Promising some “difficult discussions and decisions ahead,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said Friday that the company will evaluate roles and staffing levels as part of a broad organizational restructuring designed to increase the speed, innovation and efficiency of the business.
The effort, called “Accelerating the Organization,” will include discussions among leaders throughout the company, with the strategy slated to be finalized in April.
“As part of this work, we will evaluate roles and staffing levels in parts of the organization and there will be difficult discussions and decisions ahead,” Kempczinski wrote in a system message on Friday. “We will look to our strategy and our values to guide how we reach those decisions and support every impacted member of the company.”
It's uncertain how many people the restructuring could impact.
McDonald’s effort also includes the promotion of four key executives, including expanded roles or new business units designed to take advantage of the organizational changes.
Marketing chief Morgan Flatley is being promoted to EVP, global chief marketing officer and new business ventures, a position that expands her responsibilities into opportunities to “extend the reach of McDonald’s brand.”
Skye Anderson, who had been president of the West Zone for McDonald’s USA, was named president of global business services. She will work under CFO Ian Borden overseeing a new business unit within the company that oversees services the company provides its different markets.
Andrew Gregory, meanwhile, was named SVP global franchising and development. He will oversee franchising and development as part of a bid to increase McDonald’s store count. Spreo Droulias was named chief transformation officer and will monitor the organizational restructure.
Those appointments will be effective Feb. 1.
“Through Accelerating the Organization, we will evolve our culture to foster greater collaboration and develop one McDonald’s way to solve problems for our customers and people together,” Kempczinski said.
Accelerating the Organization is part of an upgraded version of Kempczinski’s corporate strategy, called “Accelerating the Arches 2.0.” It features “growth pillars,” including marketing, focused on core items burgers, chicken and coffee, and increasing digital, delivery and drive-thru—as well as development.
McDonald’s new strategy includes a greater focus on new restaurant development, “to fully capture the increased demand we’ve driven over the past few years,” Kempczinski said.
McDonald’s effort comes as the company has been outperforming its peers, at least in terms of sales, while its stock price has performed better than the market. Sales at the chain, both in the U.S. and many of its international markets, recovered more quickly from the pandemic than expected, driving unit volumes and profitability higher.
But Kempczinski said that the company “cannot stand still.” “As we begin 2023 from a position of strength, we cannot stand still,” he wrote. “As Ray Kroc used to say, ‘If you’re not green and growing, you’re ripe and rotting.’” He said there remains considerable growth potential within the company but, “to realize the full potential of our strategy, we must also objectively assess areas we can do better.”
“We’re performing at a high level, but we can do better,” Kempczinski added.
He said the restructuring is designed to operate faster and take “smarter risks to solve customer problems.” He also said that the effort is designed to be more innovative and efficient. And Kempciznski said the reorganization is designed to provide “clear career paths for growth and development” among the company’s employees.
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