2 weeks Ago By Press Release
McDonald’s Corp., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, has entered into a multi-unit franchise agreement with Golden Arches Development Corp. (GADC), its chairman and founder George T.
Yang, and president and chief executive officer Kenneth S. Yang for a new 20-year franchise term in the Philippines until 2045. GADC is granted the license in the Philippines to, among other things, own, develop and operate restaurants and engage in the sub-franchising of restaurants under the McDonald’s brand in accordance with the multi-unit franchise agreement with McDonald’s Corp.
George has held the master franchise since opening the first McDonald’s store in 1981. The grant of this new term license up to the year 2045 is testament, not only to the leadership and stewardship of both George and Kenneth for the past 44 years but also in further growing McDonald’s in the Philippines in the next 20 years. Today, the Philippines is one of the largest and rapidly developing McDonald’s markets in the world based on the number of stores.
Since opening its first restaurant on Morayta St. in Manila, McDonald’s ended 2024 with a network of 792 stores nationwide. “When I was applying as a franchisee in the late ‘70s, McDonald’s (Corp.
) asked me how many stores I planned to open. I confidently said 10 stores. This 2025, we’ll be opening our 800th store,” said George Yang.
Commitment to growth Now with its New Term License secured, the Yangs looks to the future of McDonald’s in the country, envisioned to be a period of accelerated growth for the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) giant with a commitment to sustainable store scaling, generating greater economic and employment opportunities, supporting communities by championing education and continuously improving the McDonald’s customer and employee experience. “We take pride in the positive impact we make every time we open a McDonald’s store. With every store that we open, we are able to signal market readiness and growth in an area, provide direct employment and contribute to nation building,” continued George.
Partnering with GADC (also known as McDonald’s Philippines) are over 100 independent business leaders who operate McDonald’s stores as sub-franchisees, enabling the company to be present in more local communities. Today, McDonald’s Philippines store network spans all the regions in the country, with the majority of its stores located in NCR and Luzon and close to 70 percent of which are free-standing with drive-thru. In 2024, McDonald’s opened 65 new stores.
“We see our growth coming from areas outside of NCR that have rapidly been developing. We’re excited to open more stores and bring McDonald’s closer to more Filipinos,” said Kenneth, adding that, “This 2025, we aim to break our record new store openings.” Commitment to customer experience The commitment to grow is underpinned by its commitment to the customer and the customer experience.
“If you focus on the customer, you will not go wrong,” George declared. The company has attributed its success in the industry by remaining relevant to the changing needs of the customer, from the food they enjoy to how they are ordered and served. During its earlier years, McDonald’s Philippines’ menu consisted of global core menu items, but in 1986, George changed all of that when he introduced the Chicken McDo and McSpaghetti to cater to the unique Filipino palette.
He then introduced a local burger, Burger McDo, soon after. These local menu additions were not only received well when launched but continue to be one of the top-selling products today. More than the introduction of menu items, McDonald’s Philippines continues to improve the taste and quality of its menu offers, whether through better ingredients, formulation or cooking procedures.
In the past two years, McDonald’s has made big changes with their Burgers with “McDonald’s Best Burger Ever,” Chicken with its “Much Malaki, Much Juicier, Much Crispier Chicken McDo” and Coffee with its “Bolder Brew and Creamier Blend McCafe Iced Coffee.” In 2005, McDonald’s Philippines became a 100 percent Filipino-owned company with George and Kenneth as its majority owners and Alliance Global Inc. as its investment partner.
This strategic move paved the way for the company to look towards a digitally-led future underpinned by the growing demand for a seamless omni-channel customer experience. The company extended its reach by growing its delivery business through digital. McDonald’s pioneered many firsts from being the first QSR to have an online delivery channel in 2009, being the first to launch a McDelivery App in 2014, to being one of the first and now one of the largest merchants in third party delivery aggregators (Grab and Food Panda), which started in 2018 — making it more convenient to order McDonald’s, anytime, anywhere.
For 2024, McDelivery contributed 19 percent to total sales and continues to grow. In 2020, recognizing the customers’ increasing need for value-for-money offers, McDonald’s launched its McDonald’s App that provides personalized and special deals only available in the app. As of December 2024, the McDonald’s App has gained over 12 million users.
“Investing in digital and in the customer experience has yielded growth, and even protected the company during the most challenging times like the pandemic in 2020. When many food businesses closed, we were able to remain open and serve our customers via drive-thru or delivery,” Kenneth shared. / PR.
