McDonald’s Advances NEXT Strategy to Become First Choice for More Customers, More Often

• Targets 1.5 percentage points of market share gains in both chicken and beverage categories by 2030 while maintaining its leadership position in beef

• Expands operating margin to low-to-mid 50% range by 2030 and delivers approximately 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency gains

• Launches Make It Golden, a multi-year, Systemwide commitment to elevate the customer experience through great food and great hospitality that are uniquely McDonald's.

CHICAGO, IL -- Today McDonald's Corporation details its McDonald's > NEXT strategy and announces new financial targets tied to the enhanced growth and productivity NEXT will enable.

McDonald's > NEXT is an ambition to be the first choice for more customers, more often, leveraging the capabilities built through Accelerating the Arches - with dedicated value leadership to create more demand and deliver it more efficiently to drive growth.

"McDonald's has the unmatched scale, customer insights, brand loyalty, and operational capabilities to not only adapt to the next wave of change in our industry, but to turn it into an advantage," said McDonald's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski. "That's what McDonald's > NEXT is about: to be the first choice for more customers, more often - while making our restaurants stronger and easier to run. We are confident that executing across the key components of NEXT will unlock stronger restaurant economics, generate attractive returns for the Company, our franchisees and shareholders, and increase capacity to keep investing in growth."

Scale and capabilities as competitive advantage

With more than 70 million customers served daily, a menu with 17 iconic billion-dollar brands, and nearly 220 million 90-day active loyalty members across 70 loyalty markets, McDonald's possesses assets unmatched in its industry.

Since the launch of the Accelerating the Arches strategy in 2020, the Company has continued to successfully modernize its technology and infrastructure to better leverage its operational advantages and scale. This includes building common technology platforms, a single enterprise data foundation, and operating systems and capabilities across more than 46,000 restaurants, helping to identify opportunities faster, test them rigorously, and deploy what works more efficiently.

NEXT: a growth and productivity engine

As customer expectations and industry dynamics continue to shift, McDonald's > NEXT will ensure the Company is positioned to drive durable comparable sales and guest count growth, gain market share, and enhance restaurant productivity. The four pillars of McDonald's > NEXT will each contribute to a new chapter of growth and drive system and shareholder returns:

• Menu > NEXT elevates taste and quality through gold standard execution and innovation to drive stronger preference, more first-choice occasions, and baseline guest-count growth.

• Consumer > NEXT capitalizes on McDonald's brand fandom and further personalizes customer relationships to generate more visits over time.

• Restaurant > NEXT catalyzes growth and fuels productivity through elevated execution, simplifying operations, modernizing restaurant design, and deploying GenAI enabled ArchIQ at scale to unlock about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency as McDonald's NEXT elements are deployed across the U.S. and International Operated Markets.

• People > NEXT equips employees to deliver a new level of hospitality that creates a better, more consistent experience for customers - increasing repeat visits.

McDonald's > NEXT will be supported by Make It Golden, a multi-year, Systemwide commitment to elevate the customer experience. Beginning on Founder's Day, October 5, Make It Golden will bring the System together around delivering great food and great hospitality that are uniquely McDonald's.

Taken together, NEXT is a value creation strategy that will generate more first choice occasions to drive guest-count growth; combined with efficiency this improves restaurant economics; and stronger economics creates capacity to reinvest, reinforcing the cycle of growth and productivity.

Investing alongside franchisees

NEXT is the destination. Markets will define their paths, pairing globally scaled solutions with local insights and sequencing the work with a clear focus on franchisee capacity and investment returns.

To accelerate restaurant modernization, technology deployment and operational improvements, McDonald's plans to provide approximately $8.5 billion in total NEXT partnering support through 2036, including approximately $5 billion through 2030, through a combination of rent relief and capital support.

The target of approximately 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency improvements is equivalent to roughly $100,000 in annual cash flow benefits for the average U.S. restaurant, the majority of which is expected to benefit the restaurant's bottom line over time. McDonald's estimates these investments will generate an approximately four-year payback for franchisees, after partnering, while improving both customer and crew experiences.

Financial performance expectations

"McDonald's scale and financial strength reflects decades of disciplined execution, prudent decision-making, and a proven ability to create long-term value. McDonald's > NEXT builds on that foundation while allocating capital to drive growth and productivity. The financial targets we are introducing today are grounded in the expected economics of Restaurant > NEXT and the opportunities we see ahead," said Executive Vice President and Global Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden.

Financial Targets