Product Profile: McDonald's

 

INDUSTRY

food

Category

chain restaurants

product Profiled

McDonald's restaurants

 

H-Score

 

32

ranked 17th of 25 within the food industry

ranked 57th of 76 overall

 

product description

 

McDonald's is a chain of fast food restaurants, estimated to have over 13,000 outlets across the US.(1) It serves meals throughout the day and evening, offering consistent menus throughout the US. McDonald's serves burgers, chicken and fish sandwiches, sides like French fries, desserts, soft drinks and other food items.

 

product use

 

Customers can purchase food by ordering at the counter, at a drive-thru window (where available), or via a website or app. Customers can also have McDonald's food delivered via McDelivery, a delivery service in partnership with DoorDash and Uber Eats. Customers can eat inside the restaurants or take their meals away.

 

who’s affected

 

McDonald’s target market includes the general population. McDonald’s restaurants can be found in a variety of communities with menu prices accessible to individuals of all household income levels.

 
 

influence on health-related behaviors

 

EATING

moderate negative influence

 

McDonald's serves fast food, which, broadly speaking, can be unhealthy. Researchers have found 70% of meals served at fast food restaurants (not specific to McDonald's) to be of poor nutritional quality.(2)

In Building H’s analysis, McDonald's was found to have a modified Restaurant Nutrition Quality (RNQ)(3,4) score of 0.70. Of the 11 chain restaurants in the Index, the range of modified RNQ scores was 1.65 (best) to 0.50 (worst). McDonald’s score placed it 7th highest of the 11 restaurant chains we profiled. In addition, in a 2021 study that calculated the RNQ for over 500 chain restaurants, McDonald’s RNQ placed it in the 7th percentile (higher is better).

In terms of calories, a sample of featured breakfast meal combos averaged 572 calories, representing 1.7 times the recommended calories for women at breakfast and 1.3 times the recommended calories for men at breakfast.(5) For their standard menu, featured meal combos averaged 1,093 calories, or 1.9 times the recommended calories for women at lunch, 1.5 times the recommended calories for men at lunch, 1.6 times the recommended calories for women at dinner, and 1.3 times the recommended calories for men at dinner. Approximately 20-30% percent of McDonald's’s sales take place during the breakfast hours, 30-40% percent during lunch hours and 20-30% percent during dinner hours.(6)

McDonald's does not feature or facilitate the choice of its healthier items in its online menus. The most prominent items are those for which McDonald's is most well-known, such as burgers and chicken sandwiches. 

McDonald's promotes additional consumption through the use of cross-selling in the ordering and checkout processes. Customers are prompted to turn their sandwiches into meals, with the default meal sides being fries and the default drink being full sugar Coca-Cola. If you do not select a meal, McDonald’s prompts you to add additional items before checking out.(7)

 

opportunities:

  • Feature healthier items more prominently in menu presentation and in recommendations.
  • Highlight healthy modifications or substitutions whenever possible.
  • Set default options of customizable meals to the healthiest options available.
  • Offer reduced portion size options.
  • Enable users to set preferences for calorie limits and/or how healthy they want their diets to be and then tailor their ordering experience and recommendations accordingly.
  • Do not recommend additional items after users pass a reasonable calories per person level.
 
 

PHYSICAL ACTVITY

slight negative influence

 

One way in which restaurants contribute to physical activity is how people arrive at them. Restaurants in walkable locations are more likely to get customers to walk or bike to them than restaurants located in car-dependent neighborhoods. Building H reviewed a sample of McDonald's locations and found that 53% were in either “most walkable” (24%) or “above-average walkable” (29%) neighborhoods. Forty-seven (47) percent were in “below-average walkable” (45%) or “least walkable” (2%) neighborhoods, using the US EPA’s National Walkability Index.(8)

An additional factor that affects physical activity is the presence of drive-thru windows, which enable customers to pick up meals without ever leaving their cars. McDonald's has stated that nearly 95% of its locations have drive-thru service available.(9)

 

opportunities:

  • Reduce emphasis on drive-thru service.
  • Consider neighborhood walkability and bikeability when selecting new locations.
 
 

Sleeping

slight negative influence

 

Studies have shown that eating within three hours before bedtime increases the likelihood of sleep disruption.(10)

McDonald's locations are typically open until 11:00 pm or 12:00 am, although approximately 40% of the locations Building H reviewed were open 24 hours. Based on Google data about a sample of locations, it appears that approximately 10% of McDonald's’s activity takes place after 9:00 pm.(11)

Note that late night eating does not necessarily result in eating shortly before bedtime or extending into people’s sleep windows as there is diversity in daily schedules (due to reasons such as shift work).

opportunities:

  • Reduce late night hours.
  • Discourage ordering of caffeinated drinks in the evening.
 
 

Engaging Socially

neutral to slight negative influence

 

Eating in a restaurant can be a social experience, especially when one eats with family or friends. It is not clear how many of McDonald's customers eat in the restaurant in groups or take food out for groups.

A Building H analysis of Google data on a sample of McDonald's locations shows that the typical amount of time spent at McDonald's is between 10 and 15 minutes,(12) which suggests that most customers are not staying to eat in the restaurant.

Drive-thru service and delivery service would typically involve less social interaction. McDonald's has stated that nearly 95% of its locations have drive-thru service available. It is not clear what proportion of orders are either delivered or picked up at drive-thru windows. 

McDonald’s is also installing kiosks for ordering, which also limits interactions between customers and staff.(13)

 

opportunities:

  • Focus on the dine-in experience in order to encourage more customers to eat in the restaurants.
    • Ensure adequate seating for eating in.
    • Add communal tables as seating options.
  • Limit kiosk or app-based automated ordering in order to promote more interaction among staff and customers.
  • Facilitate family style meals for both in-person dining and delivery or take-out orders.
  • Train staff at both counters and drive-thru windows to create moments of connection in their interactions with customers.
 
 

Getting Outdoors

slight negative influence

 

Providing outdoor seating can positively influence the amount of time that customers spend outdoors. Building H reviewed a sample of McDonald's locations and found that 25% offer outdoor seating.

The walkability of restaurant locations can influence the amount of time customers spend outdoors. The more walkable, the more likely it is that customers walk or bike to and from the locations and thus spend time outdoors. As noted above, 53% of McDonald's's locations were in either “most walkable” or “above-average walkable” neighborhoods, while 47% were in “below-average walkable” or “least walkable” neighborhoods.

The availability of drive-thru service can similarly influence outdoor time by affecting the likelihood of walking or biking. Approximately 95% of McDonald's locations have drive-thru service.

 

opportunities:

  • Offer outdoor seating at more restaurants.
  • Create robust outdoor play areas for families.
 
 
 

Notes

 

  1. Based on 2022 data. See Ranking The Top 50 Fast-Food Chains in America. QSR, accessed October 22, 2023.

  2. Junxiu Liu et al. Quality of Meals Consumed by US Adults at Full-Service and Fast-Food Restaurants, 2003–2016: Persistent Low Quality and Widening Disparities. The Journal of Nutrition. Volume 150, Issue 4 (April 2020), pp. 873–883.

  3. Iris Liu et al. A continuous indicator of food environment nutritional quality. MedRxiv. November 26, 2021.

  4. The RNQ is based on the ratio of nutrients recommended by dietary guidelines, e.g. protein and fiber, to ingredients whose consumption should be restricted, such as sugars, sodium and saturated fats, for the median menu item. Building H modified the RNQ by selecting the most featured breakfast and lunch/dinner menu items and weighting them by relative popularity of the breakfast items and items sold at lunch or dinner. (To determine relative popularity of breakfast items and items sold at lunch or dinner, Building H examined data on customer traffic at different times of day for a sample of restaurants.)

  5. Based on a Building H review of the most featured meal combos in September 2023, as compared with federal data on how Americans distribute their calories across meals (see Eliana Zeballos et al. Frequency and Time of Day That AmericansEat: A Comparison of Data From the AmericanTime Use Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. USDA Economic Research Service, Technical Bulletin Number 1954. July 2019) and federal dietary guidelines for moderately active adults (see U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. December, 2020, p. 140).

  6. Based on a Building H review of Google’s “popular times” data for a sample of 50 randomly selected McDonald's locations. July 2023.

  7. Sample online order via mcdonalds.com. October 10, 2023.

  8. Based on a random sample of 50 US locations. For the National Walkability Index, see U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. National Walkability Index: Methodology and User Guide. Accessed July 2023.

  9. McDonald’s. 2022 Annual Report, p. 9.

  10. Nicola Chung et al. Does the Proximity of Meals to Bedtime Influence the Sleep of Young Adults? A Cross-Sectional Survey of University Students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Volume 17, Issue 8 (April 14, 2020), p. 2677.

  11. Based on a Building H review of Google’s “popular times” data for a sample of 50 randomly selected McDonald's locations. July 2023.

  12. Based on a Building H review of Google’s data on how much time people typically spend at a location for a random sample of McDonald’s locations. July 2023.

  13. Digital Kiosks in QSR and Fast Dining: Use Cases, Benefits, and More. TelemetryTV website. November 16, 2023.