McDonald’s is making the investment to expedite recovery and revitalise sales. Credit: Sombat Muycheen / Shutterstock.

Fast-food giant McDonald’s has committed an investment of more than $100m to expedite recovery and revitalise sales in the US following an E coli outbreak associated with its slivered onions, Bloomberg has reported.

McDonald’s aims to support franchisees who have experienced a downturn in business, particularly in the most affected states.

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With a $65m allocation for these owners, the company is targeting a swift bounce-back. The remaining $35m will be channelled into initiatives to drive customer traffic, including marketing campaigns.

During a recent earnings call, McDonald’s chief financial officer Ian Borden informed investors about the immediate negative impact on daily sales and traffic following the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) announcement linking the E coli outbreak to the company’s Quarter Pounders.

Despite the setback, executives at McDonald’s remain confident that the situation will not materially affect the overall business.

This week marked the completion of the Quarter Pounder’s return, complete with slivered onions, to menus across all nationwide restaurants. This follows a temporary removal of the item from certain locations, as indicated in a memo to franchisees.

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In its statement, McDonald’s USA said: “We’ve committed to communicating quickly and transparently and wanted to provide an update following FDA [the US Food and Drug Administration] and CDC updates.

“The FDA confirmed that “there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak at McDonald’s restaurants” and that all confirmed cases at this time originated before McDonald’s took action (announced on 22 October 2024) to remove slivered onions at select restaurants.

“McDonald’s identified an alternate supplier for the approximately 900 restaurants that had temporarily stopped serving Quarter Pounder burgers with slivered onions. Over the past week, these restaurants resumed the sale of Quarter Pounder burgers with slivered onions.”