McDonald’s own menu innovation was hurting the very restaurants it was meant to help. New product launches came so fast that service slowed down and satisfaction dropped, the company admitted at its investor day this week.
“We got a little ahead of our skis,” said Jill McDonald, McDonald’s global chief restaurant experience officer, on the pace of recent product launches.
Now the company is spending $8.5 billion to fix this issue and more, according to Bloomberg. The investment builds on McDonald’s “Next” growth plan, which the company unveiled back in June, with the potential to save individual restaurants up to $100,000 a year in cash flow. But the stock dropped 4.4% the same day, a sign investors aren’t fully convinced yet.
Part of the fix involves chasing a market McDonald’s has historically underserved: chicken, a category worth an estimated $30 billion. The company also wants back into the wellness conversation. McDonald’s says 84% of households with a GLP-1 user still visit its restaurants, and it’s building new menu options aimed at that audience.
CEO Chris Kempczinski said this moment is a turning point. “We have spent the last several years building the tools, the capabilities and the confidence to lead the industry once again,” he said.
