McDonald’s Japanese Franchise is today facing up to an uncertain future as it was forced to withdraw its annual sales forecasts in the wake of a food scare which affected its business in China.
Even before the unveiling of a breach in health and safety standards relating to a supplier of McDonald’s chicken, the famous restaurant chain was performing in an underwhelming manner across Japan. Many choosing to eat healthy or eat at home in part due to currently low grocery prices.
The scare resulted in a huge sales drop of 25% across Japan for McDonald’s during August, marking the seventh consecutive month of sales decline.
Shares in the Japanese arm were also down by 2.7%, and investors will be waiting on the new sales projections after the initial forecast optimistically pointed to a net profit of £66.8 million.
Other McDonald’s Controversies
McDonald’s has always courted controversy across the globe, from including beef in the French fries (which are claimed to be vegetarian), to going around the world suing any restaurant with a “Mc” in their name or a red and yellow logo. They have also failed with the launch of a variety of odd choices for menu additions, including a McLobster, the healthy and fat free McLean which contained seaweed, the McAfrica – launched at a time when famine continued to be such a huge area of concern globally, McPizza and McPasta, and finally a Japanese-only creation – the McGratin Croquette which contained deep-fried macaroni cheese, shrimp and mashed potatoes.
Needless to say, all of these items were very quickly withdrawn. Surprisingly McDonald’s still pursues its healthy salad and wrap options, although in truth going to McDonald’s for a salad is like going to the opera hoping to see a football match….