McDo ramps up expansion

McDonald's Philippines is planning to invest between P3 billion and P5 billion this year to open over 65 new stores, with a target of reaching 1,000 outlets nationwide by 2027.

The expansion follows the recent renewal of the 20-year franchise agreement with McDonald's Corporation in the US, granted to George and Kenneth Yang of Golden Arches Development Corp. (GADC).

“We will continue to build new restaurants all over the Philippines. Our growth will come through both company-owned stores and franchise restaurants,” said GADC president and CEO Kenneth Yang in an interview.

"For this year, we plan to open 65 stores, matching our performance from last year. We aim to break our record for new store openings in 2025," he added.

Capital expenditures this year are expected to match or exceed last year's P3 billion to P5 billion, which funded renovations and new store constructions. McDonald's Philippines ended 2024 with 792 stores after opening a record 65 branches that year.

While the expansion will be nationwide, Yang said most new stores will be located outside Metro Manila, targeting key cities across southern and northern Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

“We see growth coming from areas outside of NCR that are rapidly developing. We're excited to open more stores and bring McDonald's closer to more Filipinos,” Yang said.

"The country is growing, and there is progress in these areas, so that is where we will focus our efforts," he added, noting that GADC expects to maintain its current 55:45 mix of company-owned and franchised outlets.

GADC became a 100 percent Filipino-owned company in 2005, with George and Kenneth Yang as majority owners and Andrew Tan's Alliance Global Group Inc. as a strategic partner.

The company is also strengthening its digital strategy. McDelivery accounted for 19 percentage of total sales in 2024. McDonald's Philippines was the first quick-service restaurant to launch an online delivery channel in 2009 and a mobile delivery app in 2014.