McDonald's Looks Beyond Burgers

Oak Brook, Illinois--Located on street corner after street corner, McDonald's brings in 46 million customers a day in more than 30,000 locations around the globe. Now the world's largest restaurant company is exploring how to use that vast real estate network to sell other items beyond food. Super-secretive about it, McDonald's Corp. executives are calling the strategic project simply "extension" and have said the company is about two years away from any kind of launch "beyond food" but is "going to try a bunch of experiments."

Retail experts say McDonald's would probably stick to its core audience, families, with this "extension" by building on its partnership with Walt Disney Co. McDonald's could, for example, sell toys or offer travel planning to Disney parks while mothers watch their kids play in McDonald's playgrounds. -The Wall Street Journal