麥當(dāng)勞如何重振美國人的食欲？

麥當(dāng)勞如何重振美國人的食欲？

麥當(dāng)勞作為一家全球大型跨國連鎖餐廳，在世界各地?fù)碛泄灿嫾s三萬家分店。然而今年第二季度該公司的業(yè)績表現(xiàn)不佳，在美國本土區(qū)域的銷售和利潤都有明顯下降。如今這家全球最大快餐連鎖品牌正在經(jīng)受考驗，亟待重新點(diǎn)燃美國本土客戶的食欲，而該公司推行的新策略是否起效還需要我們拭目以待。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

install 任命

rebound 彈回

tumble 暴跌

closure 停業(yè)

stiff 嚴(yán)厲的

閱讀即將開始，建議您計算一下閱讀整篇文章所用時間，并對照我們在文章最后給出的參考值來估算您的閱讀速度。

McDonald’s struggles to rekindle US appetites（673words）

By Lindsay Whipp in San Francisco

* * *

McDonald’s sales and profits sank in the second quarter, underlining the struggle the world’s biggest fast food brand is having rekindling consumers’ love for its burgers and fries, particularly at home.

Steve Easterbrook, the Chicago-based company’s recently installed chief executive, called the results “disappointing” and told investors on Thursday that operations in the US were working to bring “more discipline back in business [and] react better to trends”.

He promised that the third quarter would finally bring a rebound in global comparable sales, and that this rise would happen regardless of the bounce it would receive from a recovery from the Asian supplier scandal last year.

Sales tumbled 10 per cent to $6.5bn, while net income fell 13 per cent to $1.2bn, or $1.26 a share. The results, however, were in line with analysts’ estimates, sending shares 0.5 per cent lower to $97.09 by close of trading in New York.

The company said it was also reviewing its dividend policy but declined to give any indication of whether this would be a positive or negative for investors until November as the process was ongoing.

The earnings statement highlighted the particular problems McDonald’s is having in its home market, where it will have net restaurant closures?for the first time in its 60-year history this year. The company blamed about 80 per cent of the second-quarter decline in operating profit on the US and Japanese markets.

Comparable sales in the US fell 2 per cent and operating income was down 6 per cent, adding to nearly three years of declines for the market.

It blamed the declines on a lack of response to some of its menu features, which have included a “summer break menu” and an “artisan grilled chicken sandwich”, and its promotions.

McDonald’s is testing all-day breakfasts and menu simplification to boost the US market, but it faces stiff competition from Taco Bell, the Yum Brand chain, which has seen some significant success in this area.

Amid concerns that McDonald’s plans to simplify would be compromised by something as complex as all-day breakfast, Mr Easterbrook emphasised that there would have to be simplifications elsewhere in McDonald’s operations.

He said it was important to understand that the improvements the group was making to its core menu — whether better quality beef or tastier salads — were just as important as the locally sourced meals it was developing for the regions, such as a lobster dish in Boston.

McDonald’s is also being challenged in the US by new rivals such as Mexican food chain Chipotle and the Shake Shack burger outlets, which have captured the millennial demographic.

The group’s struggle to revive its brand and popularity also comes at a particularly difficult time for its international operations as, like other multinational companies, it is hit by adverse currencies, a struggling eurozone amid the Greek debt crisis, and slowing emerging markets.

Mr Easterbrook said he was confident of a turnround, however.

“I am confident that we will create the transformation necessary for McDonald’s to become a modern, progressive burger company delivering a contemporary restaurant experience,” Mr Easterbook said in a statement, reusing a phrase from his turnround plan announced when he took over earlier this year. That plan left many analysts and investors hungry for more detail.

McDonald’s is relying on Mr Easterbrook to bring some of the success that he had in stoking growth in the UK and other European markets to the company’s global operations.

The region outperformed others in sales, posting a comparable sales increase of 1.2 per cent, thanks to demand in the UK and Germany mitigating a difficult quarter in France. However, on an operating basis, income in the region sank by a fifth, reflecting the tricky macroeconomic environment that many multinationals are facing, the euro weakness and some restructuring charges.

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1. Which of the following regions is mainly blamed by the company for the second-quarter decline?

a. US

b. China

c. Germany

d. UK

2. Which of the following is not mentioned by the author as McDonald’s competitor?

a. Taco Bell

b. Yum Brand chain

c. KFC

d. Shake Shack burger outlets

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards McDonald’s current situation?

a. Objective

b. Subjective

c. Favorable

d. Disappointed

4. Which of the following is mentioned by the author as a challenge that McDonald is facing in the domestic market?

a. Adverse currencies

b. The Greek debt crisis

c. Competitors in US

d. Slowing emerging markets

[1] 答案a. US

解釋：文章第六段最后提到麥當(dāng)勞公司將第二季度業(yè)績下滑主要?dú)w咎于美國市場和日本市場。

[2] 答案c. KFC

解釋：文章中作者在第九段提到麥當(dāng)勞的競爭對手包括Taco Bell和Yum Brand chain，在倒數(shù)第五段提到Shake Shack burger outlets，全文沒有提到KFC。

[3] 答案a. Objective

解釋：文章中作者基本都是以敘述口吻梳理麥當(dāng)勞目前面臨的狀況及其提出的解決方案等細(xì)節(jié)，幾乎沒有添加個人感情色彩，因此可以看出作者的態(tài)度是相對客觀的。

[4] 答案c. Competitors in US

解釋：文中倒數(shù)第四段提到作為國際公司McDonald面臨著多重來自國際市場的挑戰(zhàn)，三項都是來源于國際，而文中倒數(shù)第五段提到的競爭者則是在美國本土，即國內(nèi)市場。