China Business Network Tang Yan /Photo
China Business Daily / China Business Network (reporter He Yang) On October 18, McDonald's China announced an update to its menu, and its happy meal was upgraded from a three-piece set to a four-piece set, increasing the choice and proportion of vegetables and fruits.
It is understood that in 1990, Happy Paradise Meal came to the Chinese market with the first McDonald's restaurant. Zhang Jiayin, CEO of McDonald's China, said: "Last year, we sold more than 27 million Happy Meals, including more than 16 million milk and more than 5.7 million fruits and vegetables. Today, great health has become a national strategy, and children are the future of the country. In keeping with our ongoing commitment to the well-being of children, we are announcing a major upgrade to the nutrition, responsibility and joy of Happy Meals. ”
In recent years, under the premise of ensuring the deliciousness and quality of its products, McDonald's China has been committed to achieving less salt, better oil, and more vegetables and fruits.
The data shows that from 2010 to 2018, McDonald's China reduced salt by more than 800 tons by adjusting the salt content of related products. For example, about 10% minus burger bread, 10% minus ketchup, and 20% minus potato treaty. In 2017, McDonald's restaurants began to use sunflower canola oil, which greatly reduced saturated fatty acids by more than 2/3 and made the nutritional structure of the product more balanced.
According to reports, the updated new Happy Paradise meal was upgraded from a three-piece set to a four-piece set, including a staple food (optional meat protein source: fish, cattle, chicken), a snack (optional mini fries, corn cup), a vegetable and fruit (optional apple slices, fresh vegetable cup, corn cup) and a drink (optional pure milk, water, 100% apple juice).
In addition to announcing the innovative menu, Zhang Jiayin also responded to many hot questions about McDonald's this time. The following is a transcript of the questions asked by media reporters:
Reporter: Regarding the plan to open stores, how many new stores have Been added by McDonald's China since the beginning of the year, and how many are opened in third- and fourth-tier cities?
Zhang Jiayin: Last year, 423 restaurants were opened, and there are still two and a half months before the end of this year, and the number of stores opened should be flat or more than a little, accounting for about 50% of the third- and fourth-tier cities.
Reporter: McDonald's has been in China for nearly 30 years, children have always been a market that McDonald's attaches more importance to, what is the proportion of the current family and parent-child customer groups to total McDonald's users? How have the needs of children's families changed?
Zhang Jiayin: According to our survey, more than 20% of McDonald's customers have children, including parents and mothers. From the national point of view, the total proportion of children is about 7%, and from the perspective of urban division, the user's family life has undergone many changes: parents in first- and second-tier cities are busy, and we have improved the service system in this direction. 60% of McDonald's restaurants have now been upgraded to the restaurant experience of the future, and we will provide food delivery services, or mobile phone ordering, to adapt to the busy life of first- and second-tier families.
Reporter: There are reports that most of the toys donated in the Happy Paradise meal are made of plastic, which is very environmentally friendly, what plans does McDonald's have in the supply of toys in the future? In addition, the topic of artificial meat is currently very concerned, McDonald's China is considering launching artificial meat products in the domestic market?
Zhang Jiayin: We have two kinds of toys, about half of which are ragdolls made of cloth, and the other half are made of plastic. Plastic is a difficult raw material to avoid in the manufacturing process of toys, and recently we are also considering recycling toys and then re-manufacturing some useful things. In the short term, practices include swapping toys for books or reducing the amount of plastic used.
Regarding artificial meat, in fact, artificial meat is "plant-based protein" in English, which translates to plant protein, which is actually not as scary as it sounds. McDonald's Global is also studying such products, why is China not the first market? We found that there are large differences in the concept of vegetarian consumption in the world. Relatively speaking, the choice of meat protein is more important in China. Second, plant-based protein doesn't necessarily mean lower carbon emissions, so we're still looking at whether there's value in promoting artificial meat. At present, McDonald's is testing in Canada first, and we will look at the test results and then consider whether to promote it in the Chinese market.
Reporter: After holding the letter in hand, how much autonomy does McDonald's China currently have in the domestic market? Do you still have to communicate with the US headquarters on the innovation of the menu or can you decide for yourself?
Zhang Jiayin: McDonald's China and the world have a lot of cooperation in terms of menus, and at the same time, we also have the autonomy to develop local menus. However, we will not change the world's classic products, for example, the Big Mac is a Big Mac, we will not do a spicy Big Mac, including wheat spicy chicken, we will not change it. At the same time, we will also actively develop localized menus, such as McDonald's Breakfast Options in China, adding porridge, fritters, and soy milk. You won't eat a burger of wheat spicy chicken, you won't eat roast chicken, you won't eat salt and pepper chicken wings abroad. We will also do some limited-time products, for example, we have made a lot of innovative products during the Spring Festival, which are well received by consumers.
Reporter: What is the proportion of McDonald's delivery this year? Not long ago, many consumers found that after placing an order, the price of dine-in food is lower than the price of takeaway, how do you think about the phenomenon of different prices of the same product?
Zhang Jiayin: McDonald's delivery business has maintained rapid development, and the market share of delivery is also increasing, but the specific percentage is inconvenient to disclose. On the issue of different prices of the same product, takeaway may be more expensive than dine-in, but takeaway also provides a lot of promotional combination packages, such as two-person meals, three-person meals with a large savings, so even if it is delivered, our price is still preferential.
Reporter: Does McDonald's have plans to launch new catering brands or acquire related catering brands?
Zhang Jiayin: McDonald's Business Philosophy in China is to deepen its core and characteristics. We want to focus more on the brand. We think some of our products are brands in their own right, taking hamburgers as an example, where sales of Big Mac, McMurray Chicken Leg Burger and Ginkney Chicken Leg Burger far outstrip that of regular catering brands.
But even so, the popularity of these products still has a lot of room for improvement and development potential, especially in third- and fourth-tier cities. So we want to make ourselves strong, bigger, deeper. We are really inexperienced with Chinese catering because their menu and sourcing philosophy is completely different from ours, and McDonald's China will not consider any Acquisition of Chinese Catering.