McDonald’s ambitious new plan to target regional areas

McDonald’s is facing a backlash over its ambitious new expansion plan, but the fast food giant has hit back at the critics.

McDonald’s plans to open 100 new restaurants over the next three years with a third expected to be located in regional areas.

The fast food giant’s push into regional areas is being greeted with concern by health experts who say some areas could become “food deserts”.

In a statement released in June announcing the expansion plans, McDonald’s said it would invest more than $600 million into the Australian economy and create at least 12,000 new jobs.

This year McDonald’s said it would open 27 new restaurants across the country including outlets in Mackay in Queensland, Wollongong in New South Wales, Geelong in Victoria and Nuriootpa in South Australia’s Barossa Valley.

“In addition to our property expansion plans, we are also focused on growing our drive-thru, digital and McDelivery offerings in response to growing market demand,” a McDonald’s spokesperson told news.com.au last year.

A senior director of McDonald’s, Cameron Newlands told The Guardian any area with a population “north of 5000 (people) is something we’d consider”. Other factors that could see areas selected for new restaurants include traffic flow, tourism and growth potential.

The plans have raised alarm among health experts including the Rural Doctors Association of Australia.

“The (association) would have great concern with McDonald’s expanding further into regional, rural and remote areas of Australia,” president Megan Belot told news.com.au.

“We are already dealing with the obesity issue in rural Australia and having further McDonald’s accessible or other fast food, that is definitely not going to help that issue.”

While she acknowledged that businesses like McDonald’s brings jobs, she said it would be good to see other small businesses re-open instead.

“During the Covid pandemic we saw many small businesses close, like cafes, and we would like to see them re-open,” she said.

She said there were also other jobs available such as fruit picking, although they may not be as popular.

“There are plenty of jobs there, it’s just whether or not the younger generation want to do them,” she said.

In response to the criticism, a McDonald’s spokeswoman told news.com.au: “People keep coming back to McDonald’s restaurants because they enjoy and trust the food we serve them.”

“We encourage our customers to enjoy Macca’s as part of a balanced lifestyle,” she said.

“McDonald’s has a long history of supporting the communities in which we operate, providing jobs and supporting community and sporting groups.”

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McDonald’s plans to expand further into regional areas. Picture: Amanda Parkinson

Why there is backlash to the plan

Deakin University obesity expert Associate Professor Gary Sacks said the problem with a chain like McDonald’s, is not just that the food is unhealthy.

“You also get the marketing, the convenience of it and the cheap prices compared to a regular burger joint that might be locally owned,” he told news.com.au. “It does encourage excess consumption of unhealthy food.”

Prof Sacks said it could also led to areas becoming “food deserts”, where it is easier to access fast-food than it is to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.

“The focus in regional areas needs to be on expanding fresh food and vegetables, and making these affordable rather than making it easier to get junk food,” he said.

The convenience and price of fast food also makes those on lower incomes particularly susceptible to eating unhealthily.

“It’s often relatively cheap to feed a family with McDonald’s but importantly, it’s also convenient so for people working long hours and who are stressed, it’s super convenient and cheap to go to McDonald’s,” Prof Sacks said.

One McDonald’s meal consisting of a burger, fries and soft drink, can contain around two-thirds of a person’s daily energy intake, meaning people can’t eat much else for the rest of the day if they don’t want to gain weight.

A McDonald’s meal can contain around two-thirds of a person’s daily calorie intake. Picture: Brendan Radke

Prof Sacks said rates of obesity already tended to be higher in some regional areas partly due factors such as high transport costs and the low profitability of small business, which can make it more expensive for locals to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.

He said people with lower incomes also often had a poorer diet and higher rates of disease.

“Many regional areas also have a low income as well and so you are coming off the back of already poorer health status in the population,” he said.

Access to healthcare services is also often not as good in regional areas as that provided to people living in cities.

Difficult to stop fast-food outlets opening up

It’s often very difficult for local councils to stop the development of fast-food franchises because they can’t refuse a planning application based on health grounds.

“That is a huge constraint for the community … councils don’t have a say in what kind of stores open up in their towns,” Prof Sacks said.

“There could be strong community sentiment that they don’t actually want McDonald’s opening up there or fast food franchises — but there’s not really much they can do to stop it from happening.”

Dr Houghton said some local communities had managed to stop fast-food outlets if there was strong enough opposition.

“You do see them protesting and sometimes they are successful in stopping McDonald’s from happening but essentially it comes down to what the local community wants,” she said.