Discussion: Eating healthy at McDonald's?

Two experts discuss on CNBC whether the Big Mac is really watching out for customers' waist size, or just making them feel better about fast food

A big night, for CNBC, too, at nine PM Eastern Time, a new documentary called Big Mac inside the McDonald’s empire is gonna make its long anticipated debut. If you remember when Carl was out for a while, we said on assignment, on assignment, on assignment. He was doing this. And it is good, Carl Kintunia, the CNBC team got an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes look at the golden arches and you don’t wanna miss it. That’s tonight at 9 pm Eastern time. Mc Donald’s has got a great length to expand beyond burgers and fries, but has this fast food giant answered its critics when it comes to nutrition? Here now to weigh in, Jason Tre, no, Jason West, not Jason Trenner. You are not gonna talk about it /?

No, did Carl gain any weight? He did, he was on assignment. We said weigh in for Jason.

Jason, you are seeing, a restaurant analyst at Deutsche Bank, North America. And Margo Wootan. She is a nutrition policy director at the Center for Science and Public Interest.
Um, Let me start with you, Jason. Is it nutritional now or are people going just because they like the taste?

Um, I mean, I think they have increased the nutritional options on the menu, but I think overall what they've really changed is the quality of the food and people, I think more will go on because improvement in the quality and taste. And they have also increased, you know, the overall brand perception. It’s not just about the menu but they have also remodeled a good percentage of the restaurants which makes it a better customer experience overall.

Phil Lebeau, I'm sorry, you are there as well today.

I am. Joe.

You do it all. You do Boeing, you do Mac Donald’s. What’s your take on this?

I think that Mac Donald’s continues to get a bit of a bomb wrap when it comes to nutritional value. Listen, they have added a number of items to the menu that are healthier choices. And whenever they add these, and we have reported on these stories. The first thing I hear either hear from people, or I get an email from somebody is saying, yeah, but they still serve a bunch of junk food. They can’t, they can’t win here. They make more offerings that are nutritionally based or healthier and people beg on them. If they don’t make those offerings, people beg on them. But the bottom line is I do think that Mac Donald’s add offers more healthy choices than they did five, ten years ago.

Alright, Margo, what do you think of what Phil just said?

Well, I think Mac Donald’s is doing a much better job than say Burger King in adding more healthy items to the menu. Some fruits and vegetables. And working to reduce the amount of trans-fat. So they are making some progress. But they still have some work to do. I think one of the biggest problems with Mac Donald’s right now is that they have been fighting efforts at the state and local level to have calories listed right on the menu board so that people can make their own choices. So that people can see that their grilled chicken breast sandwich actually has as many calories as the quarter pounder, or that the Egg Mock-Muffin sandwich has half the calories of the pancakes. Right now it’s hard to make an informed choice because they mostly put the nutrition information on the tray liner or on the fast food packages which people don’t get until after they have ordered.

Jason, this is Jason Trenner from Stratikers. I just have a quick question. I mean, you know, we all do respect Margo, you know, as an investor I would say who cares what the nutritional value that Mac Donald’s 's offering is. Are the margins better on this stuff, I mean some people might say that Mac Donald’s has too many things on the menu, maybe they should just focus on burgers and chicken sandwiches and shakes, and forget all those other stuff, toys and all the things that have been on the menu for so long.

But it brings people into the restaurant. I know as a mom, I used to hate going to Mac Donald’s with my daughter coz there was nothing for me to order. Now at least there are some things that appeal to people who are more health conscious. And you know, Americans are trying harder to eat better these days.

Jason. Yeah, go ahead Jason.

I think that’s exactly right. I think that’s right. We actually did a consumer survey with Deutsche Bank. Looking at where consumers rank healthy choices when they go out to eat, healthy choices actually rank No.7 out of 12, you know, factors of importance so it ranked fairly low but among women, it actually ranked pretty high, actually much more important for women than men. And I think Mac Donald’s recognized this a long time ago, and they started selling more salads, they started adding more healthy options to the Happy Meals. What they've found is that the Happy Meal average ticket is actually up. They found that women are more likely to go there and so I think they are driving the traffic, they are driving the ticket up which is really what investors want to see. You know, investors are particularly worried about the, you know the nutritional value of the menu, they just want to see ticket traffic moving up.

Alright,uh, thank you Margo, and Jason, I am sorry I said West, I don’t, I am looking at, yes, I didn’t say that anywhere, I just read it wrong, Jason West. Very sorry, of Deutsche Bank North America.

And our own Phil Lebeau, who, uh, I know I listen to you on Boeing, but I also think you probably know a lot about Mac Donald’s too.

Every once a while, a blind squirrel finds a nut.

Alright. Thanks, thank you.

Notes:

Every once a while, a blind squirrel finds a nut: or (even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while), means everyone has a bit of luck sometimes.