NEW YORK — The burger chain that put “supersize” into the American vernacular is slimming down: For the first time in at least 45 years, and perhaps ever, McDonald’s says the number of its U.S. restaurants is shrinking.
McDonald’s plans to close more restaurants in the U.S. than it opens this year, according to the world’s biggest hamburger chain. That hasn’t happened since at least 1970, according to an Associated Press review of McDonald’s regulatory filings.
Becca Hary, a McDonald’s spokeswoman, declined to provide a specific figure but said the reduction would be “minimal” compared with its total of about 14,300 U.S. locations.
Still, the contraction is symbolic of troubles under the Golden Arches and how it’s trying to regroup.
The company enjoyed rapid expansion for much of its history by offering consistent food at affordable prices. It thrived during the recession, when its Dollar Menu drew in people trying to save money and new products such as McCafe coffee drove up sales.
Since then, fast-casual chains such as Denver-based Chipotle that market themselves as serving better food and ingredients have chipped away at McDonald’s dominance. A new breed of “better burger” chains such as Five Guys Burgers and Fries is taking away customers, too.
McDonald’s’ past success led to “a natural overconfidence,” said John Gordon, a restaurant industry analyst with Pacific Management Consulting Group.
“McDonald’s is such an internally focused organization, it’s a situation where you don’t have a fresh perspective coming in,” Gordon said.
McDonald’s executives have conceded that an overly complicated menu led to inaccurate orders and longer wait times and that they failed to keep pace with changing tastes.
In April, McDonald’s said it would close about 700 underperforming locations around the world this year, including in the United States. CEO Steve Easterbrook, who stepped into the role March 1, later laid out plans to restructure the company to remove layers of bureaucracy and move more nimbly.
In any given year, some underperforming McDonald’s restaurants will close. But previously, the number of closings has been outweighed by new restaurants that open.
The U.S. store closings will be a mix of franchised and company-owned locations, Hary said. She noted that the closings are part of a strategic review intended to set the stage for the future growth. The company did not provide a list of locations expected to close.
McDonald’s has not reported an annual reduction in U.S. locations since at least 1970, according to archived filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For 1969, McDonald’s did not include a U.S. store count in its annual report.
The company declined to comment on the last time it reduced its U.S. store base. But given the rapid expansion that characterized its early years, it’s likely McDonald’s hadn’t pulled back since Ray Kroc founded the company in 1955.
Closing weak stores isn’t unusual for companies trying to turn around their fortunes. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz shuttered hundreds of U.S. cafes after returning to head the company in 2008. Since then, the coffee chain has enjoyed healthy sales growth and has expanded.
Mike Donahue, who served as McDonald’s chief communications officer before leaving in 2006, said the chain hasn’t necessarily reached its limit in the U.S.
Even though it’s closing locations, McDonald’s easily remains the country’s biggest hamburger chain. It still has more than twice as many restaurants as No. 2 Burger King, according to the industry tracker Technomic.
Among all fast-food chains, Subway has the most locations in the country with about 27,000 stores, although they do far less business than the typical McDonald’s.
McDonald’s is still growing globally. It plans to add about 300 restaurants to its worldwide total of more than 36,000.
