MANILA, PHILIPPINES — With the Philippine economy in an upward trend, quick-service restaurant giant Golden Arches Development Corporation (McDonald’s Philippines), majority-owned and operated by McDonald’s Master Franchise Holder, Dr. George T. Yang (chairman & founder) and Kenneth Yang (president & CEO), is poised for sustained growth and recovery in 2022.
Coming into 2022, McDonald’s remained resilient and sustained its recovery momentum in the first quarter of the year despite the Omicron surge in January. It continued its commitment to being a trusted partner of the Filipino community with its safe, quality food, innovative services, focus on supporting its employees and communities in need, and being a partner of the government in navigating through the pandemic.
“We’ve overcome the challenges of the past two years because of strategic investments on innovations we made before the pandemic, which enabled us to serve a safe and frictionless omni-channel experience for our customers. We are confident that this will continue to drive our growth in 2022,” said President & CEO Kenneth Yang.
In the first quarter of the year, McDonald’s Philippines achieved double-digit sales growth of 29% versus the same period last year driven by strong same-store sales growth of 22%.
The company has also achieved 100% of its sales recovery plan versus 2019.
“With the ease of restrictions that enabled consumer mobility and confidence, we’re very happy to welcome back more of our customers in our stores,” Yang added. Dine-in sales experienced a double-digit increase from February to March of this year and continued to pick up in April as more areas shifted to lower alert levels and election campaigns were in full swing.
YTD March, drive-thru and delivery continued its strong performance both experiencing double-digit growth in sales and guest counts.
Growth across all channels is enabled by the company’s initiative to roll out cashless solutions. To date, 86% of its store base is equipped with cashless.
Robust momentum towards growth
McDonald’s kept its focus on improving the quality and safety of its food and service across all customer channels. It was underscored by initiatives that the company implemented in support of its employees, owner-operators, and partners.
To ensure safe restaurant operations throughout the pandemic, McDonald’s launched the M Safe program in 2020. According to the company, the principle of M Safe is that if their employees are safe, they will keep customers safe.
Aside from compliance with all government-mandated health and safety protocols, McDonald’s rolled out its employee vaccination program with education initiatives and providing access to the vaccines. 100% of its crew and managers have been fully vaccinated, while 70% of NCR employees and 50% of employees outside NCR have already been boosted.
“Nothing is more important to us than people—our customers, our crew, and managers. It is an imperative to have safety programs in place consistently. Keeping our people safe allows us to serve a better customer experience,” said Yang.
McDonald’s has also remained a committed partner in creating a positive difference in the communities where they operate.
McDonald’s Philippines, through its charity of choice, supports Ronald McDonald House Charities Philippines’ (RMHC) Kindness Kitchen initiative. The Kindness Kitchen began in 2020 when the charity served McDonald’s meals to frontliners and indigent communities. It has served over 700,000 hot meals and continues to do so today.
The company has also been an active partner of the government in navigating the pandemic through a private and public consortium, Task Force T3. It provided support to its Ingat Angat campaigns that aimed to drive awareness of health and safety protocols, the importance of vaccination, and building consumer confidence as the country transitions into Covid-19 as an endemic.
Furthermore, McDonald’s is taking a step toward doing better for the environment with sustainable restaurant innovations through its Green & Good platform. The company opened its first full Green & Good store in the country in 2021, a store designed using green construction and utility efficient solutions with bike-friendly features to meet the needs of cyclists like a Bike & Dine space and a Bike Repair Station.
The company is set to open more new stores this year that are equipped with Green & Good solutions like solar rooftops, and grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, which are both cost-effective and efficient in the reduction of emissions.
Another environmentally sustainable initiative McDonald’s Philippines has introduced this year is its use of strawless lids. The strawless lids allow for less waste to be consumed for its iced drinks.
All set for a strong sustainable recovery
McDonald’s ended 2021 with a 671-store base, opening 36 new stores. With every new McDonald’s store that opens, the company provides employment opportunities with its direct hiring practice, which has been in place since 1981. With direct hiring, even part-time students are given equal opportunities because of a flexible work schedule, allowing them to fulfill their academic requirements while earning.
“With over 40,000 employees systemwide, we will remain committed to working with different stakeholders for our shared goal of the country’s full economic recovery. As McDonald’s continues its growth path in 2022, we will be steadfast in our pursuit of sustainable development, employment, and community building with even more vigor,” concluded Mr. Yang.
