McDonald's Corp. has an appetite for more after seeing encouraging results from Thanksgiving. The successful Thanksgiving Day inspired top executives of the biggest fast food chain with an idea of opening its diners and franchise restaurants on Christmas Day. For some this thought might be a little bit crazy but McDonald's Corp. believes that this is the cure for the weak sales posted in October.

Success of Thanksgiving's sales

Certainly McDonald's Corp. knows how to surprise everyone... Just on the 10th of December, the world's biggest fast food chain informed that the U.S. saw an increase of 2,5 percent in November, compared to a decrease of 2,2 percent in October. It was the first slump in sales in over 9 years. The growth in November was mainly generated by franchise restaurants open on Thanksgiving, a day during which many of them are traditionally shut down.

The results were so encouraging that McDonald's Corp. decided to urge the owners of its franchise restaurants to open on Christmas so sales in December would be boosted. The company indicated that restaurants opened on 2011 Christmas saw a median $5,500 in sales. As for the results for this Thanksgiving, McDonald's-owned restaurants saw even higher results of a median $6,000. Data showed that over 6,000 more restaurants decided to keep open on the 2012 Thanksgiving Day. A source familiar with the matter indicated that franchise restaurants working on Thanksgiving comprised for approximately 40 percent of the company's sales growth in November.

Estimates show that if all McDonald's stores opened and if each earned $6,000, the world's biggest chain would see almost $85 million on the 25th of December. Therefore, it is not surprising that the company decides not only to keep its restaurants open later and longer, but also to keep them open on days during which their doors are traditionally locked. McDonald's Corp. seizes every opportunity to make its operation successful and profitable.

Holidays on the road

According to a survey, customers do not have any issue with McDonald's restaurants staying open on holidays, including Christmas, as some people have no place to celebrate at, not to mention that some have no beloved ones to share with these special moments as well. But McDonald's restaurants will not be only visited by those people.

Analysts are strongly convinced that people, who will be on their way to families, might enter doors of McDonald's restaurants as other locations will be probably not working on Christmas. It is estimated that over 90 million U.S. citizens will travel at least 50 miles during the last week of 2012, according to the analysis conducted by AAA.

Due to localization of its franchise restaurants, McDonald's Corp. is expected to benefit from being open on Christmas and other days as well. Even though the Big Mac and fries are not typical Christmas menu, Wall Street investors probably will welcome the  biggest fast food chain's decision to keep their stores open during holidays.

Industry Leaders Magazine