McDonald’s Japan is adding to its restaurant count in the second half of this year, underscoring a turnaround that has seen same-store sales climb for 21 straight months.
McDonald’s Holdings Co Japan plans to open more restaurants than it will close in the second half, CEO Sarah Casanova said, adding that she expects the trend in new stores to continue next year.
That comes after the fast-food chain shuttered restaurants for years as it faced food contamination scandals that sent sales plummeting.
“We’re seeing balanced growth,” Casanova said in an interview at the company’s Tokyo headquarters on Wednesday. “There’s more work to do and there’s so much more potential in Japan.”
The purveyor of chocolate french fries and Hawaiian Loco Moco burgers is positioning itself for growth after rebounding from a series of food scandals in 2014 and 2015 — a turnaround that earlier this year prompted its US parent to reverse a decision to sell a stake in the company.
McDonald’s Japan last month raised its full-year profit outlook as it invests in remodeling restaurants and expansion.
The company said it would open 10 new stores in Japan in the final half of the year, while closing seven.
The last time it had a net addition for a six-month period was in 2012, company data showed.
The count for all of this year will show a net reduction of 10 restaurants, McDonald’s Japan said, leaving it with about 2,900 stores.
Still, that is a sharp slowdown in closings from recent years. The company shut more than 100 stores in 2015 as it dealt with food contamination problems.
Same-store sales last month climbed 15 percent from a year earlier, McDonald’s Japan reported on Wednesday, citing successful launches of regional items, including its Tokyo roast beef burger and Osaka beef cutlet sandwich.
Casanova has led the turnaround, closing underperforming stores and remodeling others to be more modern.
The company’s plans include adding electronic payments at every store and expanding delivery service through UberEats.
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