McDonald's Faces Beef Cost Pressure Amid Growth Opportunities
McDonald's earnings call summary: Value, value, value; But high beef costs are hurting profitability; Minecraft > K-Pop Demon Hunters; Gas prices hurting low-income consumers; Red Bull is going to be big; Same with the World Cup; Remodels are coming; Big Arch did OK. $MCD
McDonald's Confident in Expansion Amid Tough Market
"We have a tremendous amount of financial firepower in our system." McDonald's Chris K saying that the company has "no concerns" about its ability to open restaurants, etc., despite a tough environment. $MCD
Minecraft Promotion Beats K‑Pop, Drives McDonald’s Growth
McDonald's is pretty insistent that any April weakness is due to lapping the highly successful Minecraft Movie promotion from a year ago. Interesting, though, that the K-Pop Demon Hunters promotion couldn't get the company to year-ago levels. Minecraft > K-Pop...
NDLS Spikes While Other Restaurant Stocks Slide
Other premarket movers from the restaurant business: $BROS -7% $PZZA -6% $MCD up slightly $NDLS +18%
McDonald's Gears up for Red Bull Energy Drink Rollout
McDonald's expressing some enthusiasm about its upcoming energy drink partnership with Red Bull but noted that they had to do "some things" to meet demand at the restaurants. $MCD
Pricing Restraint and Labor Costs Squeeze McDonald's Margins
McDonald's says its company stores were "more restrained on pricing" and invested in labor, which contributed to their margin problems. $MCD
Fast‑food Giants Struggle with Thin Store Margins
McDonald's U.S. company store margins "were not acceptable." The company said it is working to improve performance. BTW Burger King also reported some pretty substandard company store profits. High beef costs hitting pretty hard. $MCD
McDonald's Rolls Out World Cup Marketing Across North America
McDonald's in the U.S., Canada and Arcos Dorados (the Latin American franchisee) have marketing plans for the upcoming World Cup. $MCD
McDonald's Warns Low‑income Customers Face Rising Costs
McDonald's expecting more pressure on low-income consumers this year because of gas prices and inflation. $MCD
Beef Price Surge Hits McDonald's Profits in Europe, US
Beef inflation is ore pronounced in Europe but is putting pressure on McDonald's franchisee profitability in the U.S., too. $MCD
McDonald's CEO Acknowledges Profit Pressure on Franchisees
"There's certainly a lot of pressure that we're trying to navigate with franchisees around their profitability." McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski. $MCD
Strong Revenue Growth Boosts Confidence in Margin Expansion
"When we generate solidd topline growth, we feel confident about our ability to grow margins over time." -McDonald's CFO Ian Borden. $MCD
McDonald's Claims Value Scores Have Risen in Six Months
McDonald's arguing that its value/affordability scores have improved over the past six months. "Because of the environment we're in, thank God we've got that in place." $MCD
Mcdonald's Q2 Sales to Slow, yet Two-Year Growth Remains
Comp sales in the U.S. and in top international markets were "slightly negative" in April because of tough comparisons. Company says that same-store sales in Q2 should decellerate but should be stronger on a two-year basis. $MCD
McDonald's CEO Warns Macro Environment Deteriorating
The macro environment "certainly isn't improving and may be getting a little worse," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski noted. $MCD
Dutch Bros Texas Sales Jump 20% in Q1
Same-store sales at Dutch Bros in Texas were up almsot 20% in Q1. So they're like the anti-Portillo's that way. $BROS
Dutch Bros Claims Unmatched Strength in Energy Market
"We've never been stronger in the energy category." Christine Barone, CEO of Dutch Bros, again saying the company isn't worried about growing competition. $BROS
Dutch Bros' Clutch Reopenings Triple Sales, Spark Long Lines
Dutch Bros rebranded and reopened seven Clutch Coffee locations in Q1, generating long lines on reopening and generating more than 3x previous volumes. Sheesh. $BROS
Complaining About Prices While Ordering Costly Delivery Fuels Hikes
Insane to me that so many people complain about restaurant prices and yet continue to order delivery, which is more expensive and where the charges damage restaurant profitability, forcing operators to raise prices.
Dutch Bros Sees Low Turnover, 500 Operators in Pipeline
Operator turnover at Dutch Bros is in the "low single digits." The company has 500 people in its operator pipeline. $BROS
Dutch Bros Posts 8.3% Same‑Store Sales Rise, Boosts Guidance
Dutch Bros same-store sales up 8.3%, including 5.1% transaction growth. Revenues up 31%. Company raises guidance on (checks notes) roughly everything. $BROS
Burger King Steadies, Beef Costs Stay High
Restaurant Brands International earnings call summary: Burger King fixed operations before big marketing; Beef costs still suck and will probably suck for a while; Snow did not stop Tim Hortons; Popeyes sales improving; Spongebob brought repeat business; China improving. $QSR
BK Delays Whopper Relaunch Until In‑store Experience Solid
Burger King waited to do its Whopper relaunch until the company felt confident that the in-store experience was strong enough. BK President Tom Curtis "nailed it," per Patrick Doyle. $QSR
Burger King Targets 85% Remodels After Reaching 60%
About 60% of Burger King locations are remodeled. Company plans to get to 85% plus. "It's going to take a little bit of time to get there." $QSR
Operator Quality Drives RBI Growth, New 30‑Unit Outperforms
RBI's "No. 1 criteria" as it refranchises restaurants is the quality of the operator. CEO Kobza noted that one new 30-unit operator is outperforming the system "by hundreds of basis points." Company getting "a ton of interest" in the stores....
RBI CEO Declares Consistent Outperformance of Burger QSRs
"We want to outperform the burger QSR segment consistently year upon year and we've started to do that." -RBI CEO Josh Kobza. $QSR
Burger King Hears Love, Promises Menu Innovation Roadmap
Burger King in Tom Curtis's listening tour heard a lot of "I love Burger King," but customers want it to do better. Company says it now has a "roadmap of menu innovation ideas" for years. $QSR
BK's Sales Surge via Spongebob Meal, Family Return, Whopper Upgrade
Burger King saw results progressively build with the Spongebob meal and the return of families, then the listening tour and Burger King's Whopper improvement. $QSR
Tim Hortons Canada Beats Q1 Sector by 150bps Despite Snow
Tims Canada outperformed the sector by about 150 basis points in Q1 despite heavy snow in Toronto. $QSR
Burger King China’s Sales Surge on Quality, Value Upgrades
Patrick Doyle on Burger King China: "Food quality is improving, the restaurants look good and they're hitting the mark on value and as a result sales are very, very strong." $QSR
Fundamentals Drive Exceptional Guest Outcomes, Says Doyle
Patrick Doyle notes that in almost 30 years "I've never seen better proof of how executing well on the fundamentals for guests can drive such differentiated outcomes." $QSR
Beef Prices Stay High for RBI Until 2027
Beef costs are not expected to ease until "closer to 2027," per Burger King owner RBI. BK's beef costs rose 20% last year. $QSR
RBI Set to Exit Restaurant Holdings by 2025
RBI is on track to sunset its restaurant holdings by the end of next year. $QSR
RBI Targets 1,800 New Restaurants Annually by 2028
RBI is on track to open 1,800 net new restaurants per year by 2028, with 300-400 of that coming in the U.S. and Canada, 300-400 from China and 1,100 international. $QSR
Popeyes $5 Platform Boosts Value Scores Quickly
Popeyes launched a $5 platform and said it is already seeing improvements in its value scores. $QSR
Starbucks Turns Refreshers Into $2B Energy Boost
Starbucks has quietly built Refreshers into a $2 billion business and has now added energy, which has boosted sales. So no, it's not worried that everybody is doing them now, too. https://t.co/9gjBmTQ0fG
Write a To‑do List to Guarantee a Task Done
I've started my to-do lists with "write a to-do list" so I can at least have one damn thing to cross off.
Fat Brands Faces Breakup; Smokey Bones to Close
Looks like Fat Brands will be broken up in a sale process. But Smokey Bones is shutting down. https://t.co/CS0SUmXyQf
Brian Niccol's Turnaround Validates “Back to Starbucks” Plan
Two years ago, Starbucks issued a disastrous earnings report that ultimately spelled doom for Howard Schultz's handpicked CEO. On Tuesday, Brian Niccol delivered a milestone quarter that proved his "Back to Starbucks" plan appears to be working. $SBUX https://t.co/5Q7A4A2xVb
Wingstop's Q1 Growth
Really odd first quarter judging by early reports. But Wingstop's 8.7% first-quarter decline is something. That's up 1.4% on a two-year basis but that was a dramatic slowdown from the 15.1% two-year stack in 4Q. $WING
Starbucks Sees Broad Same‑store Growth and Rising Loyalty
Starbucks earnings call summary: Everybody is generating same-store sales growth; Earnings are up; Cold foam 🔥🔥🔥; Low-income consumers are coming back; Ignore the haters, loyalty is doing fine; Tariffs are fading; So what if everybody is doing Refreshers. $SBUX
McDonald's Refresher Craze Becomes Industry Benchmark
"It's almost a compliment that our Refresher business is being imitated in so many places." -Brian Niccol on roughly every company on the face of the planet adding Refreshers these days.
Starbucks Targets 1,000 Remodels, 8,000 Upgrades Soon
Starbucks has remodeled about 300 stores and expects to get to 1,000 by the end of the yeawr. But it also expects to spruce up 8,000-plus stores "in short order."
Starbucks Lifts Same‑store Sales Target to 5%+
Starbucks raised its expectations for same-store sales this year to 5% or better globally and in the U.S. $SBUX
Starbucks Forecasts Lower Tariffs, Coffee Costs Later 2024
Starbucks expects tariffs and coffee prices to ease in the back half of this year. $SBUX
Starbucks' Top 10 International Markets Finally Post Positive Same‑Store Sales
All 10 of Starbucks' 10 largest international markets generated positive same-store sales for the first time in nine quarters last period. $SBUX
Airport Traffic Boosts Starbucks Licensed Same‑store Sales
Strong airport demand led to improving same-store sales in the Starbucks licensed business last quarter. $SBUX
Starbucks Rewards Membership Rebounds with 4% YoY Growth
Starbucks Rewards membership grew 4% year-over-year and steadily compared with the previous period, a shift from declines in previous quarters. $SBUX
Cold Foam Fuels 40% Sales Surge at Starbucks
Cold foam drove a lot of sales for Starbucks last quarter. Sales of cold foam rose 40% last quarter in the U.S., thanks to younger consumers and protein. $SBUX
Starbucks Comps Surge 6.2% on Transaction Growth
Starbucks global comps up 6.2%, "led by transaction growth." North America/U.S. up 7.1%, including 4.3% transaction growth. That's the best result since 2023. The company is crediting its new "green apron" service model. Revenues up 8.8% to $9.5B. EPS 45...