麥當勞 (MCD) 2014 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to McDonald's July 22nd, 2014, investor conference call.

At the request of McDonald's Corporation, this conference is being recorded.

Following today's presentation there will be a question-and-answer session for investors.

(Operator Instructions).

I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Kathy Martin, Vice President of Investor Relations for McDonald's Corporation.

Ms. Martin, you may begin.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us.

With me on the call are our President and Chief Executive Officer, Don Thompson, and our CFO, Pete Bensen.

Today's conference call is being Webcast live and recorded for replay by phone, Webcast and podcast.

Before I turn it over to Don, I want to remind everyone that the forward-looking statements in our Earnings Release and 8-K filings also apply to our comments and both documents are available at www.investor.McDonald's.com., as are reconciliations of any non-GAAP financial measures mentioned on today's call with our corresponding GAAP measures.

Now I'd like to turn it over to Don.

Thank you, Kathy, and good morning, everyone.

Before I discuss our second quarter results, I wanted to provide a brief perspective on our performance relative to our expectations.

I also want to share with you how our strategies have evolved to guide our actions going forward.

As we shared with you at our investor meeting last November and in the last couple of quarterly calls, we entered 2014 well aware of the challenges we faced growing comparable sales and margins amid ongoing broad-based challenges and cost pressures throughout our P&L.

And we don't expect any material changes to this operating environment in the second half of the year.

Our financial model is built on growing comparable sales which, in turn, drive profitability, so when comparable sales are relatively flat, as in second quarter, our ability to grow income is significantly impacted.

We've often said that there is no one silver bullet or single solution for driving sustained growth.

In fact, the key to our success over time has been that we have executed multiple initiatives simultaneously.

Enduring success requires an ever-stronger foundation, so we are pushing forward on multiple fronts as we focus on those areas within our control to enhance our relevance and appeal to consumers.

Earlier this year we evolved our Plan to Win framework, refocusing our planning and actions on what matters most to our customers, relevant food choices, easier engagement with our brand through digital, and greater transparency into the quality of our food and what we stand for as a brand.

Serving good food through good people and being a good neighbor in the communities in which we operate is what McDonald's stands for.

In April we shared our updated global Plan to Win framework with the more than 15,000 franchisees, suppliers and Company employees at our biannual worldwide convention.

Our decentralized system is now moving forward as one with more than 35,000 restaurants in 119 countries, aligned around an evolved global Plan to Win framework and executing in a way that takes into account local consumer needs and local business environments.

As we work to regain business momentum, we're pursuing two parallel paths.

First, we're strengthening key foundational elements of our business to deliver a better overall customer experience today.

And second, we're making progress on comprehensive strategies in pursuit of the sizable growth opportunities that lie before us.

These activities are interrelated and together they position us to drive profitable growth over the long term.

Let me talk first about the work currently underway to fortify foundational elements of our business today.

These include value first.

We are evaluating the relationship between pricing and quality perceptions across our menu board and that's because value is one of our brand pillars, so we must continue to fortify our position within this key consumer attribute.

Second, operations and service.

Around the world, we are enhancing our operations and service platforms to improve the customer experience and ultimately increase visits.

This includes the service reset in the United States and service and kitchen enhancements in Europe.

Third, marketing.

We're taking actions to re-establish our marketing leadership position globally.

In some markets, this means adding fresh perspectives by bringing in new leadership or agency partners.

In others, it means heightening our awareness of how customers use McDonald's and creating stronger messages to reinforce our place in customer's lives.

And around the world we are also strengthening our creative messages by placing greater emphasis on the quality of our food and again re-establishing the emotional connection that our customers associate with the McDonald's experience.

The fourth area is simplification.

We're streamlining our merchandising, menu boards and product offerings and in addition to making it easier for customers to order their favorite products, this will reduce complexity in our restaurants which, in turn, should enhance accuracy and speed of service.

Getting these foundational elements right is critical to maximizing the impact of the additional growth initiatives that we are actively pursuing within the strategic priorities of the Plan to Win framework.

Specifically, these growth initiatives include menu customization and personalization, digital engagement and brand trust.

In the area of menu customization and personalization, our initial efforts focus on delivering the best burger experience to our customers.

I'll talk more later about a learning lab we recently established in the United States to help us better understand what matters most to customers in this arena today.

We're also accelerating our digital efforts as we've talked about before.

Leveraging learning from markets like France and Australia who are now executing some elements of our e-commerce digital strategies.

We're also testing various additional elements of our strategy in other markets, like the US, Sweden and the UK, as we refine and execute our global digital vision.

We're taking meaningful action to become an even more respected brand, including our work with the World Wildlife Fund and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which was founded by the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation.

These represent just the subset of our broader sustainability efforts.

We're pursuing these initiatives holistically and building on investments we've already made to deliver an unparalleled experience to our customers and consumers in general.

It's these combined efforts that give me confidence in the future and our ability to drive enduring profitable growth for our system and our shareholders over the long term.

Let's now turn to performance for the quarter.

Global comparable sales were relatively flat for the second quarter and comparable guest counts were negative.

Operating income was down 1% in constant currencies and earnings per share was $1.40, a 1% increase in constant currencies.

Several markets delivered solid results.

Stronger operating income performance in China, the UK and France was offset by weaker performance in markets including Germany, Japan, the US and Australia.

These four markets remained priority areas of focus for us and I'll talk more later about the actions we're taking in these markets to reignite momentum.

We're moving with a sense of urgency.

We recognize that it will take time to see the results of our actions.

Our franchise business model is a clear advantage for us, but it also requires alignment around our plans and actions and this takes time.

Once aligned, it takes time to enact changes in the restaurant and time for our customers to notice the changes we've made and reward us with more visits.

Therefore, we expect continued volatility across markets for the second half of the year and expect full year 2014 global comparable sales to be relatively similar to year-to-date June performance with July global comparable sales expected to be negative.

Let's talk more specifically about performance and the actions we're taking by geography, starting with the US.

In the United States, comparable sales for the quarter were down 1.5% and operating income increased 1%.

While comparable sales were disappointing, the US is making progress in three critical areas: improving service through their operations reset, focusing on menu and strengthening our marketing position.

The service reset was designed to place greater emphasis on the critical role of proper staffing, scheduling and positioning in our restaurants across all day parts.

Over the last six months, our operation support staff have been consulting with all franchise and Company-owned restaurants to re-calibrate around service and customer experience standards.

Restaurants across the US are now executing their plans and we're beginning to see a reduction in order accuracy complaints.

From a menu standpoint, we're placing greater emphasis on the balance between our core classics and the number of new products that are being introduced into the marketplace.

This is to ensure that they can be delivered at the speed and convenience that customers expect from McDonald's.

We're also continuing to innovate.

We recently capped a restaurant on the West Coast and created a learning lab to help us better understand what matters most to customers when it comes to delivering the absolute best burger experience.

It definitely starts with great ingredients like our high quality burger, 100% beef with a pinch of salt and pepper.

But it's more than that.

It's about creating an engaging experience that addresses all elements of customer sensory perceptions and leverages the investments that we've already made in technology, re-imaging our physical plants and digital to create a more personalized, memorable experience that our customers will feel good about.

The US is also taking actions to strengthen marketing leadership.

We reorganized the marketing department and are re-allocating our media mix to place greater emphasis on digital channels.

We're also strengthening our creative to connect more deeply with customers, placing an even greater emphasis on the quality of our great food and on the strong emotional connection that customers already have with our great brand.

Let's now move to Europe where comparable sales were down 1% for the quarter and operating income was down 4% in constant currencies.

These results reflect solid performance in the UK and France, partially offset by weak results in Germany and a slowdown in Russia.

The UK's track record of solid performance continues due in part to its strong customer-centric planning process.

While second quarter comparable sales were positive, they softened compared to recent trends, partially because we're now lapping last year's successful blended ice roll-out.

We continue to grow market share through strong premium promotional activity which is complemented by an ongoing focus on breakfast, extended hours, and side-by-side drive-throughs.

Comparable sales continue to be positive in France and we're gaining market share despite a contracting informal eating-out industry.

The recent launch of a new premium chicken patty in April helped reinforce strong food quality perceptions in the marketplace.

Germany remains a primary area of focus as negative sales and guest count momentum continues.

The leadership team is actively working to reset the foundation, focusing its efforts on improving our food quality and value perceptions and regaining consumers' trust.

This includes strengthening our marketing organization in creative and evaluating our affordability platform to ensure that we offer compelling value to customers across the entire menu.

Now let's shift to Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa, where comparable sales were up 1.1% for the quarter and operating income increased 1% in constant currencies.

Strong comparable sales performance in China, as well as positive performance in many other markets, was somewhat offset by continued weakness in Japan.

In China, comparable sales increased 8.8% for the quarter partly reflecting the lap of last year's Avian influenza.

Given volatile consumer sentiment in China, we're focused on enhancing our all-day value platform to drive traffic and grow market share.

At the same time, we're building on our strong momentum in breakfast and through brand extensions such as delivery, dessert kiosks and McCafe.

In Australia, affordability remains key to driving traffic with consumer confidence at the lowest levels since 2008.

We're strengthening our value proposition by re-launching our Loose Change menu with compelling value offers and we're also making it easier for our customers to enjoy the great tasting McCafe beverages that they've grown to love.

Negative momentum in Japan persists amid a highly competitive environment and a contracting informal eating out industry.

The leadership team remains focused on regaining customer relevance and loyalty by repositioning the affordability platform to resonate more strongly with customers while working to differentiate the McDonald's experience through menu innovation and a focus on the family and Happy Meal business.

Around the world, markets continue to adjust their plans to be even more relevant to customers, but we recognize again that it will take time to reignite momentum.

Overall, 2014 is a year of strengthening the foundational drivers of our business, activities that are critical in enabling and advancing our longer-term strategies.

Even during periods of softer performance, our business continues to generate significant levels of cash.

Our first priority regarding the use of cash is to invest in our business to drive future growth and future returns.

In addition, we've established an $18 billion to $20 billion cash return to shareholders target between 2014 and 2016.

Year-to-date June, we've returned $2.8 billion toward that goal.

I want to close by re-emphasizing my confidence in McDonald's.

We continue to move forward as one system guided by the framework of our global Plan to Win.

And relentlessly focused on the significant opportunities that exist within our strategic global growth priorities to optimize our menu by serving our customers' favorite food and drink, to modernize the customer experience so that it's even more memorable, to broaden accessibility so that we deliver unparalleled convenience and to become an even more trusted and respected brand.

We're moving forward thoughtfully and with a sense of urgency.

Our plans and actions build on our core strengths and I'm confident that they will ultimately result in additional visits from new and existing customers.

Thanks again, everyone.

I'll now turn it over to Pete.

Thanks, Don and hello, everyone.

The McDonald's system and our financial model are built with the expectation of future sales growth.

Yet we know from history that our top line growth over time is neither consistent nor linear.

In addition, any growth is a product of the significant base off of which we operate which includes serving approximately 70 million customers every day and generating industry-leading average unit volumes in virtually all of the countries in which we operate.

Importantly, this large base also provides financial resiliency during periods of softer performance.

Though we did not meet our growth targets through the first six months, McDonald's still generated over $4.1 billion of operating income.

Our strong financial foundation allows us to remain focused on the significant long-term opportunities that we believe McDonald's is uniquely positioned to seize, which is why we continue our disciplined approach to investing in targeted growth opportunities.

We know that enduring success requires an ever-stronger foundation, so we are pushing forward on multiple fronts, guided by our evolved Plan to Win framework and the strategic growth priorities.

As Don discussed, it takes time to evaluate and align with franchisees on the changes needed and then implement them in our restaurants in time for customers to notice the changes and reward us with increased visits.

I am confident that we are taking the right steps to strengthen our foundation and position the Company for future growth.

Our charge over the next 12 months to 18 months is to accelerate the changes, effectively communicate the enhancements to our customers, and execute at the highest standards in our restaurants.

Now, turning to the results.

For the six months ended June, system-wide sales increased 3% in constant currencies primarily due to expansion.

Combined operating margin declined 60 basis points to 29.7% over that same period, reflecting the softer results.

McDonald's is primarily a franchisor, with over 80% of our global restaurants operated by local businessmen and women.

As such, franchise margins drive overall profitability, comprising approximately 70% of restaurant margin dollars.

In second quarter, the franchise margin dollars increased 2% in constant currencies, while the margin percent declined 60 basis points to 82.2%.

Expansion continued to contribute to the margin dollar growth, whereas soft comparable sales, increased rent and depreciation expense, and the impact of re-franchising pressured the margin percent.

Global Company operated margin dollars for the quarter totaled $816 million, a 3% decline in constant currencies.

The margin percent decreased 60 basis points to 17.1%, as relatively flat comparable sales could not offset cost pressures throughout the P&L.

Europe's margin decline, which I will discuss in a moment, accounted for the majority of the global margin decline.

In the US, second quarter Company operated margins declined 40 basis points to 18.3%, due to higher labor and 3% higher commodity costs.

As a result of effective risk management efforts and supplier production efficiencies, we are maintaining our full year outlook for the increase in our US grocery basket of 1% to 2%.

In terms of pricing, the US is running about 3% at the end of June.

This is the midpoint for the full year 2014 projected food-away-from- home inflation of 2.5% to 3.5%.

Through June, food-away-from-home inflation stands at 2.2%, so we will be disciplined with future price increases as we move through the second half of the year.

In Europe, second quarter Company-operated margins decreased 80 basis points to 18.6%, primarily impacted by higher commodity costs in Russia and Ukraine, due to weaker currencies, as well as negative performance in Germany.

Russia and Ukraine import approximately half of their commodities, most of which are denominated in either euros or US dollars.

For a perspective, Russia and Ukraine accounted for nearly all of Europe's second quarter Company-operated margin decline.

Europe's projected full year commodity cost increase remains at 1% to 2%.

Excluding currency, commodity costs were relatively flat in the first half of the year, which implies a second half increase of about 2%.

Our menu price increases in Europe vary by market, with the overall segment averaging about 2% year-over-year.

Turning to Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

Company-operated margins for the quarter decreased 60 basis points to 13.7%, as positive comparable sales were more than offset by higher labor, occupancy, and other costs.

In addition, new restaurant openings negatively impacted the segment's margin percent, though to a lesser degree than a year ago.

The decline in the margin percent was also impacted by the mix of relatively lower margin markets, like China, contributing a greater share of the overall margin dollars.

That being said, we are encouraged by the margin percent improvements we are seeing in certain individual markets, including China, in this high growth area of the world.

With our current sales outlook and expected currency volatility in some of our Company-owned markets, we expect continued pressure on consolidated margins in the second half with more significant pressure in the US due to higher labor expenses, partly as a result of planned minimum wage increases in several states, and likely less benefit from pricing.

Second quarter G&A expenses increased 3% in constant currencies, primarily due to our biannual worldwide convention in April and higher employee costs, partly related to our long-term growth initiatives.

One of our key competitive advantages is our size and scale and our convention is integral to maintaining alignment so that we can move together as one system.

We have reduced our full year projected constant currency G&A increase from 8% to 4% to 5%, primarily due to lower incentive-based compensation as a result of not expecting to meet our growth targets.

Even with softer performance, the McDonald's business model continues to generate significant amounts of cash.

Our first priority remains reinvesting this cash in our business to build future returns and enhance shareholder value.

These investments are balanced between opening 1500 to 1600 new restaurants and re-imaging over 1,000 existing locations in 2014.

We remain committed to this effort and are making steady progress toward these targets.

Through June, we have opened 461 new restaurants globally.

And relative to re-imaging, we have completed about 90 projects in the US, 100 in Europe, and 120 in APMEA.

Similar to prior years, new restaurant openings and re-imaging projects tend to be more loaded in the back half of the year.

Lastly, let me discuss foreign currency translation which positively impacted second quarter EPS by a penny.

At current exchange rates, we expect minimal impact on third quarter EPS with a full year negative impact of $0.04 to $0.05.

As usual, please take this as directional guidance only because rates will change as we progress through the second half of the year.

In closing, I remain confident in the choices we are making to position McDonald's for enduring profitable growth.

We are patiently and deliberately making investments today to strengthen our foundation and leverage our significant competitive advantages in the $1.2 trillion global informal eating-out category.

Thanks.

Now I'll turn it over to Kathy to begin our Q&A.

Great.

Thanks, Pete.

I'm going to open the call for analyst, investor questions.

(Caller Instructions)

We're going to start with Brian Bittner from Oppenheimer.

Good morning.

I guess my question here is how much do you believe your ability to regrow same-store sales for the system is really completely under your control at this point?

And what I mean by that is you look at your business and you're at peak sales per unit, really without game-changing platforms in the pipe, with competition that's arguably more of a headwind than you've ever witnessed.

I guess what I'm trying to understand from your perspective is what is there really that you can tweak at this point given all these factors that is really going to get some serious incrementality out of this asset base?

You talk about better service, improved marketing, getting better at breakfast, I just wonder if that's enough to really continue to try to get incrementality out of a $2.6 million, $2.5 million average unit volume?

Brian, this is Don.

Thanks for the question.

Brian, I think there's two different things that have taken place.

If I look at the longer term and you're asking kind of two questions I think, the short and the longer term.

If I look at the longer term, Brian, I would tell you the strategic growth priorities that are set for the US business and around the world are solid, very solid and they're really focused on -- let's take the US, menu customization and personalization.

I mentioned starting with burger leadership, accelerating digital engagement, actually both the engagement and the experience, so e-commerce as a part of that along with some other things that we're looking at delivering to our customer base and then enhancing the overall brand relevance and trust, particularly around our food quality and employment opportunity images and the side of the business that people look to relative to that.

And those things are part of a much broader sustainability movement, if you would, in McDonald's that many people have seen.

I feel really, really good about where those strategies are going.

Those combined with some of the broader development strategies we've seen in markets like APMEA, those longer-term strategies are solid.

In the shorter term, what we're looking for is to fortify the base, the foundation of McDonald's today so that we're ready for those growth opportunities.

To your point, as we look at the basic marketing strengthening right now, are we making sure that the presence that we have, the awareness that we have and the share of voice that we have are solid, strong and allocated to the appropriate media.

That's being fortified.

If I look at the operational reset in the US, it is focused on the peak periods and our ability to deliver at those peak periods, which has something to do, clearly, with the productivity in the restaurants and the staffing levels in the restaurants.

And these are things that our leadership operators have discussed in the United States with our US team and they're moving forward on those things.

So to fortify breakfast, the food quality messaging, the operations, focus on the peak periods and staffing, scheduling, positioning, and then reasserting marketing leadership, those are foundational pieces but they have to be re-established, Brian.

Those, to your point, are probably more incremental.

The other things that I mentioned are longer-term growth strategies are stronger relative to how we look at growth into the future.

Next question is from Matt DiFrisco from Buckingham.

Thank you.

Wonder if you could talk a little bit or give us an update on the back of the house prep tables in the United States and if we could expect -- what type of margin benefit at the store level have you seen there or the benefits that you can talk about that, as well as any sort of new products that we could see as far as with the extended refrigeration life what does this enable you to do maybe going down the line?

Thanks, Matt.

I'll talk a little bit about broader menu pipeline.

Then we can talk about the back of the house.

Relative to the broader menu pipeline, in the US right now, they're really focused on a balance between our core products, the core classic favorites, the Big Macs, the quarters, the nuggets, et cetera, and also the new products and new innovation.

There are numerous products and ideas that are in the pipeline and in the global pipeline from around the world.

Our US team is currently testing some of those and looking at some of those.

They are still in the areas that we mentioned of chicken, beef, breakfast and beverages.

If I look at the broader menu, that part is intact.

Relative to the kitchen and the productivity and the efficiency initiatives in the kitchen, the high-density kitchen was intended to give us more flexibility and allow refrigeration on the prep table which gives us a little bit stronger capability relative to products.

You will see, have seen, a couple of products but you will be seeing more products relative to that, but I want everyone to keep in mind, this is going to be a balanced approach.

It is not all new products and not taking care of the core classics and favorites because we need to see baseline improvements in all the core products as well as a boost over the baseline based upon the new products that we implement.

Our next question is from Joe Buckley, Bank of America.

Thank you.

Sort of a broad question, you've been talking about the global operating environment and certainly the operating environment in the US being tough for a couple years now, and the strategies you're implementing are very execution focused and really haven't changed but also don't seem to be gaining traction.

What should we be thinking about over the next 12 to 18 months from an incremental change that can drive sales?

And then, secondly, does it make sense to keep opening stores at the pace, the current pace of expansion, I guess I'm asking the question globally, but especially in the US where I think you have a couple of hundred net stores targeted, if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks for the question.

Last part first.

If you look at the US and you look at a couple hundred stores, keep in mind a large portion of those are relocation-based restaurants that we have so on a percentile basis the US is not opening a lot of stores.

We are opening in opportunities and there continues to be market opportunities for McDonald's.

But there's not a lot of restaurants in the US.

I think the number's about 120 stores net in the US business.

So the broader development opportunities and growth opportunities across the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa region, across markets like Russia, clearly, Pete, I and the team are looking at some of the markets like the Russias of the world given this current economic environment and determining what we decide to do, Russia, China, what that pace of growth looks like.

We do that in an ongoing way.

In the US, the focal point that we have to grow this business is, as I mentioned, secure the foundational elements of the business.

We've got to make sure that our restaurants, both Company-operated and franchise, are operating at the right levels.

So this is not about one side or the other side.

This is simply about making sure that the restaurants are running well.

And that they're staffed effectively.

Clearly there's been some level of trepidation relative to staffing up our restaurants based upon some of the legislative impact of things that are coming down the pike, such as whether it be healthcare reform or the potential of minimum wage from a federal perspective.

But even more broadly, more state minimum wage increases.

There's a little trepidation relative to that.

As I mentioned earlier, the franchisees with our Company team in the US have really had some great discussions around what they call operations reset and are focused on building a business at those peak periods.

We understand how profitable that is across the day parts, but we're also not giving up on the growth strategies.

Those growth strategies around digital engagement, around what we're able to do with our ability to have a balanced menu and to afford customization for our customers, that incorporated with some of the things that we're looking at in doing relative to re-establishing a higher respected brand profile for McDonald's, all of those things are going to be well intact and moving forward.

So over the next 12 to 18 months, expect to see us focus on both those parallel paths.

In the near term, you're going to see more on the foundational piece through the rest of 2014.

You'll see more of the other aspects at some point in 2015.

Our next question is from David Tarantino from Baird.

Hi.

Good morning.

I wanted to piggyback on the last question and maybe ask from a big-picture perspective why do you think it's taking so long to stabilize the sales trends in places like the US and Germany?

And I guess part two of the question would be is do you think you need to make more radical changes to the strategy than what you're talking about, based on the trajectory of the recovery or maybe lack of recovery that you're seeing?

Hi, David.

Thanks for the question.

I'll speak about this in two different ways.

One is I'll give a little update on the priority markets and the other one is really how do we look at -- I'll call it turnaround time.

Taking the turnaround time piece first.

We are clearly moving with a sense of urgency and anyone inside the system knows that and it's quite an aggressive sense of urgency.

Toward the end of the first quarter, we had the priority market visits as we had talked about earlier on one of our calls.

Post that time, the markets themselves, with the franchisees and the Company employees, have been getting together to discuss the local action plans that it takes to drive the business.

It just so happens in most of these markets those opportunities are around the three areas we've been talking about, around the value/affordability arena, around the strength and focus of our marketing and how we are marketing with a balance between core and new products, and also making sure that, as we look at our broader business, that we are focused on bringing customers forward and they understand the transparency and food quality levels within McDonald's.

So those things are things we're moving forward aggressively on and the markets are putting those plans together.

In a franchised organization like ours, it does take some time.

As I mentioned, the strength of our system is our franchisees.

There's no doubt about it.

At the same time, it takes time to get that alignment and then time to get these things in the restaurants in time for them to move forward.

So we understand that.

We understand the time line.

We want to do it right.

I don't want to continue to have implementations that are not consumer based because then we come back six, 12 months later and we're changing those again.

So we're doing these things in the right way with the right processes, but it does take some time.

The other piece relative to the priority markets, just a bit of an update.

Different markets will take different times relative to their recovery pace.

If you all remember back in the early 2000s, the UK was a challenging market.

It took us several years, and interestingly enough, to focus on similar things that we're talking about now, slightly deeper hole at that time but we've been able to come back with a very balanced approach and we've had very strong market success.

Germany today is in that kind of a mode.

We've got to have that kind of a recovery, similar to the UK.

Japan is in a similar mode as that.

I think the US is moving forward a bit, at a bit more aggressive or stronger, quicker pace, if you would.

However, it's still going to take time in the US as we solidify these foundational elements.

Australia.

Australia also, I think, will be at a quicker pace.

We're able to still do some innovations in Australia while we fortify some of these base elements.

In all of these markets we've had some changes in our marketing functions, in our marketing leadership.

Some of these markets have had changes in our agencies.

We've had some other leadership personnel changes in some of the markets.

So we believe we are moving forward urgently and aggressively.

But we're also doing it in a way that will have some longstanding impact.

And believe me, this is not the kind of thing that I'm comfortable about.

This is not the kind of thing that I would say I sleep well at night over thinking that the pace of change is as quickly as I would like.

But I know that the markets are going through this in an appropriate way and at an appropriate pace and they are doing it with a sense of urgency.

Next question is from David Palmer from RBC.

Thank you.

It does not look like McDonald's is defending traffic, like it's done in similar periods of low industry growth like 2009.

You got price increases, I think you said 3%, and obviously you're not pounding away on the Dollar Menu like you did back then.

But I know traffic is important to you guys.

So when McDonald's does improve its traffic, how do you -- perhaps it's a 2015 event.

What do you think will be that driver, the key ingredients for that?

Will you lean on operations changes and digital engagement or perhaps could we see a return to more active food news or something else?

Thanks.

David, I believe you -- I think you just hit them.

Again, I'll say that there's parallel paths here.

We have to make sure that the foundation is strong enough to accept the digital strategies and engagement that we're going to be putting into the restaurant.

The operational foundation has to be strong enough for us to be able to move forward with customization and personalization at the level that we want to at McDonald's.

Back in 2000 -- if you look in the 2008, 2009 time frame, this was a slightly different time frame.

Several things -- and I'll mention a couple of them.

One of them, the strength of the broader legislative impact on cash flow was not as aggressive.

Having said that, what that means is that clearly as a franchisee or a franchisor, as we look at margins, there is, as I mentioned earlier, there has been some trepidation around if you staff up, then are you really going -- is this going to hurt cash flow even more?

But I think that the strength of the US team with our franchisees is addressing that and beginning to address that appropriately relative to the need for us to do that to move into these growth strategies.

So that part is a little bit different.

The other thing that's different is that back then we made a modification to the Dollar Menu which was merely product based.

And we were able to do that with one product change or at the time we had two product changes over about a five-year period.

At this point we are looking at the overall pricing structure of our menu board because we have seen a bit of a split relative to the lower end of the menu and then the higher end.

All of these things the US team is looking at as we look at the price tiers.

There are a couple differences, David.

Nonetheless, we're not giving up on value or affordability.

And I know it's one of the things that's being implemented in the US business.

David, as you think about pricing for the rest of this year, we've said we're up about 3% trailing 2012 June.

But in May we had about 90 basis point of pricing roll off from a year ago and we only replaced that with about 30 basis points of pricing.

And as we look to that broader food away from home, that's projected to be up 2.5% to 3.5%, but it's only up 2.2% through June.

We're keeping an eye on all those metrics too.

Don't think we aren't conscious of what that consumer is feeling today and their ability to come into McDonald's more often and kind of walking that delicate balance between that aspect of the business as well as some of these additional cost pressures that Don mentioned that are coming down the pike.

Next question is from Jeff Bernstein from Barclays.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Don, maybe a follow-up.

You talked a lot about the franchise system and how it takes a little bit of time to move that system relative to [doing it] yourself.

But at the same time, I think you noted earlier this year the franchisees based on your meetings with them, your discussions and whatnot, they're still very engaged and supportive of the corporate initiative.

I guess you had your convention recently.

Perhaps that's driven by the fact that profitability is still close to peak levels.

What are the complaints or rumblings you're hearing, if any, of late?

Whether there's any things that management feels the need that we need to prioritize this to address, whether it's the new product news, the promotional activity, pricing, remodels, just kind of wondering how that sentiment and how those relationships just over the past couple of years with the struggles are trending?

Thanks, Jeff.

Anytime there's softness in cash flow, we will have -- we have to have even more effective discussions, even more planning together as to how we move the business and there will always be concerns when we see softness in cash flow.

This is a for-profit business and so that's going to occur.

And our franchisees have those concerns as well as we do in Company-operated restaurants.

Just to set that stage, we will always have, when there's a softness in cash flow, the conversations we're having now.

And the franchisees are not -- they are not at all-time highs.

They've seen high levels of cash flow.

So they want to get back to some of those levels, clearly.

And we want them back at those levels so that they can have personal cash flow but invest in the business and invest in the communities the way that they do.

So we have engaged in clearly a lot more conversations and communications around where we need to take this business.

The other thing I'll say, though, there's a realization that the franchisees have.

They're not seeking and searching for a silver bullet either.

They understand what they've executed in the past to grow the business.

It has been a group of initiatives that have had tremendous impact on multiple fronts.

So as we look forward into the future, the fact that we're talking about food and the food experience, the fact that we're talking about the in-restaurant experience, with digital-engagement experiences.

The fact that we're talking about how this brand is perceived by consumers in their local communities, all of those things fit very well together and I think the franchisees are excited about that.

Clearly in the current situation and environment, there are concerns that the franchisees have and that is what we're working through with them.

But I will say that our leadership groups have been at the table and have been solid relative to the way that they have given input, thoughts and guidance in certain areas they'd like to see us move in.

And we're moving in many of those areas.

Next question is from Jeff Farmer from Wells Fargo.

Thank you.

Just shifting gears a little bit.

As you guys think about your plan to refranchise, I think you said at least 1500 restaurants by the end of 2016, how should we view that as potential impact on not only that consolidated operating income margin but also your ROIC number?

And again I just ask that in the context of I think we're all pretty familiar with the margin tailwind you saw going back to the mid to late 2000s with developmental licensing and things like that, Latin America, big margin tailwind, big ROIC tailwind.

As you look at this group of 1500 restaurants, how should we think about them?

Jeff, yes, good question.

Thanks.

First of all, in terms of the -- just to set expectations, in terms of the timing, we've done about 200 refranchises through this year.

When we think about it, the next two years, 2015 and 2016 will probably carry the bulk of that refranchising activity.

In part because there are some markets that we really need to build that franchising infrastructure around to get that going in a more significant way.

That being said, directionally, while we haven't quantified some of those benefits that you're calling out, directionally those are benefits that we would expect to see to the P&L.

So we expect franchising does have a favorable impact to our overall combined operating margin.

It does have a favorable impact to the G&A levels that we need to support the business.

It does have a favorable impact to the ROIC.

So those are all directionally consistent with where we plan to go with this refranchising.

Our next question is from John Glass from Morgan Stanley.

Don, you say you're moving with urgency but around that you must have a set of deadlines internally and some goals and it seems like you've pushed this out originally, maybe you're talking about the first half of this year being a reset and maybe some benefits in the second half.

Now it seems like it's really going to be pushed off into 2015.

So what are the milestones, specifically, that you hope to achieve this year or even next quarter toward those goals?

And, specifically, when are we going to see tangible benefits from both the customization and the digital strategy either it's this year or if it's 2015, when is the time frame for those things?

Thanks, John.

The last part, customization and digital strategies, we're seeing certain things in some markets already.

So we've got -- clearly, as I mentioned, there's some things that we've been doing in France, there's some things that we are already doing in Australia from a test perspective.

You'll see some limited testing in the US the latter part of the year.

2015, again you'll see more robustness in terms of some of the things that will come to market in 2015.

That is not saying that will be January 1. That is saying that it will be in 2015.

The aspects around what we're doing on customization and personalization, clearly there's some things that we are looking at getting going this year relative to testing.

It's a big system, getting the operators engaged, and I think the US system has begun to do that.

So I would say that you'll see more of that in 2015.

That probably is as specific as I would get on that one.

I think that we also have, if I look across Europe, some very similar initiatives, some of the markets as I mentioned, the UK, Sweden, are doing similar testing on digital and again we just mentioned France where they -- Australia will be a little sooner on the digital end.

However, that's 2015.

As we look at that latter part of 2014, you'll see some.

So that kind of gives you the digital perspective.

The menu piece and re-establishing our leadership from a menu and marketing perspective, when we talk about milestones, the milestones I have for the priority markets, so in Germany we had to re-establish our marketing function, we have to re-establish a more solid and balanced marketing plan.

That is what the German team is working through now with the franchisees.

In Australia, they're having some similar conversations working through that aspect of it and the balance between affordability core and the innovative nature of some of the new products.

Clearly, in the US we talked quite a bit about that.

There is a sense of urgency.

Yes, there are milestones relative to certain things.

We'll have -- I have thoughts about everything from when certain changes occur.

We are in the midst of the planning process now and so we're looking at the plans for 2015 as we move forward.

However, we have not given up on 2014.

We have a lot of activities now to shore up the base, as I've talked about and mentioned.

So from a milestone perspective, believe me, they are there, they are aggressive.

We talk about them routinely and we see them as we visit the marketplaces.

What we're mindful of, John, is the fact that we want to make sure that this is done, again, so it has sustaining and staying power which means in our system this has to be a collaborative approach between ourselves and our franchisees.

That's when things stay and last in the McDonald's system.

So I feel that it's moving in an appropriate direction.

I am impatient as well.

Believe me, our senior team is.

Our operators are.

But we have to do this and do it in the right way so that we have long-term enduring profitable growth and not just a flash in the pan.

But these are holistic solutions that will come together and I'm confident they'll drive the business over the long term.

Next question is from Jason West from Deutsche Bank.

Thanks.

I guess just following up on a lot of the other lines of questioning here, just you guys have obviously not been sitting on your hands the last couple years.

You've seen some progress in certain markets, but overall some of these trends just seem to be getting worse.

I'm just wondering if you feel like you've identified why the traffic numbers are declining and you have a much better sense of that now than maybe you did a year ago?

And the learning lab that you mentioned on the West Coast to help understand what customers want, kind of talk about how that's going to help you understand where the traffic's going and how to get people back in the stores.

Thanks for the question, Jason.

When we talk about a learning lab, we have a learning lab in the US relative to that.

We have a digital function over in Europe in France.

We have the architecture, decor, studio, also over in France.

So we have looked at -- we have a lot of data on consumers and what consumers are looking for from a trend perspective.

When you look -- when we look at our base trend lines and why they move where they move, why they erode in these priority markets, we do today have a much better understanding of exactly why.

We've had a bit of an understanding in the past.

However our actions have not coincided with the actual, I would say, the data themselves.

When we put actions in place -- and we've hurried some of the actions.

What we're doing now is looking at what those consumer expectations are and putting together plans that are directly linked and related to those consumer expectations.

That is what we're attempting to do.

This is not chasing short-term sales or short-term guest counts.

We are looking to continue to have a sustained ability to grow guest counts, sales and profitability.

Clearly there are things that we are looking at as we move forward and those are some of the initiatives, as I mentioned, as we said on the call.

Next question is from Sara Senatore from Sanford Bernstein.

Thank you very much.

I wanted to jump over maybe another part of the world, just ask about China because I know you've called it out as a point of strength.

It looked like maybe June slowed in China, maybe pretty meaningfully.

I wanted to ask about that trend.

I assume it's unrelated to some of the negative press we've seen.

But if you could just comment on both of those dynamics as well as I think Pete mentioned maybe there's still a drag on margins from that kind of the lower margin and the mix there.

Is that any -- in any way a function of you having gone after more of a value message or is it just the sort of continued need to kind of scale up to see the margins hit kind of more system-wide averages?

Sara, it's Pete.

I'll start on the margin end of that and Don will talk more broadly about trends in China.

Our APMEA margins over the next couple quarters are going to be a little bit misleading because while we're seeing growth in individual countries, so the quarter and year-to-date we've seen growth in the margin in Australia, in China, in Hong Kong, our three largest McOpCo markets in APMEA.

The fact that we've refranchised in Australia, which is our highest McOpCo margin percentage is changing the mix to a lower margin percentage in total.

And the fact that the Australian dollar is weaker, when you translate that into US dollars, that's giving even less weighting to Australia's high margins overall.

The segment -- virtually all of the segment decline was as a result of these waiting and refranchising combinations.

China itself grew margins in the quarter and year-to-date and the drag from the new stores was down significantly from a year ago.

Now, positive comps are clearly a driver of that.

But the team -- you may have heard Dave Hoffman and the team over there talk about the go-to-market strategy which is a very concentrated effort, not only in China, but in some of our other emerging markets to really look at the cost of opening the new restaurants and challenging the level of investment that we need today or can we build the restaurant with a little less cost today but build it in such a way that we can expand it easily in the future when sales volumes dictate versus building the restaurant today for a sales volume that we might not achieve until five years from now.

So a much smarter approach, I would say, to the development and we're starting to see some of those benefits already in our margins in China.

Don can talk a little bit more broadly about the market.

Thanks, Sara.

Thanks, Pete.

Actually in China, Sara, our market -- the market is performing solidly, quite solidly.

I'll give you a little bit of background, a little backdrop on China relative to the economy and then our performance, which actually if you look at our performance excluding the benefit of Avian influenza for the second quarter, it still would have been positive.

Over a two-year perspective we are growing our business in China.

We're growing market share in China; top 10 markets we're outpacing the competition in terms of growing market share.

We're growing solidly in China.

The macro environment is still challenged.

There's fluctuating consumer sentiment.

That's expected to carry over into Quarter Three.

IEO visits are starting to recover a bit, but it's a little bit lower than it was a year ago.

I would tell you that despite that, some of the things we talked about in some of the other markets actually bode true for China and we made those adjustments.

So all-day value, we went from just the lunchtime value to an all-day value platform.

That continues to perform well.

Again, relative to Avian influenza, we're comping on top of what the impact of that was.

Brand extensions are helping us to move forward.

We focused on breakfast in China for the last several years.

That's continuing to be a positive contributor.

Some of these things are even in the face of other initiatives that we've implemented; some of the things we focused on with the night business last year.

So China is actually moving in a positive direction and we feel solid about the performance in China.

It is still a challenging economy, however, and everyone should realize that.

GDP's below 8% and we know what that means.

There's still some acceleration in some of the operating related costs relative to labor as they look to normalize, if you would, or redistribute some of the wealth across China so everyone grows a bit, but they're still growing automobiles.

We're still growing drive-throughs.

Our sites are, to Pete's point, are solid in terms of the new sites that we're opening.

We culled some of the sites last year because we thought they may have been too early.

I think Kenneth and the team have done a great job with that.

So relative to China, we're feeling, again, that the performance in China is solid.

Great.

So we have six folks still in the queue.

I know we're just about out of time but we are going to take those six.

For those of you who can stay over for a few minutes, we'll carry on.

Next question is from Bryan Elliott from Raymond James.

Good afternoon.

Thanks.

Just as you look at the news this week out of China, are we at a tipping point?

Are you considering potentially backwardly integrating to protect your brand?

What really are the solutions to the situation there from a supplier standpoint?

Hi, Brian.

We have some very solid suppliers across the McDonald's system and they, as we are, are committed to the highest standards of food safety for our customers.

That's always the number one priority.

As we look at some of the alleged issues that are taking place now, if those things clearly are confirmed at a level that we would think it is a higher-level decision that has caused us to have a breach relative to consumer trust, we will deal with that effectively, swiftly, and appropriately.

We are no longer serving product from the primary facility there that has the challenges and the issues.

I know that there's a couple other facilities that they had that have been cleared now by the Chinese government.

The matter's being thoroughly investigated and we're cooperating fully with the authorities.

As you know, we do have audits of our suppliers.

In this case, we do feel that we were a bit deceived relative to one of these plants.

So we're clearly looking at that.

What does it mean from a broader perspective relative to integration of the supply chain?

We enjoy and have benefited from what we call the three-legged stool which is the supply chain as a separate entity just as our franchisees are a separate entity other than McDonald's Corporation.

They bring us great innovations.

They've grown with us in multiple countries around the world.

They understand our expectations.

They understand the way we value consumer safety and our standards and they understand the fact that they will be under scrutiny if there is ever a challenge relative to our consumers.

We continue to make those points and we continue to drive forward to make sure that we protect our customers and protect the broader brand interest as we move forward on issues like this one.

Next question is from John Ivankoe from JPMorgan.

Hi.

Great.

Thank you.

Just some related US topics, if I may.

I remember back in 2002, again I think it was actually using some franchise consultants, you really drove some QSC&V into franchisees and either showed them a path to measurable improvement at the store level or showed them a path to exiting the system.

So at what point are you kind of like in another phase in terms of kind of getting a 20-year commitment out of franchisees and making sure that you have the right people on board with you?

And the second kind of, I think, related topic is around the effectiveness and the efficiency of your advertising and product development.

Does seem to be lagging your peers even a fraction of the size.

So was wondering if there was a structural opportunity to change the effectiveness and the speed to market of that advertising and product development in the US or whether it's just -- I think as I've heard that it's just about improving execution or tactics.

Thanks.

Thanks for the question.

Relative to the franchisees -- and John, you know, we have a lot of collaboration and committees that are shared between the franchisees and the Company and our suppliers.

So as we engage and address the business as we move forward, we have a lot of communication with each other.

One of those points of communications, clearly every year is around operating standards of McDonald's.

And what we call growth criteria and also the restaurant operations' improvement process which is really focused on quality, food quality, service and cleanliness in the restaurants.

We have had clearly a lot of conversations about how and when and where and what the processes are for abiding by that.

We still have those processes in place.

Those processes started, back to your point, in the 2001, 2002, time frame.

They are in place.

Everything from a process for improvement for those restaurants that are not performing at the appropriate levels to how we look at franchisee engagement, to how we look at our own Company-operated restaurant performance.

We don't need to have a separate initiative.

And I think as you talk about it, it was almost -- I got a sense of an up-or-out kind of a conversation.

We have ongoing conversations with each other relative to the performance of our restaurants.

And clearly, are we having those now?

Yes, we are.

We have them all the time.

But what's important is that we focus on the standards and adherence to the standards, not some kind of a process to move franchisees out of the business.

We have a process.

And, frankly, based on our improvement processes, we tend to be able to improve the business in a different way.

We are no more or less aggressive than we were in 2002 at this point in time.

It is very similar.

Relative to marketing, there is a focus on marketing effectiveness.

You're absolutely right as we look at share of voice, as we look at the impact that our creative has, as we look at the reach that that creative has and we look at the distribution outlets and our media allocation.

Having said that, there is also focus on how our marketing messages are conveying the emotional potion, if you would, of the brand and that means that there has to be changes.

When I mentioned leadership changes in marketing or agency changes, those are not incremental effectiveness changes, John.

Those are changes based upon the fact that we may not be getting the content or the reach or the awareness that we desire and demand as a McDonald's brand.

And when we make those changes, we don't do it lightly.

Those are the kind of changes that we need to drive the business and those changes are occurring in several of our critical markets around the world.

Next question is from R.J. Hottovy from Morningstar.

Thanks for taking my question.

Wanted to dive down into Europe a little bit more.

Looks like the June results, the negative 3.4% comp, a little bit softer than what we'd seen.

Europe had recently been a point of relative outperformance.

Just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything more than just the things you mentioned in Germany between the marketing changes there as well as the Russia situation going on, whether or not you're seeing competition intensify or seeing less impact from reimaging or some of the menu innovations there?

Just kind of wanted to get a better sense of your perspective on Europe.

Thanks, R.J. I think you hit it pretty well.

Germany still remains weak and showed further deceleration in the second quarter.

As I mentioned, our teams and the franchisees and the changes that we've made in terms of leadership and process, those things are moving forward.

It's going to take a while in Germany.

We have lost share in that market.

If I look at France and the UK, those markets are gaining share and our performance has been solid.

We had similar conversations about France several years ago.

Could we make the turn?

And some of the things that we put in place in France, Casse Croute, Petit Plaisir, on the affordability end we've had a great balance across the menu in terms of the core products.

We've had new innovations.

We've had the digital strategies that have been implemented.

So those things, even in a very, very tough environment, our business in France is still thriving.

And so I think it goes to show the things that we're talking about are not just things that we dream up, but they're the things that we have implemented in markets around the world.

So France is still performing.

The UK's performing.

As we mentioned they just lapped on top of the blended ice roll-out.

We still have solid performance there, a very balanced approach to the business and we're still moving forward and growing.

There has been one thing we've seen, a little bit of decline in retail footfall traffic, but aside from that, R.J., nothing that I would say was much broader than that point.

Russia, a slowdown in comp sales there.

I think the economy is recently entered a recession.

It's taken a hit based upon the geopolitical issues that are apparent there.

There's lower consumer confidence.

We have seen some new competitors enter the market.

But, as you know, that is a market that we have been in and a market that we're growing in and growing our drive-throughs in and we feel very good about our positioning there and the opportunities in front of us in Russia.

But at this point there is -- we are seeing some softness in Russia.

I think largely due to some of the geopolitical concerns and consumer confidence.

Next question is from Howard Penney from Hedgeye.

Thank you very much.

Don, the last time McDonald's sort of went through an extended period of declining same-store sales, it took a much bigger event in the major sort of restructuring to get to realign the organization.

I know you put forth a plan, the plans to improve sales and you believe -- I honestly believe that you think you believe you've got the right plans but the fact of the matter is you might not have the right plan and there could be some give and takes and it might not work as you've laid it out.

Do you have a contingency plan or is there a backup plan to what might not work of what you put forth today and what are the chances that you think that an extended period of sales will lead to a bigger sort of effort to improve your top line sales?

Thanks very much.

Thanks for the question, Howard.

I know you and I talked recently when we were together, at least at the investor meeting last year, some of those basic fundamental things that we talked about, and the things that we're focused on now to shore up the business, clearly.

Relative to contingencies, the great thing about the McDonald's system is we are in 119 countries.

We're a very diverse portfolio of businesses.

So we have the opportunity to test multiple things in parts of initiatives in different areas of the world.

When I talk about the digital strategy, part of the test of what's taken place in France, what we're implementing as a result of those learnings in Australia, what subsets of that are being tested in the Swedens and the USs and the UKs of the world really as we formulate these strategies we are constantly, I guess you'd say, iterating around the improvements in the data that we've seen in several markets.

Relative to contingencies, I guess I would say it's almost a living contingency as to the way that we implement major initiatives.

So the digital initiative being one, customization, personalization efforts being another.

Even on those, it may be based upon a different product complement.

So in the US it's going to be about burger leadership.

Many markets across Europe, it will be about that initially.

There are other areas where it will be the chicken platforms and portfolios.

So we are learning as we go.

Outside of focusing -- the things that we're focused on, Howard, we know we have to get much better at.

And they're also areas of, we believe, great opportunity for us.

The whole notion of the respected brand and our sustainability based efforts and how those things play out, not only have we done some of those historically but most people don't know about them.

We have to get that even more accelerated.

We know that that's something our customers want.

It bodes well relative to our business plan.

What we're doing around customization and food, it goes right at what consumers are asking us for across demographic tiers.

So we know they're the right things to do.

I would tell you, Howard, the broader question that is out there now and the broader question that we're answering in the local markets is around what we do to shore up the foundation now, even in these environments, even in these economies, even with the other cash flow impact points that may be out there, how we ensure that together we move to shore up the base.

So we're ready for the incremental customers that will come and we build back up our peak periods.

That kind of is the foundation of it.

We have -- to your point it's almost an evolving contingency plan.

And believe me, there are several other areas that we are looking at outside of the ones I mentioned, but those are the ones that we know will be a solid part of our future growth strategy.

Next question is from Keith Siegner from UBS.

Thank you very much.

I'd like to circle back to a question on the consumer insights from earlier, maybe just ask in a different way, especially given how much attention this got at the November Analysts Day last year.

Forgetting the plan for a second, just looking at that data that you're collecting, which I understand is pretty robust, the customers who aren't coming as much or maybe aren't coming these days, why are they saying that's the case?

What are they highlighting?

Kind of how has that evolved as the year progressed?

Is it a lack of compelling new news?

Is healthfulness or quality in general coming up more often?

Is it the engaging -- what are the folks not coming actually saying in the data?

Thanks.

That's a big question for a global brand.

I will tell you --

Just the US.

If you look in the US, there are several things we've seen in the US.

You all know that the QSR industry as a whole has softened in the US.

There are a lot of things that are out there in the US right now, ranging from, as I mentioned, some of the legislative matters that are on the board, relative to impact of healthcare next year, potential of minimum wage changes, what happens relative to immigration reform costs, particularly around e-verify.

There are challenges and changes relative to legislation in terms of whether or not there will be re-ups on some of the tax credits, tax benefits.

There's a lot of things that for a franchisee they are looking at relative to cash flow.

That is one of the things that then flows through relative to execution in the restaurants.

When we first began the operations reset, we were hearing from customers that the restaurants were getting too complicated.

It was a little confusing on the menu boards.

We needed to get some level of simplification.

I will say at the same time, we're saying, and customers are saying, we want a little more customization or personalization.

But we want some different tastes; we want some different condiments.

The US is moving forward with that with the high-density kitchen in prep for that.

We're also hearing that there are some consumer-confidence-related concerns around discretionary spending.

In the US we see a bifurcation based upon what's taking place in markets that are greater than $75,000 from an overall income perspective and those that are less than, say, $45,000.

These are two different worlds today.

Those markets at the higher end, discretionary spending is still flowing fairly well.

Markets at the lower end, it's a little bit tighter.

The geographic positioning of McDonald's around the US is broad.

We're in both of those submarkets and pretty good distribution.

That's a little different than some of our competitors, say.

So clearly the economy is a bit of a concern.

And we're hopeful that the economy will continue to improve and that improvement will be across all segments, but we also have to make sure that we're thriving in this environment, so having the right affordability messaging, which may be slightly different in some of these markets than it is in others.

Our last question is from Paul Westra from Stifel.

Thanks.

Very similar question to Keith's about the US business.

Maybe talk a little about more, if you could, about the weakness perhaps in the overall US QSR category and specifically do you sense any incremental competitive challenges coming from the convenience store business, which was mentioned before, on the low end, perhaps.

And, perhaps, quick casual on the high end.

And I know this year's emphasis is on the increasing frequency of the base business and perhaps base consumer, but once that's stabilized perhaps talk a little about the more intermediate term opportunity of product line extensions to, maybe, thwart or maybe regain some share from these lower end and higher end categories.

Yes, Paul, I would tell you that several years ago we began to have conversations just around broader market segments and sets and what we were seeing.

I would tell you anyplace a person can stop, we view as a competitor, whether it's a Petro station, or it's a convenience store, or it's a grocery store, ready-to-eat foods or take-home foods, we view the whole set as a competitor.

As we look at our business, when you've got that many places that you can view as a competitor, what you have to focus on is what you're good at and what you know you can excel at and differentiate.

We know that the speed of service at McDonald's, the accuracy of the service, the food quality even in our segment, which is the quick-service restaurant segment, are critically important.

The transparency of our food and the fact that we know that we have very high quality food at McDonald's is one of the messages that I think we have to get out even stronger.

And it's one of the things that the overall quick-service restaurant industry has struggled with for years and years and years.

We believe that some of the things that we've talked about from menu personalization, customization, high-density kitchens, highlighting some of the condiments on the prep table, those things also help us.

But it also has to be thread throughout our marketing and our awareness campaigns, those are the things that we're focused on, and make sure that those things take place.

As you look at food away from home, right now we know that the food-away-from-home industry is one that is still increasing, albeit above a 2 percentile rate.

Interestingly enough, food at home is a 2.4% increase.

So they're all in the ballpark of normalized -- I guess I'd call it normal inflation at this point in time.

If one of those shoots up or down, we have to take note of it relative to what that means to our affordability platforms.

If the economy gets better or worse we have to take note of that relative to what impact it may have on our breakfast business and travel pads.

There's a lot of things we look at.

I couldn't give you, Paul, super specifics on any one item.

But there's a lot of things we have to look at as we manage the business, particularly in the US, and go forward.

Okay.

Thanks.

And we're going to go right into Don's closing comments.

Thank you all very much.

We wanted to take a little extra time because we know that you have questions, interests, relative to the McDonald's business.

I want to thank all of you for joining us this morning.

We remain committed, as you can tell, to the Plan to Win and our strategic growth priorities as we work to strengthen the key foundational elements of our business and I've mentioned how critical those are.

We know that we can drive our business through the growth initiatives that will enhance our customer relevance and appeal.

We're seeing that in some of the markets around the world.

Those initiatives and implementations will be broader as we move forward.

Our defensible competitive advantages, our resilient business model, the communications and alignment that we strive for and have with our owner/operators, our supplies and Company teams, those things give me confidence that as we execute our plans to drive profitable growth for our system we will be successful and our shareholders will reap the benefits of that over the long term.

So thanks again for joining us this morning.

Have a great day, everyone.

This does conclude today's call.

At this time you may disconnect.