$3 menu items, a $4 breakfast, and fewer visits: McDonald’s barrage of deals isn’t winning over enough customers

The $5 Sausage McMuffin meal didn’t do the trick. Neither did the mix-and-match deal that let customers choose, say, the Filet-O-Fish and Chicken McNuggets for $6. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski has been trying to convince customers squeezed by inflation or tempted away by competitors’ burgers and chicken sandwiches to return to the Golden Arches. But so far, the company’s barrage of new meal deals and aggressive marketing to promote them have come up short. In each quarter this year, McDonald’s U.S. growth has shrunk and customer visits have reportedly dropped. Wall Street has taken notice: McDonald’s shares are now down 32% from an all-time high in February. What’s worse, some of its efforts to repair…