MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Quick service restaurant giant McDonald’s Philippines, majority owned and led by Chairman & Founder Dr. George T. Yang, sustains its double digit growth through the continued expansion and innovations enhancing the customer experience, while also strengthening its commitment in making a positive difference in society through employment opportunities, and continuing support for the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
As part of the company’s vision to lead, McDonald’s in 2019 increased its capital expenditure to over 3 billion pesos geared towards initiatives founded on elevating the customer experience, value, and convenience.
The company opened 58 new stores across the country, expanding to new territories to reach more Filipinos in areas such as Camarines Sur, El Nido, Coron, Mangatarem in Pangasinan, Digos in Davao del Sur, Mati in Davao Oriental, Lagao in General Santos, Silay and Cadiz in Negros Occidental, Danao in Cebu and Caibaan in Tacloban. McDonald’s ended the year with 669 stores nationwide.
With majority of the newly opened stores having Drive Thru, 2019 marked strong growth for this business segment. Another growth driver for the Yang-led QSR was its McDelivery service with the opening of more delivery hubs and its growing partnerships with major food aggregators such as Grab Food and Food Panda.
It was also a year of growth for McDonald’s new store format NXTGEN—ending 2019 with over 140 NXTGEN stores, allowing more Filipinos all over the country to experience modern day, state of the art convenience with a modernized menu board, dual point service platform equipped with a visual board that enables customer to track the status of their orders, self-ordering kiosks, cashless payment options and table service.
“The continued roll-out of NXTGEN is a strategic investment as we continue to grow in the Philippines. It has always been our priority to constantly evolve and introduce innovations for our customers to enhance their experience across different touch points,” says Kenneth S. Yang, President and Chief Executive Officer of McDonald’s Philippines.
Apart from new store openings and NXTGEN expansion, innovations in menu offerings like Flavors of Japan, Rice Bowls, Iced Coffee and Choco Pie, and reinforced local store marketing activities paved way for McDonald’s Philippines to achieve over 55 billion system wide sales in 2019 reaching over 15% increase over the previous year (2018). McDonald’s posted a systemwide sales CAGR of 14% over the past 10 years.
“Beyond the growth we experienced in the previous year, we have also made strides in making an impact in the lives of Filipinos through employment and our direct-hiring policy. For every new store we open, we generate an average of 80 new job opportunities for more young Filipinos to be immersed with our world-class training and start their career,” Yang end.
McDonald’s currently has over 60,000 directly-hired employees all over the country.
Reinforcing its commitment in promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, McDonald’s Philippines has also provided equal employment opportunities through the alternative workforce program in partnership with different local government units. McDonald’s inked partnerships with 5 cities to date—Manila, Pasig, Pasay, Caloocan and Antipolo–where close to 100 hired senior citizens and PWDs in 2019 were deployed to its restaurants.
More than employment generation, McDonald’s also aided in youth development through programs of its charity of choice, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). At the end of 2019, Ronald McDonald House Charities now has a total of 34 Ronald McDonald Bahay Bulilit Learning Centers all over the country, opening 3 new centers in Imus, Cavite, Lapu Lapu, Cebu and Davao City, in partnership with DSWD and LGU.
For 2020, RMHC sets its sights to open 5 more Ronald McDonald Bahay Bulilit Learning Centers as part of its 25th anniversary across the country with 1 each in Metro Manila, North Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. These learning centers create a safe place where children can learn and play. At the same time, the Ronald McDonald Read to Learn program of RMHC, in partnership with DepEd, which teaches beginning reading for grades 1 & 2 students in public schools, has reached over 52,000 school children across close to 1,000 public elementary schools in 32 provinces cities last year.
RMHC’s disaster and relief program, Ronald McDonald Bigay Tulong had also recently mobilized to aid communities affected by the eruption of the Taal volcano. 100 McDonald’s restaurants served as donation drop-off points to receive in-kind donations like biscuits, bottled water, canned goods, hygiene kits, blankets among others. McDonald’s, with the help of its employees and franchisees, worked together to pack and distribute goods for 2,000 families. McDonald’s also served food to close to 20,000 individuals in different evacuation centers for a week.
