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Trendy menu helps McDonald’s Australian arm flourish

Sarah Stowe

McDonald’s took some time to catch up with the boutique burger craze that captured everyone’s culinary imagination, but they got there in the end.

After dwindling sales and various hiccups change was necessary, even obligatory.

The fast food franchise conceptualised the idea of a create-your-own-burger style menu, dubbed “Create Your Taste”, and trialled it at a few stores.

It seems to be working really well, so much so that its Australian arm is teaching McDonald’s America how to roll out the new menu effectively.

Some people are labelling the new menu as a revamped “hipster” operation tailored to the young, the bearded and the tattooed. But it’s much more than that.

“The business has turned in Australia and the market is focused on sustaining positive performance,” said CEO Steve Easterbrook at the company’s second quarterly earnings call this week.

The Australian McDonald’s business is performing very well amid the shortfalls in the United States, which have been hovering over the fast food franchise for about three years. This is something Easterbrook has acknowledged and plans to use as a tool for future progression.

“It’s a world first, and will be used as a ‘how to’ manual for other regions, including the US. Australia, are progressing — basically they have become our lead market in what we call ‘create your taste’.

“Now all of our markets are building out the broader umbrella, which is a good experience in the future. We are going to learn a lot of how that ‘create your taste’ works. It’s an in-store solution currently,” Easterbrook told US analysts.

The way restaurants look in Australia is completely different to the US, and it’s quite easy to mistake the revamped look for a Melburnian burger bar bursting from the door frames with 20-somethings.

But it’s just Maccas – nothing fancy. That’s what’s scary for fast food franchises all over.

If they don’t (or can’t) keep up, what does the future hold for quick-service restaurants?