What's cooking at McDonald's

After its summer success at the London Olympics, when the McDonald's on-site restaurant served up 2.5 million meals, the restaurant chain has had mixed global sales results more recently. Now it's looking to UK high street locations and family purchases for higher growth in 2013.
 
The recent horse meat scandal hasn't been a problem for McDonald's--in fact, it's an opportunity for the chain to showcase its reliance on 100% quality British and Irish beef suppliers. Because of these supplier ties, Jill McDonald, boss of the company's North Europe region, is confident about the all-beef burgers served up in UK restaurants.

McDonald's has made some changes to its Happy Meals--changes that should please parents. 'I don’t think our customers have noticed, but in our Happy Meals there’s half the salt there was back in 2000', McDonald says.

Replacing the free toy with a free book, at least temporarily, is another change. Working with the National Literacy Trust, the company is giving away a book with each Happy Meal during the current promotion with DK Books, part of its goal to distribute 15 million books to children by the end of 2014. (Last year, McDonald's distributed 9 million books in a pilot programme.)

McDonald's has 414,000 Facebook likes; its YouTube channel has attracted more than 15 million video views during the past 7 years. Increasingly digital, one element of its mobile marketing is an app that locates nearby McDonald's restaurants, provides nutrition info and shows the latest promotions.