McDonald's UK hasn’t ruled out serving all-day breakfast or alcohol
The launch of the all-day Egg McMuffin was credited as turning around the company’s flagging fortunes in the US, with sales rising 5.6 per cent in the last three months of 2015.
But Paul Pomroy, managing director of McDonald’s UK, told M&C Allegra Foodservice's annual Food to Go conference the he wasn’t considering extending the menu to the UK just yet.
“The one we always get asked about at present is all-day breakfast, which has been launched in the US. At the moment it is not for us, but it doesn’t mean it is never going to be for us,” he said.
“Guarding against complexity means that although there are many things that can grow the business, you need to be wary that some of those will be things that may grow very quickly and then drop away. So we need to guard against being too much to too many people.”
A number of McDonald’s sites in Spain and France currently serve alcohol, but Pomroy said that UK diners were against the idea.
“Listening to our customers, they are telling us that at the moment they don’t believe alcohol is a requirement of their visit to us,” he said.
“Sitting in our focus groups has really helped on this point and having listened to how they use McDonald’s, they don’t want alcohol. And because we trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week in over half of our restaurants, I don’t think local authorities would be too accepting of us trading all-day with alcohol in store. It doesn’t mean we won’t explore the option in the future, but no plans at present.”
McDonald's has been steadily embarking on a major facelift of its brand, with plans to extend table service and its gourmet burger range across hundreds of UK restaurants this year.
The world’s first McDonald's Next opened in Hong Kong in December offering a 19-choice salad bar and the ability to customise burgers using a touch screen.
