McDonald’s Philippines gears up for aggressive store expansion

MANILA, Philippines — McDonald’s Philippines is gearing up for a more aggressive store expansion, with plans to add 800 stores in its network before its new 20-year franchise term expires.

Kenneth Yang, president and CEO of Golden Arches Development Corp. (GADC), also known as McDonald’s Philippines, said the company is looking to open more or less 65 new stores this year.

“Most likely we should grow about the same as what we did last year which is 65 stores. Hopefully, we surpass it (this year), but most likely, it’s like that,” he said.

Yang said that McDonald’s Philippines’ upcoming expansion will not be primarily in the National Capital Region anymore.

“Most likely, it will be in the surrounding cities in Luzon like southern and northern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Of course, as the country is growing and progressing in these areas, we will also be going there,” he said.

Last year, McDonald’s Philippines marked a record-high new store openings, with investments reaching between P3 billion and P5 billion.

Yang said the company’s capital expenditures budget would continue to increase as its network gets bigger.

“We will spend several billions. It’s more of our new restaurants, but we also upgrade a lot of our existing restaurants and of course, we invest in the back end also,” he said.

McDonald’s Philippines ended 2024 with 792 stores nationwide and is set to hit a new milestone by opening its 800th store in the country this year.

For its 1,000th store, Yang said the milestone could be achieved within the next two to three years.

Yang said the company is looking to grow faster in the coming years, with another 800 stores eyed before its new term license up to the year 2045, ends.

Illinois-based fast food behemoth McDonald’s Corp. has recently entered into a multi-unit franchise agreement with GADC, its chairman and founder George Yang and president and CEO Kenneth Yang, for a new 20-year franchise term in the Philippines.

“So we continue to grow. And what’s exciting is we’re growing farther and farther out from Manila. And we’re reaching places farther in the north, farther in the south. So for me, that’s very exciting,” Kenneth said.

“I do have a vision for McDonald’s in the Philippines. But I think what’s important to us is to continue to grow. In the last three years, we’ve been growing  double digits, I think around 15 percent (top line). And we want to maintain that pace of growth. Our revenues are a combination of existing stores and new restaurants. So we will continue to build, as I said, new restaurants all over the Philippines. We grow through our company-owned stores but as well as through our franchised restaurants,” he said.

George Yang has held the master franchise since the opening of the first McDonald’s store in 1981.

In 2005, McDonald’s Philippines became a 100 percent Filipino-owned company with George and Kenneth as its majority owners and Alliance Global Group Inc. of tycoon Andrew Tan as its investment partner.