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Meet the typical McDonald's customer, a middle-aged white woman buying breakfast

Mary Meisenzahl   

Meet the typical McDonald's customer, a middle-aged white woman buying breakfast
Retail2 min read
  • The average McDonald's customer is a married Gen X white woman in the suburban southeast.
  • McDonald's has over 36,000 locations and nearly $20 billion in revenue in 2020.
  • The typical customer makes 44 trips per year and spends about $8 per trip.

McDonald's is one of the most recognizable brands in the world and is often synonymous with fast food in general. The chain has more than 36,000 locations in more than 100 countries, including nearly 14,000 in the US. McDonald's revenue totaled $19.21 billion in 2020, with an income of $4.73 billion.

The typical McDonald's customer is a married white woman between the ages of 41 and 56, according to data provided by analytics firm Numerator. She likely lives in a suburban area in the southeastern US, and her household makes more than $80,000 a year. This typical shopper either has an undergraduate degree or attended some college.

Read more: Grubhub's plunge to the bottom: Employees reveal how the company dominated food delivery, then nearly lost it all to Uber Eats and DoorDash

The average McDonald's customer is strikingly similar to the typical Walmart customer, who is also a married white woman in the southeastern US suburbs.

The McDonald's shopper spends an average of $8.35 per trip to the fast-food chain, purchasing three items per visit. She makes 44 McDonald's trips per year, and she's most likely to buy soda, sausage breakfast sandwiches, hash browns, crispy chicken sandwiches, and french fries.

Breakfast items make up almost half of the typical McDonald's customer's regular purchases, and the chain is considered the best fast food breakfast, according to a customer survey conducted by Insider. The chain discontinued all-day breakfast in March 2020, to the great dismay of many customers, Kate Taylor reported for Insider.

When it was rolled out in 2015 same-store sales increased, but the simplified menu implemented since has significantly cut drive-thru wait times, a major fast-food battleground.

This typical McDonald's customer frequents fast-food restaurants in general. She makes 149 trips to quick-service restaurants in a year, amounting to several visits each week. Just about one-third of those fast food stops are at McDonald's. Her average spending on all of these trips is $11.99, which is close to the total average spending of $12.20 across all quick service.

Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.

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