McDonald’s Expansion Plans Include Staff Shakeup

McDonald’s will reportedly cut or reorganize its workforce as the fast-food giant looks to expand.

That expansion, CEO Chris Kempczinski told the Wall Street Journal Friday (Jan. 6), could involve adding more restaurants and new types of restaurants as quick-service restaurants (QSRs) rethink their traditional models.

“Some jobs that are existing today are either going to get moved or those jobs may go away,” Kempczinski said in an interview, although the scope of the job cuts has not been determined.

The company, which employs around 200,000 people, will speak with workers impacted by the changes by April 3, the report said, quoting a company message: “There will be difficult discussions and decisions ahead.”

According to the interview, McDonald’s plans to open new locations in the U.S., Europe, and parts of Asia. These will include a mix of traditional restaurants and newer formats that include to-go-only locations, as well as other stores that include stand-alone kiosks that sell only dessert or coffee.

Reached for comment by PYMNTS on Sunday (Jan. 8), McDonald’s responded with an internal document outlining the company’s “Accelerating the Arches 2.0” strategy.

In that document, Kempczinski discusses the need for staffing changes and the future evolution/expansion of the chain.

“We must accelerate the pace of our restaurant openings to fully capture the increased demand we’ve driven over the past few years,” he wrote in a message to employees.

The news comes a little more than a month after reports that McDonald’s was testing a new store concept in Texas designed to improve off-premise efficiency. The most unique feature at this location is a conveyor belt drive-thru lane where diners collect their order-ahead purchases.

Other elements include a pick-up room for delivery drivers, kiosks for ordering, a self-pickup shelf, and designated parking spots for curbside customers and for couriers. The building itself is smaller than the typical store.

“As our customers’ needs continue to change, we are committed to finding new ways to serve them faster and easier than ever before,” Max Carmona, McDonald’s senior director of global design and restaurant development, said in a statement in December.

As PYMNTS noted at the time, McDonald’s was following the lead of Mexican-inspired QSR chain Taco Bell, which debuted its “Defy” concept in June. This a two-story operation with a kitchen sitting above a four-lane drive-thru. Orders are sent down to customers using a vertical lift (in other words, a mini food elevator).

“We believe what the new drive-thru will become in the future [is] a technology-reliant operating system that merges both the order and the pick-up point into one [and] which creates less waits for consumers,” Taco Bell Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams told PYMNTS in an interview.

And burger chain Jack in the Box said in November it had been reevaluating store concepts with an eye toward mobile ordering and other convenience-centric offerings.

Speaking during an earnings call, CEO Darin Harris said the company has been “updating guest touch points” by improving the web and mobile ordering experiences, making changes to menu boards and putting forward a “new restaurant design for the future.”