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<p>NEW YORK (AP) &#8212; McDonald&#8217;s acknowledged that it lost 500 million customer transactions in the U.S. since 2012 and laid out plans to get more people back into its restaurants &#8212; including by offering more tempting value deals, and the option to order and pay on mobile phones by the end of the year.</p><p>The world&#8217;s biggest burger chain said Wednesday during its investor day in Chicago that it had lost some of its customer visits to other major fast-food chains, rather than to newer rivals. To reverse the declines, it said it will also more aggressively market coffee and pastries and that it is looking to expand delivery in major markets such as the U.S.</p><p>McDonald&#8217;s outlined its plans after having recorded its fourth straight year of declining guest counts at established U.S. locations in 2016, despite the fanfare over the rollout of an all-day breakfast menu. The company also trimmed its domestic store base for the second year in a row.</p><p>In addition to letting customers order on their phones, McDonald&#8217;s noted it is transforming restaurants to incorporate ordering kiosks and table service. CEO Steve Easterbrook, who took over in March 2015, also on Wednesday discussed the potential for delivery, with 75 percent of the population in the company&#8217;s top five markets &#8212; including the U.S. &#8212; living within three miles of a McDonald&#8217;s.</p><p>Asked by an analyst why a person would order McDonald&#8217;s once delivery is widely available in the restaurant industry, Easterbrook said the chain&#8217;s expansive footprint gives it the advantage of being able to get food to people more quickly.</p><p>Richard Adams, a restaurant industry consultant and former McDonald&#8217;s franchisee, noted that the restaurant industry has never been more competitive. While McDonald&#8217;s may be able to drive up customer visits again, he questioned whether the company will be able to get back to the level of total transactions it had four years ago.</p><p>&#8220;If you look at the eating out options, it&#8217;s just so much more than 10 years ago,&#8221; Adams said.</p><p>McDonald&#8217;s is being pressured not just from other big fast-food players like Burger King and Taco Bell, but from newer rivals that largely emphasize freshness and taste, as well as the availability of food at convenience stores like 7-Eleven and supermarkets. So even if people are still going to McDonald&#8217;s, they may be going less often than they used to. The NPD Group has said it expects overall customer traffic in the restaurant industry to remain &#8220;stalled&#8221; this year, as it was last year.</p><p>McDonald&#8217;s, meanwhile, has touted the changes it is making to improve its core menu, such as cooking its Chicken McNuggets without artificial preservatives and testing fresh beef for some burgers. In April, the company also plans to launch a limited-time offer for $1 sodas of any size.</p><p>That may offer a quick fix for driving customers into stores, since McDonald&#8217;s has said the drop in customer visits is partly the result of its lack of compelling replacement for its Dollar Menu.</p><p>For 2019 and beyond, McDonald&#8217;s said it expects to expand its operating margin from the high-20 percent range to the mid-40 percent range, as it sells more of its restaurants to franchisees and relies more heavily on royalty fees. By the end of this year, the company expects 93 percent of its restaurants to be franchised.</p><p>Other chains such as Burger King and Dunkin&#8217; Donuts are almost entirely franchised, while Starbucks and Chipotle own most their restaurants.</p><p>After having been halted before the company&#8217;s announcements, shares in McDonald&#8217;s gained $1.72, or about 1.3 percent, to $129.37.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The golden arches at sunset at a McDonald&#8217;s restaurant in Robinson Township, Pa. on Feb. 22, 2017. McDonald&#8217;s Corp. says it will launch mobile order-and-pay and curbside pickup in the U.S. toward the end of 2017. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_AP17060693174888-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>The golden arches at sunset at a McDonald&#8217;s restaurant in Robinson Township, Pa. on Feb. 22, 2017. McDonald&#8217;s Corp. says it will launch mobile order-and-pay and curbside pickup in the U.S. toward the end of 2017. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Candice Choi</p><p>AP Food Industry Writer</p></bylineMeta></div>

McStrategy: Burger chain McDonald’s lays out plan to reverse drop in visits