The food shown in a banquet by McDonald's in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province on Thursday. (Photo: Courtesy of McDonald's)
Fast-food chain McDonald's is trying to shake off the stigma of junk food as it makes its menu more balanced for customers in China, its third-largest market.
With less salt and oil and more vegetables, fruits and grains, it is launching cereal chicken congee, a muffin with added whole wheat, a veggie cup and apple slices this year. It also plans to change the cooking oil it uses to cut saturated fatty acids starting from 2017.
To show its efforts, it presented on Thursday a banquet with nine creative dishes with the ingredients provided in its daily menu in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province.
"The ingredients used in the banquet are exactly what we use in our 2,200 restaurants nationwide every day," McDonald's China CEO Phyllis Cheung said at the food test banquet. The chain's standards "have no conflict with fresh food."
Starting from 2010, McDonald's China said it reduced a total of over 450 tons of salt from its menu products.
"The move shows the fast-food chain attaches more importance to young Chinese and their lifestyles," Chen Yuefeng, a founder of Lingshou Media, a "We media" that targets the retailing business, told the Global Times on Thursday.
"The company is always undertaking localization, and there are more measures being taken on digitalization," Regina Hui from the public relations department of McDonald's China told the Global Times.
McDonald's is striving to recover from earlier setbacks.
In April, it reported a sales increase of 3.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter this year led by a strong comparable sales performance in China and positive performances across various other markets, including Russia.
McDonald's said in March that it would introduce strategic investors.
So far, it has received more than half a dozen bids in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, including offers from -Beijing Tourism Group, -Sanpower Group and China -National Chemical Corp.
Its rival Yum! Brands Inc is also restructuring its China operations, which are to be spun off ahead of a possible IPO.
