McDonald's sales are soaring.

Sales at restaurants open at least a year jumped 6.2% globally, including a 5.4% increase in the US, for the first quarter. Quarterly profit rose 35% over the previous year.

"Our turnaround is taking hold," McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a statement on Friday.

McDonald's said that the launch of all-day breakfast in October and new McPick 2 promotions are driving the sales momentum.

Customers have long begged McDonald's to make its breakfast menu available all day.

Since the launch, customers have been ordering breakfast-menu items on the side with their meals during lunch and dinner hours, driving up ticket prices during those times, Easterbrook said.

The McPick 2 promotions have also addressed a top complaint — that the McDonald's menu didn't offer enough value options.

The burger chain upset many customers two years ago when it reformulated the Dollar Menu by axing the $1 price ceiling and turning it into the "Dollar Menu & More" with items that cost up to $5.

"Some of the challenges we've had in the US have been somewhat self-inflicted," Easterbrook said during a conference call in July. "We moved away from the Dollar Menu and didn't replace it with significant-enough value in the eyes of consumers."

McDonald's introduced McPick 2 in January. It let customers select two of the following items for $2: a McDouble, a McChicken, small fries, and mozzarella sticks.

In late February, McDonald's raised the price of the promotion to $5. The new promotion let customers select two of the following for $5: a Big Mac, 10-piece chicken McNuggets, a Filet-O-Fish sandwich, and a Quarter Pounder with cheese.

NOW WATCH: We tried the new value menus at McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's — and the winner is clear





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