CHICAGO, IL — McDonald’s (MCD) is making a long-term bet on artificial intelligence, hand-breaded chicken, and a return of 90s-style restaurants to regain customers who left for other chains, like Burger King.
At its investor day in Chicago, the fast food giant unveiled a new set of ambitious goals and investments as part of its growth plan, following a rocky second quarter that resulted in 0.8% US same-store sales growth versus Burger King’s whopping 8.5% growth.
McDonald’s said it plans to invest $8.5 billion through 2036 tosupport restaurant tech updates with rent relief and capital. It intends to deliver roughly $5 billion of that investment by 2030.
“You start with the opportunity, which we think is really clear and compelling,” McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden told Yahoo Finance. “We think it’s going to provide a really strong return for our operators and for McDonald’s.”
Franchisees are encouraged to adopt the plan in phases. One franchisee operator told Yahoo Finance they are skating on thin margins with higher ingredient, labor, and rent costs, making another costly redesign difficult, especially in a high-interest-rate environment.
McDonald’s new restaurant design (Courtesy: McDonald’s)
“Certainly, it’s a different interest rate environment with franchisees,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told Yahoo Finance. “Back 10 years ago, … it was practically like free money.”
However, he added, “the benefit is franchisees, even though they’re taking on the money, they’ve got … that sort of halo of McDonald’s. … The interest rate that they’re getting charged by banks or will get charged by banks is going to be significantly less than if they were Joe’s Burger joint.”
Operators are expected to update the restaurants’ look and feel as part of a remodel cycle every 10 years, per McDonald’s, and Kempczinski said those costs typically add up to $400,000 to $450,000 per restaurant.
Deploying the suite of McDonald’s productivity improvements will cost franchise operators an additional $800,000 per US restaurant. For international markets, it will run around $650,000 to $750,000.
“It’s about just keeping the restaurant looking up to date … paint the walls, fix the roof, make sure the parking lots are in good shape, all of that is part of that investment,” Kempczinski said. “The remainder of the investment, the roughly [$800,000] … or so, is all tied to sales driving or productivity driving initiatives.”
It remains to be seen whether the strategic growth plan can turn around McDonald’s stock.McDonald’s shares have struggled to entice investors to take a bite this year, declining 18% year to date, compared to a 4.6% gain for Burger King’s parent company stock, Restaurant Brands International (QSR), and 13% gain for the S&P 500 (^GSPC).
Part of the strategy is a commitment called “Make it Golden,” which doubles down on food, hospitality, and employee training.
After Burger King overhauled its chicken nugget recipe, McDonald’s is doing something similar by piloting hand-breaded chicken.
The chicken comes frozen, marinated, dipped in batter, and hand-breaded, Jacques Mignault, McDonald’s Global Chief Restaurant Officer, told Yahoo Finance. The secret is to flip the chicken seven times.
McDonald’s new hand-breaded chicken. (Courtesy: McDonald’s)
McDonald’s is targeting a 1.5% gain in market share, with the chicken and beverage categories leading the way (crafted sodas are another major focus for McDonald’s). It expects to add more US restaurants to the hand-breaded chicken pilot in early 2027.
Mignault said the new chicken is “actually beating the competition from a taste and quality standpoint” in Asian markets. He added that the company has also started testing bone-in wings.
McDonalds also aims to maintain its beef market share leadership after leaning into the Big Arch Burger, which went viral earlier this year after a video of CEO Chris Kempczinski tasting the burger prompted other fast food CEOs to respond.
McDonald’s PlayPlace makes a comeback
Gone is the modernized, gray box design McDonald’s implemented years ago.
Now, McDonald’s is reintroducing a smaller PlayPlace, featuring a slide, jungle gym, and analog toys (no, there’s no ball pit).
The goal is for families to visit restaurants more often and spend more when they do. Foot traffic at McDonald’s has faltered. During the week of Sept. 7, McDonald’s foot traffic fell 3.1% year over year, compared to a 2.8% decline in overall quick-service restaurants and a 7.1% gain for Burger King, per Placer.ai.
“Our customers were telling us, look, McDonald’s used to be fun, just inject some of the personality back into the look and feel of restaurants,” Jill McDonald, executive vice president and global chief restaurant experience officer, told Yahoo Finance.
The back of the house is also getting an upgrade with AI technology, dubbed ArchIQ.
Think kitchens and drive-throughs integrated with artificial intelligence, powered by Google Edge (GOOG). Even artificial intelligence will be used to ensure the McFlurry Machine does not go down.
CFO Borden said this is different than the company’s previous partnership with IBM (IBM), which ended in 2024.
“A few years ago, it was a different technology platform,” Borden said. “That large language model that we are building with Google just allows the learning to get sharper and sharper. … We are already far advanced versus where we were several years ago with what we were doing previously.”
The use of AI technology is a game changer, executives say, and will contribute to a part of a 250 basis point improvement in gross restaurant-level efficiency gains, which the company said is equivalent to roughly $100,000 in annual cash flow for the average US restaurant.
The drive-through technology is expected to save restaurants’ 50-plus labor hours per week, McDonald’s said.
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Brooke DiPalma is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.
