McDonald’s has named a new president, Skye Anderson, to lead its mammoth but sluggish U.S. business after its bet on cheaper items enticed fewer cash-strapped Americans than expected, even as consumers grapple with an affordability crisis.
The company said on Tuesday that sales at established U.S. restaurants rose only 0.8% in the second quarter, the slowest pace since early 2025 and below Wall Street expectations. McDonald’s has trotted out more offerings for its price-sensitive diners, such as a $4 breakfast, and more items for under $3 as high gas and grocery prices leave millions of Americans with less discretionary income. Yet its efforts to spotlight its comparatively inexpensive menu items fell short, with fewer people visiting McDonald’s U.S. restaurants.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said company strategy was sound but that the chain had made unforced errors. Those included too many new product launches at once, overwhelming many U.S. restaurants, slowing service, and annoying customers. What’s more, he said, the marketing for so many simultaneous initiatives made it hard to “break through” to customers with a clear message about value.
“We don’t have a strategy problem. We simply didn’t execute at the level we needed to in the second quarter,” the CEO told analysts on a conference call.
To help remedy that, McDonald’s said it had appointed Anderson as the new head of its biggest market and touted the 26-year company veteran’s operational prowess and business acumen.
“She’s a proven change agent who can act with urgency to mobilize our system,” Kempczinski said, praising her for “being a hands-on leader who has demonstrated strong business judgment and operational discipline.”
The two executives know each other well. In fact, when Kempczinski led the U.S. business from 2017 to 2019, he asked Anderson to leave her job in Australia as regional CFO and come back to the U.S. to lead its West Coast business. The CEO touted Anderson’s record in that role, saying that she had modernized more than 5,700 restaurants and that comparable sales growth had soared.
The new gig shows how quickly Anderson’s star is rising at McDonald’s. Before becoming U.S. chief operating officer only four months ago, she was head of McDonald’s global business services unit, where she focused on faster and more modern operations at restaurants. McDonald’s does not break out its markets by revenue, but analysts estimate the U.S. makes up 40% of the chain’s global business, equal to roughly $10 billion.
Anderson will have her hands full as she takes on her new assignment. McDonald’s is about to embark on a massive U.S. restaurant remodeling program for which it needs franchisee buy-in, which could be tough given the soft results of late. (Franchisees, who operate the vast majority of U.S. restaurants, can opt out of discounts and, indeed, just 60% to 65% of its restaurants had implemented its “under $3 menu” amid fears of lower margins.)
Earlier this year, McDonald’s unveiled a new global business strategy, called McDonald’s Next, which will introduce upgraded menu items, such as hand-breaded chicken; test new store prototypes; and launch new marketing, meaning ever more operational complexity. And the company will be doing that against a backdrop of persistent inflation.
“We see an opportunity to raise the bar in the U.S. and accelerate performance in our largest market,” Kempczinski said. And that task will now fall to one of his most trusted lieutenants.