Hundreds more McDonald’s restaurants are coming to the United States, along with 10 CosMc’s locations, the chain’s new spinoff brand. (Renee Schiavone/Patch),
CHICAGO — Hundreds more McDonald’s restaurants are coming to the United States, as the fast food giant seeks to place more golden arches where people live, along with at least 10 locations of its new spinoff brand, CosMc’s.
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McDonald’s Corp., based in Chicago, announced its ambitious growth plan on Investor Day on Wednesday, saying it wants to have 50,000 restaurants by 2027. The chain had 41,198 restaurants across the globe in September, according to CNBC.
About 900 of those restaurants would be in the United States.
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The chain said it plans to grow its restaurant footprint by about 4-5% per year. Company executives previously said its current footprint is out of date and doesn’t align with where Americans live nowadays. That includes a shift to the South and Southeast, according to CNBC.
Additionally, the chain plans to open 10 pilot locations of its new CosMc’s spinoff brand by the end of 2024. Locations are planned in the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio metro areas, and the first will open in Bolingbrook, Illinois, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago.
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CosMc’s will serve up new drinks — such as specialty lemonades and teas, blended beverages and cold coffees — and a small lineup of food, the company said. Some chain favorites will be available, as well as new items such as pretzel bites, McPops, a spicy queso sandwich and even a creamy avocado tomatillo sandwich.
“As I’ve said before, there has never been a better time to be part of Brand McDonald’s,” the company’s president and CEO Chris Kempczinski said in a news release. “The McDonald’s System has demonstrated exceptional execution of our Accelerating the Arches strategy and is delivering tremendous results across our key growth pillars.”
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Stephens analyst Joshua Long told Reuters that the goal sounds ambitious, but is “definitely exciting if they can execute it at scale.”
“There’s no reason to think that they’re not able to achieve this,” Long said.
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The company highlighted that its core business continues to be pinned on familiar fan favorites: the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets and “World-Famous Fries,” which represent about 65% of its systemwide sales, and drive profit growth.
“Seventeen classic McDonald’s menu items are billion-dollar brands in their own right, beloved by customers around the world,” the company noted.
McDonald’s said its “Best Burger” initiative — which seeks to improve burger quality — will also be rolled out to nearly all its markets by 2026. It’s already been launched at about 70 markets.
Also announced at its Investor Day, was McDonald’s partnership with Google Cloud to use artificial intelligence to improve operations. The chain hopes to use cloud technology and AI at its restaurants worldwide to accelerate “automation innovation from equipment manufacturers” and allow restaurant managers to quickly spot — and resolve — problems to reduce business disruptions. AI will reduce complexity for workers and give customers hotter, fresher food, the company said.
“We’re focused on making AI more helpful for everyone, with the potential to unlock many new opportunities for innovation,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. “The restaurant industry is already benefiting from these advances, and we’re excited to see how McDonald’s will use our generative AI, cloud, and edge computing tools to improve their iconic dining experience for their employees and their customers all over the world.”
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