Will this McDonald’s plan prove to be a global turnaround?

Sarah Stowe

McDonald’s is restructuring its global business and divesting corporate stores to franchisees.

The new CEO Steve Easterbrook had been in the role nine weeks before recently announcing these changes. These initiatives are part of a turnaround plan which initially is geared to sweetening McDonald’s investors before it addresses the long term issues such as its menu, food quality and speed of service.

Easterbrook talked about the plans in a video message.

“Our recent performance has been poor. The numbers don’t lie,” he said. “I will not shy away from the urgent need to reset this business.

“This is a global turnaround.We have to modernise our approach and run the system differently,” he said.

A simpler structure will be in place for the 60 year old food retail company with the global business segmented into four new divisions: the US, international lead markets including Australia and the UK, high growth markets and foundational markets.

Doug Goare, president of the European business, will head up the international lead markets sector.

The current president of the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions will become president of the high-growth markets division, which includes China, Russia and some European countries which have higher franchise potential.

The company expects to increase the global franchised element of the business from 81 percent to 90 percent in the next three years.

But critics say there is no sign yet of a how the fast food franchise will make significant changes to match the customer trends, including healthier eating.

You can read the full press release from McDonald’s here.