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McDonald’s is looking to bring its ubiquitous Big Mac to some 9,000 more locations worldwide by 2027 as part of an ambitious expansion plan.
Ahead of its investor day on Wednesday, the world’s biggest fast-food chain said it aims for the next few years to become the fast food behemoth’s “fastest period of growth in the brand’s history.”
In four year’s time, there will be 50,000 McDonald’s restaurants, the company said in its announcement on Tuesday — about 9,000 more than it currently has spread across 118 countries, CNBC earlier reported.
To stay on target, McDonald’s is projecting a net new restaurant growth of 4% in 2024, which will tick up to 5% in the years following.
New outposts are expected to contribute roughly 2.5% of systemwide sales growth.
Such a plan will require a big chunk of capital spending — about $2.5 billion in capital expenditures in 2024 alone, McDonald’s said.
The figure is higher than the $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion McDonald’s originally anticipated spending next year, the company said in its earnings call with investors following the release of its 2022 fiscal fourth-quarter earnings.
Most of the locations will be across the US, McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden confirmed in a statement to The Post, noting that McDonald’s executives have spoken of wanting to open more restaurants across the South to follow where its customers have recently moved.
Other new locations are set to open in its international operated markets segment, which includes Canada, France and Australia, Borden said.
The Chicago-based chain also hopes to up its loyalty program members by a whopping 100 million in the same time period, to 250 million 90-day active users, in a move to prove there’s still an appetite for its beef burgers and McNuggets.
During last year’s McDonald’s and Cactus Plant Flea Market collab frenzy, the Golden Arches released an adult Happy Meal complete with one of four collectable toys.
The partnership’s success prompted McDonald’s to revive the Happy Meal for hungry patrons aged 18 and up.
Once again a limited-edition offering, the nostalgic box launches Dec. 11 at participating McDonald’s locations, and will run as long as supplies permit.
McDonald’s is expected to share more about its strategy to attract new loyal customers in the coming years during its investor day on Wednesday.
Also on its investor day, investors are anticipating McDonald’s leadership to reveal more details on CosMc’s, a spinoff chain of smaller restaurants the company said would debut in 2024.
CosMc is a yellow-colored part alien, part robot who appeared in the second phase of McDonaldland — the franchise’s fictional world inhabited by Ronald McDonald and his friends.
The lesser-known character, which began appearing in McDonald’s ads in 1987, has six arms and relocated from his home in space when he discovered McDonald’s burgers and fries. (McDonaldland and its cast debuted in 1971).
“CosMc’s is a small-format concept with all the DNA of McDonald’s, but its own unique personality,” golden arches CEO Chris Kempczinski said during a second-quarter earnings call in July.
So far, it’s unclear how CosMc will play into the new brand, which Kempczinski added will be tested in a handful of sites in “a limited geography” come early next year.
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