MCD · Earnings call · 2026Q3T · Full report
McDonald’s NEXT Strategy
MCDONALDS CORP · 2026-11-04 · Importance 34 · Surprise 42
McDonald’s described NEXT as a multi-year strategy to improve the customer experience and make restaurants easier to operate and more efficient. Its Make It Golden capability-building initiative began in October, with initial training for leaders and experts intended to reach more than 18,000 restaurants in the first quarter. The company plans to expand specialty beverages to more than 7,000 additional restaurants across Europe by mid-2027, begin remodeling hundreds of U.S. restaurants in 2027, and reach a global remodeling run rate above 5,000 restaurants annually beginning in 2028. McDonald’s is also testing Archy in U.S. and Australian drive-throughs, expects deployment across a majority of U.S. restaurants by the end of 2027, and plans further international pilots through 2027.
Key facts
- McDonald’s planned to roll out a new U.S. customer-satisfaction assessment approach in Q4, with a path to global rollout.
- In its first month, Make It Golden completed the first training round for key leaders and experts, who are responsible for cascading it across more than 18,000 restaurants in Q1.
- McDonald’s said its marketing had not met its standard and planned to increasingly use its global brand scale to generate talk value and brand love over the next several years.
- McDonald’s launched Make It Golden in early October as its largest-ever capability-building initiative, focused on great-tasting food and hospitality.
- McDonald’s plans to provide progress updates and associated results on key NEXT elements throughout 2027.
- McDonald’s had not finalized a franchisee partnering program for NEXT U.S. investments; the capital-versus-rent allocation was still being worked through, with no change to the broad parameters shared at Investor Day.
- McDonald’s NEXT is a multi-year strategy focused on improving customer experience and restaurant ease of operation and efficiency.
- McDonald’s franchisees were fully aligned on improving customer experience, taste, quality, and hospitality, and on making restaurants easier to operate and more efficient.