Survey fails to shake up McDonald’s plans in the UAE
McDonald’s UAE has yet again refused to shake-up its menu by reintroducing milkshakes – despite a whopping three quarters of consumers in the country calling for the sweet treat to be brought back.
McDonald’s sold milkshakes between 1994 and 2008 in UAE outlets but removed them due to “low demand”.
But with recent fervent calls from readers for the return of the McD’s milkshake, 7DAYS conducted a recent poll of more than 1,500 readers. And some 72 per cent, exactly 1,104 people, of the 1,539 polled, said “yes” to milkshakes on McDonald’s menus.
McDonald’s UAE though gave short thrift to the shake survey. A spokesperson for McDonald’s UAE said: “We appreciate the proactivity of 7Days in conducting a poll about Milk Shake popularity amongst their readers, and we are happy to see consumer feedback. However, at this stage, there is no intention to reintroduce Milk Shake back into the UAE market and we will keep our customers updated with any product launch or relaunch”.
Milkshake fan and Dubai-based Scottish expat Rob Scott blasted McDonald’s decision as “pure mental”.
Scott said: “Everyone knows the milkshakes bring all the boys to the yard. And damn right McDonald’s is better than yours – or anyone else’s. McDonald’s said it was ‘low demand’ but the people have spoken – only to find out the folk there appear to be as clownish as Ronald McDonald himself. Why are McDonald’s not giving us tasty milkshakes when there’s overwhelming proof consumers want them?!”
Despite repeated requests made to McDonald’s main press headquarters in Chicago, the fast-food firm would not comment as to why the company does not sell milkshakes in the UAE.
Kailash Nagdev, the UAE managing director of internationally-renowned research firm YouGov, confirmed that the 7DAYS McDonald’s milkshake poll of more than 1,500 people was reflective of opinion across the UAE as a whole.
“Most of the surveys (in the UAE) have about 1,000 people from an online panel”, he said.
