McDonald’s plans massive China expansion
McDonald’s has announced expansion plans for China, hoping to almost double its presence in the country within the next five years.
The plans will see China soon become McDonald’s largest market outside of the United States.
There are currently 2, 500 McDonald’s restaurants in China, a figure McDonald’s is aiming to increase to 4, 500 by 2022. Delivery will be a point of focus in the expansion with over 75 per cent of the restaurants to offer delivery services by 2022.
The expansion will be facilitated through a strategic partnership with Chinese holding company, CITIC, and US asset management company, The Carlyle Group.
McDonald’s Chief Executive Officer, Steve Easterbrook, said the partnership will allow for better localised decision-making.
“Mainland China and Hong Kong are leading the global system in capturing new consumer trends such as delivery and digitalisation and its driving strong performance and growth momentum,” Easterbrook said.
“I have great confidence in our new partnership to unlock the full growth potential of China.”
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the new McDonald’s China, Zhang Yichen, said the partnership will strengthen McDonald’s China’s entrepreneurial spirit.
“It will also help us ensure first-class customer service and food safety while accelerating our growth in mainland China and Hong Kong,” Yichen said.
“We believe this is a winning formula that fuses McDonald’s global quality standards and branding with CITIC and Carlyle’s extensive resources and market expertise in real estate, finance, supply chains, consumer & retail, and technology.”
The decision to focus on a China expansion comes despite President Donald Trump’s drive for US companies to focus on local investment and jobs.
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