McClintock Wilson—NurPhoto/Getty Images
McDonald’s has leaned hard into cheap combo deals to win back customers lost after years of post-pandemic price hikes, but the results so far suggest the recovery is only partial. US comparable sales grew just 0.8% in the company’s most recent quarter, a modest gain that lags rival Burger King’s 8.5% jump over the same period.
The value push has been aggressive: a $5 Sausage McMuffin meal, a mix-and-match $6 combo pairing items like the Filet-O-Fish with Chicken McNuggets, and an under-$3 menu aimed squarely at budget-conscious diners. That last initiative has been slower to roll out than planned, reaching only 60-65% of restaurants so far.
Even with the deals in place, traffic hasn’t fully recovered. US visits fell 4.5% in the first half of 2026, according to Placer.ai analytics, and McDonald’s stock is down 32% from its February all-time high, a sign investors remain skeptical the value strategy is working fast enough.
CEO Chris Kempczinski has acknowledged the company’s own promotional strategy may have muddied the message. “Too many new menu and deal launches had overwhelmed its restaurants,” he admitted, a candid concession that the barrage of offers may have confused customers and strained operations rather than clearly signaling value. Kempczinski framed the stakes plainly: “We must be the first choice for more customers more often.”
Part of the pressure comes from costs outside McDonald’s control. Kempczinski noted that beef costs “had nearly doubled over the past five years,” squeezing margins at exactly the moment the company is trying to hold prices down to win back price-sensitive diners, many of whom come from McDonald’s traditionally lower-income customer base that’s especially exposed to broader inflation pressure.
Wall Street’s read on the turnaround plan is cautiously positive. UBS analysts praised McDonald’s $8.5 billion franchisee support plan as “achievable with solid execution,” while Deutsche Bank’s Lauren Silberman pointed to AI implementation as a potential lever for improving operational efficiency going forward. The combination suggests McDonald’s path back to stronger growth may depend less on any single deal and more on fixing the operational strain its own promotional blitz has created, while managing input costs that show no sign of easing.
