Fast food giant McDonald's Holdings Co. Japan has said that its consolidated sales in January-March rose 4.9 percent from a year before to 72,286 million yen.

The growth reflected the popularity of rice burgers, which were released in February, and "Choi Mac" affordable menu items, the company said Tuesday.

The McDonald's restaurants have halted in-store dining nationwide while continuing their takeout and delivery services, in response to the spread of the new coronavirus.

With many people spending time at home, the stores enjoyed an increase in the number of customers using drive-through and other services to place orders for the whole family.

Although the overall number of customers has gone down, spending per customer has been increasing. In April, same-store sales at McDonald's Japan rose 6.5 pct from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the company's net profit in the first quarter of 2020 dropped 14.8 pct to 4,713 million yen, chiefly due to costs for boosting the number of outlets offering delivery services and ballooning investments to educate newly hired staff.

The company maintained its outlook that it would post increases in sales and net profit for the full business year through December.

JIJI Press