- Chris Stent
Thanks, Kevin. We will now open the call for analyst and investor questions. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from Joe Buckley of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Joe Buckley - Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Good morning. Thank you. I would like to ask a about the U.S. all-day breakfast launch. I don’t know if you can talk about the experience so far sales wise and whether you can talk about the sales or not, maybe talk about some of the operational issues, challenges and what you have learned kind of two weeks into the national launch?
Steve Easterbrook - President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, hi, Joe, Steve here. So, we launched officially nationwide on October 6, and I would say the enthusiasm levels from customers and from our teams and the restaurants are high. It’s been a successful rollout. The owner/operators have really embraced this. I mean, to go from a test market in May to a nationwide rollout by October is a significant validation of the alignment the operators behind this. When they approved it, they approved it with a 98% plus approval rating around the country. So, there is a lot of unity and alignment behind it. And from an operational perspective having spent a fair bit of time in the markets for the last two or three weeks, the operators have been really again infused at the fact that this has created. It’s been a lot smoother from an operational perspective than perhaps people had feared. The reality is the ingredients, the equipment, the training, the procedures is already very, very well-established in the restaurants. And by launching all-day breakfast, whilst at the same time removing some of the more complex lower sales items at the same time, we have a net simplification in the restaurants, and we have a – we are driving full. So, it’s early days to give too much a read on sales, but we are certainly encouraged. And more importantly, in raw phrase they are very encouraged about how we have kicked off.
Chris Stent - Vice President, Investor Relations
Next question is from Andy Barish of Jefferies.
Andy Barish - Jefferies
Hey, guys. Just on the U.S. margin side of the story, is that 400 basis points going to kind of continue on the labor line, just to try to get a sense of that investment over the next year or so?
Steve Easterbrook - President and Chief Executive Officer
Hey, Andy. As we announced in April, we made this decision to invest in our people and raise wages, provide paid time off. And at that time, we indicated that we expected the impact of this as well as other state-mandated increases to be about 200 basis points on our margins for the full year this year. Since obviously the large majority of that impact happens in the second half of the year that implies that the impact on the second half would be substantially more than 200 basis points. So, the impact is relatively in line with our expectations. The payback from the investment will take a little time in terms of lowering turnover, having stronger employees, deliver a better customer experience ultimately driving top line sales. Moving forward, it will obviously continue to impact margin comparisons for the next three quarters until we lap the July 1. But as you know, margins are also significantly impacted by our top line. So, if we are able to generate higher comps that would certainly mitigate some of that impact.
Kevin Ozan - Chief Financial Officer
Andy, just to add on to that, just clearly there is the cost element, we try to be very transparent about that. Ultimately, the ambition from the move we have made is to just drive the experience in the restaurants and we see this as a meaningful move for us to be able to attract and attain the best talent in the marketplace. And if we can drive some efficiencies by reducing turnover which it motivated, committed workforce tend to reduce the turnover levels, we maybe able to get some benefit if it comebacks from that. But I just wanted to broaden out the conversation, because yes, there is a cost, but frankly, this is part of the bigger picture, running better restaurants, motivated teams and committed crew.
Chris Stent - Vice President, Investor Relations
Next question is from Will Slabaugh of Stephens.
Billy Sherrill - Stephens
Yes, thanks guys. It’s actually Billy on for Will. Just wondering if now that we have a new reporting structure, if you could just kind of walk us through some of the cadence and I guess distribution I guess of the refranchising initiatives and maybe some of the new store openings across each segment?
Kevin Ozan - Chief Financial Officer
Yes. So, you can see the actual new store openings within each segment in the back of the earnings release. As far as moving forward and how kind of capital and refranchising new openings may happen in the future, we will talk about that more in the upcoming investor meeting in November.
Chris Stent - Vice President, Investor Relations
Next question is from David Palmer of RBC.
David Palmer - RBC
Thanks. Looking back at the summer ‘11 value menu, could you just comment as to where that did work, where it didn’t work, some of the lessons of that? And separately, the simplification of the menu in the U.S, it seems to be something that’s more to come. Where do you stand on that? And where do you see that going forward? Thanks.
Steve Easterbrook - President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes, hi David. So, from the value program across the sub, I think on the call last quarter, it got off to a little bit of a bumpy start. As we launched it, it was in a way bumping into some of the local value initiatives that each of the regions were driving, which made – and then we reset and the performance of the $2.50 double cheese and small fry improved across the summer as the focus got clearer and our execution in the restaurants got sharper. So, it filled the gap for us. We do have a desire, along with our owner/operators of a more sustained value platform, which we will be looking to introduce through 2016, but it certainly played a meaningful role across the summer helping to drive the footfall.
In terms of the operational sales – in terms of implication, I just – again, simplification in the way we are looking at this and the way the team in the U.S. is looking at it is menu is part of it, but there is a lot more we can do to help simplify the restaurants on a day-to-day basis both from a customer perspective, but also from our managers and our crew. So, there is operational simplification, there is training simple inflation. There is things we can do with merchandising to make it easier for customers and navigate the restaurants and also with packaging as well. So, the team, there were sub-teams that are addressing each of these areas of opportunity. So, yes, menu is one piece, but the whole operational complexity, the training and merchandising and packaging is another. And it’s the sum of those parts is what manages and begin to recognize that we are working hard to make their life a little easier, so they can just focus on what they love to do which is just running the restaurants and serving customers.
Chris Stent - Vice President, Investor Relations
Next question is from Matt DiFrisco of Guggenheim.
Matt DiFrisco - Guggenheim
Thank you. The question is that you guys cite that the chicken item was – which I think most of us perceive to be somewhat premium was a successful driver and welcomed by the American consumer in the part of their recovery and the comp going positive. But a lot of the attention has been mentioned about sort of the value consumer and the value coming down. And there are some votes coming down on the new value menu in the weeks ahead. I am just curious, is this – has this expense maybe emboldened you to think there is and the new product innovation might be a little more skewing towards the premium side or how should we look at the – where the easiest opportunity is to recover that consumer that might be in the near-term lap so that you can get back quicker and what would be the thing of the marketing maybe respond to the most of, would you think it will be premium or value?
Steve Easterbrook - President and Chief Executive Officer
Yes. Thanks for the question. And again, the way we look at this is how can we deliver the best value across all tiers on that menu. So you are actually right with the buttermilk chicken. That was premium product, premium quality and a premium price that goes with it. And because of the taste, because of the quality and the execution of restaurants, their customers really did respond well. And as I said earlier, it’s got outperformance at the high end of our expectations. But I think you would see, as we build our calendars out across any of our markets, but certainly here in the U.S, we do want to – we want to provide the best value of each level, great value core products, great value premium. And probably one of the areas where we are still a little weaker is at that more entry level, value level. And that’s what you have been hearing about. And that’s what – we are working with the operators on and the operators are aligning behind what they believe will be strong platform as we enter 2016 to help drive the foothold. Because we know that the top line going into positive territory was encouraging for us. There is no doubt about that. Our ultimate measure of success will be serving more customers more often and that’s getting the guest counts moving as well.
Chris Stent - Vice President, Investor Relations
Next question is from Jake Bartlett of SunTrust.
Jake Bartlett - SunTrust
Thanks for taking the question. Just to gauge the kind of the core, the turnaround in the U.S. aside from the breakfast all day, when do you think that the fourth quarter in the U.S. will be positive even without the breakfast all day introduction?
Steve Easterbrook - President and Chief Executive Officer
It’s a difficult