McDonald’s crowned Australia’s favourite fast food

mcdonaldsOver half of Australians eat McDonald’s take away in an average six month period, according to new research from Roy Morgan.

The leading quick service restaurant was found to be the favourite in every age group polled, with over 60 per cent of both Millennials and Generation Z having eaten at the fast food chain in an average six months.

McDonald’s was far ahead of second place favourite, KFC, which enticed 40.8 per cent of Australians, and a trio of closely packed players in Subway (30.8 per cent), Hungry Jack’s (29 per cent) and Domino’s Pizza (28.3 per cent).

“Over 17 million Australian’s eat take away food and despite the burgeoning food choices in available years McDonald’s remains clearly the most visited fast food restaurant in the country,” said Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan.

“Advances in technology could mean ordering food via an app on your mobile phone is easier than ever. To remain relevant when services including gourmet food experiences are quite literally at your fingertips quick service restaurants such as McDonald’s, KFC, Grill’d, Domino’s Pizza and others need to understand their customers and provide for their needs, wants and desires better than ever before.”

FastFoodPreferences300518Source: Roy Morgan Single Source: April 2017 – March 2018, n = 15,067 Australians aged 14+.

The report came just one day after researchers at Deakin University scored Australia’s 11 biggest fast food companies and found every franchise failed to secure a pass.

The restaurants were judged according to their nutritional policies, marketing to children, disclosure of nutritional information and future plans to reduce sugar and saturated fat from menu items.

The highest performers in the survey, Subway, McDonald’s and KFC, had all made a public commitment to nutrition at a national level, and did have several policies in place while the remaining companies had few public commitments related to national nutrition.

Only two companies, Nandos and Subway, provided adequate detail of their internal nutrition policies when approached by researchers, revealing a lack of transparency on the issue.

“There’s a real opportunity for fast food companies to help address the problem by introducing policies that make healthier choices,” says Gary Sacks, Associate Professor at Deakin University, noting that fast food companies are still making sugary drinks and fried food the default.

The report called for reduced portion sizes, healthier kids meals and listed a number of policies for fast food companies to follow, including reduced salt, sugar and saturated fat targets, in an effort to help tackle national obesity.

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