[The Epoch Times, February 18, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Liu Yi comprehensive report) Recently, the prices of hamburgers, French fries and other foods at McDonald’s in mainland China have increased.
According to a report by Securities Daily on February 17, a clerk of a McDonald’s store in a bustling area of Beijing said, “Pork chop and ham chop both went up by 1 yuan (RMB, the same below) yesterday.” In the past two years, McDonald’s has carried out several rounds of price adjustments, and the prices of various meals have risen by 0.5 yuan to 3 yuan.
The clerk also revealed: “Generally, we do not announce to the outside world, and we notify the price adjustment internally, and the corresponding preferential package price will be directly increased.”
The person in charge of a McDonald’s store said: “McDonald’s sales prices in China are all unified, and price adjustments are also determined internally. Some stores with smaller traffic may be a little later.”
Previously, McDonald’s Crispy Chicken Chop Mai value-for-money breakfast combination has risen from 6 yuan to 7 yuan, and the double-layer cheese and Mai Xiangyu value-for-money lunch has risen from 15 yuan to 16 yuan. Today, ham and egg croissants have risen to 17 yuan. At the same time, McDonald’s also added a number of binding consumption such as OH McCain.
McDonald’s price hike sparked discussion among netizens. Some netizens complained: “It’s going up again? It’s hard to eat if it goes up again!” Netizen “Suyn” said: “A hamburger is more than ten and twenty yuan, I really don’t want to eat it.”
Some netizens expressed their understanding of the price increase at McDonald’s. “Fake Fishing Cat” also said: “The raw materials are going up, why can’t retail sales go up.” “Gentleman ruffian” said: “I feel that KFC McDonald’s has been a food with a relatively small price increase in the past 20 years. A 10 yuan hamburger is now 19 yuan, and a bento box lunch was 3 yuan back then, but now it costs more than ten yuan.”
According to public information, on January 9, 2017, McDonald’s announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with state-owned enterprises CITIC Limited, CITIC Capital and Carlyle Investment Group to establish a new company with a total price of up to 2.08 billion US dollars, in cash + newly issued shares. In the form of buying the franchise rights of McDonald’s in mainland China and Hong Kong.
After the transaction, CITIC and CITIC Capital will hold a 52% stake in the new company and dominate, with Carlyle and McDonald’s holding 28% and 20%, respectively. McDonald’s direct-operated restaurants in China will be turned into franchises and managed by the new company.
On August 4, 2017, CITIC Limited announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the acquisition of the controlling interests in McDonald’s business in mainland China and Hong Kong was completed on July 31.
On October 12, 2017, McDonald’s (China) Co., Ltd. officially changed its name to Golden Arch (China) Co., Ltd., and its local branches are also being renamed. However, McDonald’s official Weibo responded that the name change is only at the license level, and the store name will remain unchanged.
Responsible editor: Lin Congwen