McDonald’s lays out plan it hopes can reverse drop in visits

McDonald’s acknowledged that it lost 500 million customer transactions in the U.S. since 2012, and said it plans to use tempting value deals to help win people back. The world’s biggest burger chain said Wednesday during its investor day in Chicago that much of that business was lost after it did away with its Dollar Menu. McDonald’s outlined its plans after having recorded its fourth straight year of declining guest counts at established U.S. locations in 2016. The company also trimmed its domestic store base for the second year in a row. To get more customers in the door, McDonald’s said it will also more aggressively market coffee and pastries and offer mobile order-and-pay by the end of the year. CEO Steve Easterbrook noted the huge potential of delivery, and that 75 percent of the population in the company’s top five markets — including the U.S. — living within three miles of a McDonald’s. More