McDonald's Uses 2% of the U.S. Beef Supply

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McDonald’s Uses 2% of the U.S. Beef Supply
Rickette Collins, Sr. Director Global Supply Chain - McDonald’s Corporation

Have you seen those fresh beef quarter pounder commercials from McDonald’s? That campaign has been running since March. It is working, and as Todd Gleason reports some Illinois beef producers found out just how well at their association’s summer conference in Galena.

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A senior supply director for McDonald’s made an hour-long presentation to those farmers. They raise some of the beef used at its restaurants. Rickette Collins told them the fresh beef campaign has been a big success.

Collins :10 …68% increase in Quarter Pounder sales.

Quote Summary - So, in the U.S. we’ve just launched our fresh quarter-pound beef patties and we’ve seen tremendous success with about a 68% increase in Quarter Pounder sales.

That was the initial uptick, but the thing is the fresh beef push has been hanging on to a lot of those gains.

Collins / Gleason :28 …fresh beef when they come to the restaurant.

Quote Summary Collins: So that increase in Quarter Pounder sales was during the initial launch, but we are still seeing very strong sustaining levels and we have not seen any real cannibalization of any of our other products.
Gleason: That’s very odd isn’t it? Collins : Yes, it is very unique to see a promotion that does so well and not see tradeoff with some of the other items on our menu.
Gleason: Any reason why do you know? Collins: Well, hopefully, it is because people want beef and it is because they want hot off the grill fresh beef when they come to the restaurant.

And boy do they come. Some 69 million of them every day all around the world. In the U.S. this means McDonald’s buys a lot of beef.

Collins :08 …we purchase 660 million pounds annually.

In the U.S. McDonald’s buys two-percent of the beef supply and we purchase 660 million pounds annually.

The biggest seller, by the way, is not the Quarter Pounder. It’s the cheeseburger, followed by the McDouble, and then the Big Mac. Every week McDonald’s sells 63 million burgers from its more than 14,000 restaurants in the United States.