from some our most loyal customers,” Borden said.

As a result, Borden said McDonald’s will roll out new promotions next week in its app to “re-energize our high frequency customers.” The company will also increase marketing spending on proven value offerings like its Extra Value Meals.

McDonald’s is also making leadership changes following the disappointing quarter.

Joe Erlinger, its US president since 2019 that led the company through Covid-19 and its E. coli outbreak, is leaving the role immediately. He will be replaced by Skye Anderson, a 26-year veteran who was most recently the chief operating officer for US operations.

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