McDonald¡¯s Japan took a series of hits starting in 2014 that threatened to crack its golden arches: a supplier was selling expired chicken, a human tooth was found in french fries and a child was injured by a plastic shard in a sundae.
Sales plummeted to their lowest level since the company went public in 2001, and the chain closed hundreds of restaurants. McDonald¡¯s Corp. in the U.S. said it was considering selling its 49.9 percent stake in the Japanese company as losses piled up.
¡°I remember thinking at that time: ¡®McDonald¡¯s is over,¡¯ ¡± said Ichiro Fujita, a Torrance, California-based consultant who helps bring foreign restaurant brands to Japan. ¡°A lot of people even said they might need to change the name because the image was so bad.¡±
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