5 Major Changes Coming to McDonald's This Year
This week, McDonald's announced the creation of a new Restaurant Experience Team. "This exciting development for our business, McFamily, and System will move vision and big ideas to execution, with even greater speed," the brand explained on its website. What changes should you expect to see at the fast food chain? Here are five significant changes coming to McDonald's this year.
They Are Amping Up R&D to Get New Menu Items Faster
In terms of research and development, McDonald's is investing in research and development to get new menu items from the research stage into restaurants faster. Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski used the example of upgrading the brand's signature burgers, which took years. "It's just going to allow us to be faster," Kempczinski said in an interview.
They Will Also Focus More on Tech
Jill McDonald, currently heading the international division that includes Europe, Canada, and Australia, is transitioning into a new role as the first chief restaurant experience officer on May 1. She will focus on streamlining tech across operations, supply chain, franchising, development, design, delivery and the company's innovation lab. "I wanted one person who's actually looking at all these tech things through the eyes of the restaurant general manager," Kempczinski said.
And, Creating New and Innovative Drinks and Desserts
Expect new drinks and desserts, as McDonald's will focus on developing new ones faster. Charlie Newberger, currently the company's CosMc offshoot, will focus on beverages and desserts, helping the company develop products faster and attract more customers. For example, Kempczinski points out that having an energy drink or refresher might help them win back customers. "We just need to make sure that our menu offering doesn't give somebody a reason why they come to us for their food and they maybe go to the place next door to go get the beverage," Kempczinski said.
They Will Open New Restaurants
McDonald's plans to open new restaurants, from 43,500 today to 50,000 by 2027. Kempczinski hopes the new innovation structure will help improve McDonald's market share and attract more customers.
There Will be More Chicken
Also, expect more chicken. Kempczinski noted that they are focusing on improving their offerings. In a previous investors' call, Kempczinski discussed the resurrection of The Snack Wrap, maintaining that chicken has been a hit for the chain. "We're excited about the significant opportunity we see within our chicken portfolio and see the potential to add another point of chicken market share by the end of 2026," he said. "This year, there is incredible energy for the return of Snack Wraps in the U.S., along with a few other markets," he said. "My U.S. team would kill me if I gave any more details about the when and the exact specifics of how we're going to plan on doing that, but certainly expect that to come online later in the year," he said.
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