Fast-food chain defends McImage
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-04-26 14:38
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its food ahead of a highly anticipated book and movie that are expected to criticise the world's largest fast-food chain.
Later this year, McDonald's faces threats to its image from both a movie version of the 2001 Eric Schlosser book Fast Food Nation as well as a follow-up book by the same author aimed at teenagers.
Chief executive Jim Skinner said yesterday that McDonald's still had plenty of opportunities to keep driving sales momentum, three years after a robust turnaround of its iconic hamburger chain.
In addition to rolling out two new menu items a year in its flagship US business, Skinner said McDonald's still had room to improve efficiency at its restaurants.
He also said the chain would staunchly defend its breakfast business, and expects sales during the morning hours to keep growing despite the promise of stepped-up competition from rivals such as Starbucks and Wendy's.
"We can continue to grow breakfast," said Skinner at the company's Oak Brook, Illinois, headquarters. "We are not going to sit by and allow someone to erode that day part because it's so important for us."
"I haven't read the book [Fast Food Nation] ... but we are about telling the McDonald's story," Skinner said. "It's important for us to ramp this up now."
In recent years, McDonald's has countered critics of its business by offering healthier foods such as salads.
But the chain still faces criticism over a 2002 pledge it made to reduce artery-clogging trans fats in its French fries. The switch to a healthier cooking oil for its fries has not been made because McDonald's fears altering their taste, Skinner said.
He added that the chain was still committed to reducing trans fats in its fries, but could not say by when.