In 2020’s fourth quarter, McDonald’s U.S. sales in stores open for more than a year rose 5.5 percent compared to a year earlier, the company reported, building on November’s 4.6-percent year-on-year gain.
The burger chain saw sales shrink in Europe, down 7.4 percent compared to 2019’s final quarter and less bad than the third quarter’s 10-percent slide.
The mixed results gave the company $5.3 billion in revenue for the quarter, slightly below analysts’ estimates, as were earnings of $1.70 per share; analysts had expected $1.77.
McDonald’s has coped with the economic restrictions during the pandemic by offering breakfast all day, trimming its menu, and offering new items, such as the instantly popular fried-chicken sandwich.
The company also will close 325 stores with poor sales, more than half of them inside Walmarts, but will add another 1,300 locations around the world, it said.
TRENDPOST: We note this to again emphasize the reality of the junk food trend, why people are overweight, obese, and unhealthy… and why a significant number of COVID-19 victims and other life-threatening killers are self-imposed: You are what you eat.
While organic movements have grown substantially over the last two decades, organic foods in 2019 accounted for only 5.8 percent of the food sold in retail channels. Indeed, a walk through any major supermarket chain store shows how small the organic sections are and how limited the scope of products are compared to the low quality, highly processed, non-organic aisles that dominate.
On the fast food front, an industry that had only $6 billion in revenue in 1970 and surged to over $200 billion in 2019, while major chains promise fresher ingredients with fewer additives and more vegetables, for the most part, Americans keep gobbling down burgers, fries, and other fast food junk.
TRENDPOST: Keeping the eat more, drink more, and get the unhealthy trend, Mondelez International, maker of Oreo cookies and Triscuit crackers, boosted sales by 3.2 percent last year.
Mondelez also swallowed a larger share of Britain’s chocolate market, it said in its report.
Booze it Up
Makers of wine and spirits may have lost U.S. sales in 2020 as bars and restaurants went dark for months, but people drinking at home more than made up the deficit.
U.S. sales of alcoholic drinks increased 15 percent in 2020 from 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported, as distillers shifted advertising to urge consumers to buy at liquor stores and online.
TREND FORECAST: Weight loss programs will bring in great financial gains. “Whole Health Healing” is a top trend this year and for decades to come. While many will remain overweight and out of shape, new millennium “New Agers” – those who are financially down and physically out – will be seeking new roads to find inner peace and self-satisfaction… that money can’t buy.
This will be a great OnTrendprenuer® opportunity for those with free minds to explore the world of natural healing remedies and treatments that are both easily accessible and affordable.
Looking good and feeling strong, self-confident, and self-reliant will be personal survival strategies for those wanting to move up as the world around them keeps going down.
