McDonald’s Corp has replaced its President in the U.S. again. It is the second time in the past two years the burger chain has changed its top U.S. executive. The move suggests more pressure on CEO Don Thompson to increase sales in the home market of the fast good giant.
On Friday, the company named Mike Andres a former executive at the company as the McDonald’s USA president, replacing the outgoing Jeff Stratton, who was at the helm in the U.S. since December of 2012. McDonald’s announced that Stratton was retiring.
Since November of 2013, the largest fast food chain in the world by revenue has been suffering from declining or flat monthly sales at is U.S. established locations. Amongst other things, bloated menus have been blamed for slowing service and pressure has intensified from the resurgence of its rivals Burger King and Wendy’s.
In choosing Andres, who is currently the CEO of Logan’s Roadhouse based in Nashville, McDonald’s made a rare step of selecting an executive from outside to run its business in the U.S., said one industry analyst.
Stratton was the chief restaurant officer at McDonald’s prior to being chosen to be president for the U.S. division.
One analyst said McDonald’s was becoming desperate, but said the CEO likely has through the end of 2015 to show some improvement since some of the issues are seen by some investors as being out of the CEO’s control, such as Russia and the economy in the U.S.
Russia this past week shut some of the branches of McDonald’s down. The closures were viewed widely as retaliation for the sanction imposed by the West on Russia.
Investors, analysts and franchisees have urged the company to make the menu simpler to be able to compete with Chipotle and In-N-Out Burger.
