McDonald's Revenue Up 6.7% In January, Due To Breakfast, Beverages, Chicken McBites

OAK BROOK, Ill. -- McDonald's Corp. said Wednesday that a key revenue figure climbed 6.7 percent in January as U.S. customers spent more on breakfast items, beverages and its new Chicken McBites.

The world's biggest hamburger chain's strongest January results were in the U.S., as revenue in restaurants open at least 13 months rose 7.8 percent there. The metric increased 7.3 percent in the region made up of Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and 4 percent in Europe.

The U.S. accounts for about 31 percent of McDonald's total revenue. Europe, which accounts for 40 percent of revenue, is McDonald's largest market.

McDonald's has fared well in the recession and its aftermath. It's added menu items like smoothies and oatmeal to try to draw in healthier eaters and pushed fancy coffee drinks to try to appeal to customers who might normally go to Starbucks. But it's still promoting itself as a cheap place to get a meal.

January's gain beat the 6.5 percent increase that analysts polled by FactSet expected. The company's stock gained 44 cents to $101.35 in premarket trading.

Revenue in restaurants open at least 13 months is a key measure of a restaurant chain's performance, because it excludes the impact of recently opened or closed stores. It does include the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company's temporarily closed restaurants.

The figures are a snapshot of money spent on food at both company-owned and franchised restaurants. They do not reflect corporate revenue.

In the U.S., customers snapped up Chicken McBites. The menu item, which is only available for a limited time, is made with bite-size pieces of chicken breast that are smaller than Chicken McNuggets.

Restaurants in the U.K., Russia, Germany and France helped drive revenue in Europe, while the Chinese New Year and limited-time menu items gave a boost to the Asia, Middle East and Africa region.

McDonald's, which is based in Oak Brook, Ill., has more than 33,000 restaurants in 119 countries. The chain is also revving up growth by expanding in emerging markets. CEO Jim Skinner said last month that McDonald's plans to add a net of 900 new restaurants in the coming year, concentrated in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Comments

[Richster]

07:58 AM on 02/12/2012

For some reason, I think people just have a hard time admitting that they like McDonald's food and eat at McDonald's. Their locations would not be constantly adding extra drive through lanes and breaking sales records if people actually hated them as much as they claim. We have a Burger King, a Wendy's and a McDonalds on the same corner near where I work. On any day during lunch hour you will see 100 cars in the drive through lanes at the McDonald's.and only one or two cars at the other two.

[msdaubie54]

06:04 AM on 02/12/2012

Had McBites last night. Nothing to brag about, won't be buying them again.

[camoore5]

03:20 AM on 02/12/2012

We tried the mcbites and they were ok, but we would much rather have the chicken nuggets.

[MrAmericanMadeOnly]

03:17 AM on 02/12/2012

Sometimes when I get Mc-up in the early Mc-morning, I get into my Mc'n car, and get a couple of Mc Muffins, and some really hot Mc-n coffee ALL at a Good Mc-n price ! ( Can you say Mc- Yum ! )

[falcon303]

07:13 AM on 02/12/2012

I CAN SAY YUCK TO McBITES HORRIBLE.

[rfoxfour]

01:34 AM on 02/12/2012

steak and shake has a excellent breakfast menu

[lrp2nokc]

12:31 AM on 02/12/2012

Will be interesting to see what the Feb figures are for the McBites. Like a new movie that has a great opening weekend then falls off the charts the next when it gets horrible word of mouth reviews and zero repeat business. hard to believe the McBites made it thru the extensive product testing McDonald's does for them to come out this badly. The chicken to breading ratio on the biggest pieces is about 50/50 but on the smaller ones, you are lucky if there is a measureable percentage of chicken at all. if McDonald's wants to know how to make popcorn chicken they only need to go to the closest KFC, Sonic or Wal-mart Deli counter. Theirs are all consistent sized, lightly breaded and actually contain a decent amount of chicken in them. Much more like McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.

[Cheryl Bray]

04:04 AM on 02/12/2012

I so agree on your review of the McBites. I bought them once but won't buy again.

They may be a bit pricier, but the by far best nuggets are from Chik-fil-A. They don't even need sauce.

[tamlagordy]

11:24 PM on 02/11/2012

They got rid of the breakfast burrito and I am not eating there anymore.

[lrp2nokc]

12:25 AM on 02/12/2012

hmmm, we still have the breakfast burritto here in OKC (on the dollar menu) and it is one of the regular combo meals (2 burritos, hash browns, drink)

[tamlagordy]

08:19 PM on 02/13/2012

No the one I'm talking about was #10 on the breakfast menu here in Illinois. I don't like the ones on the dollat menu. They're not as good as the big one.

[filliperogers]

11:21 PM on 02/11/2012

When such a successful company as they are and proftible as they are, people tend to sling crap at them! Me I am angry at the small and useless selection of human beings we have to chose for president! Not an honest one in the bunch!

[Barb Arnold Soski]

09:43 PM on 02/11/2012

mmmm pink slime tasty

[lrp2nokc]

12:33 AM on 02/12/2012

Supposedly, unlike the Chicken McNuggets which are processed chicken, the McBites are cut from the breast itself (like their Chicken Select strips...in other words, no pink slime here.

[Kathleen M Smith]

09:19 PM on 02/11/2012

You can make healthy choices at McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. I wish these choices were on the dollar menus!
I usually only get a small ice cream cone at McD's, cheap and portion control - none in my freezer the next day. I rarely eat beef or fried things anymore, I make turkey burgers and baked french fries (w/ fresh potatoes) at home.

[sforcesrcg]

09:34 PM on 02/11/2012

none of the food at mcdonalds is good for u on any scale. unless it is organic, its all crap filled with chemicals. chik fili comes the closest

[Kathleen M Smith]

05:26 AM on 02/12/2012

Yes, you are right on about the chemicals, organic is the best, hoping to have the money to purchase organic products! They do have grilled chicken salads, sandwiches and wraps, which are relatively healthier than the beef and deep fried items.

[magus47]

09:12 PM on 02/11/2012

I eat breakfast at McDonald's when I get up at OMG it's early and I need to be somewhere in a hour. I eat dinner at Mickey Dee's when I've been somewhere and I don't feel like cooking at home. I don't know of ANYONE that eats there EVERYDAY. For the occasional meal they are fine, pink slime and all. They are not RESPONSIBLE for obesity, cancer, beri beri, our fat kids, or any other silly things for which they are blamed. When I spent a year in southeast Asia during that Vietnam thing, we used to call America the land of the Golden Arches and the first place I went when I got back was Mickey Dee's. The food wasn't great, or nutritious, but damn, it tasted like HOME.

[SmurphIt]

08:57 PM on 02/11/2012

Nasty! If I want the runs I'll go home & eat a bar of exlax

[Al Schrader]

08:49 PM on 02/11/2012

You can't eat real food if you sit at a desk, only celery sticks, or tofu - low calorie everything or weigh 300 pounds. Real food is reserved for people that actually work like in construction, food service, mail delivery, auto repair, etc.

[lawofthelion]

08:27 PM on 02/11/2012

thats crap bought my wife some chicken McBITES AND THE CHICKEN IS VERY VERY LITTLE AND SOME WAS JUST ALL BREADING

[itdoesntmatter]

08:01 PM on 02/11/2012

I can make a really high quality good tasting breakfast bagel ( or other sandwich) for under a dollar at home, which is a better deal than any fast food place or restaurant, but I have to admit that breakfast in general is one of the only things that a few fast places do a decent job with.

As far as what's available in my area, I like the Steak n Shake breakfasts best, followed by McDonalds and Tim Hortons. I used to like Hardee's 7-8 years ago but I don't live in their area anymore- so I don't know if they are still good. The biggest problem is consistency and chewiness/rubbery quality of the food.

[CommonSensible]

11:28 PM on 02/11/2012

I haven't tried the Steak-n-Shake breakfast yet...I'll have to give it a try sometime.