McDonald’s is breaking the kind of records it probably doesn’t want to break.
Even as its domestic sales have headed south, the six-month business outlook of its franchisees has fallen to a historic low — the worst in the 11-year history of a quarterly survey of store owner-operators by Janney Capital Markets. Store operators say their strained relationship with McDonald’s corporate executives are the worst in the survey’s history.
Even more concerning: The anonymous survey of 32 operators who own 215 restaurants took place in early April — more than one month after Steve Easterbrook stepped in as CEO. So the concerns are with the new leadership — not with the old. The survey results come days before McDonald’s is scheduled to release its first-quarter 2015 earnings and March sales report April 22. Analysts do not expect positive results.
“The system is broken,” one franchisee said in the survey comments
