McDonald’s Australia outlines $600m plan to add 100 stores by 2024

There will be 100 new McDonald’s outlets in Australia in three years, with the global fast-food giant outlining a new $600m capital investment program up to 2024 to increase market share on the back of growing demand.

This year, McDonald’s existing 1007-strong network of outlets will grow by seven each in Queensland and NSW, six in Victoria, four in WA and three in SA.

A mix of franchise-operated and company-owned outlets, the addition of 27 new stores this year will create about 2700 jobs, in addition to the hundreds during construction.

Among the nation’s largest employers, the group has 106,000 staff, including casuals.

McDonald’s Australia national development director Diana Grosmann’s team looks at where opportunities exist and she is currently seeing a lot of them.

The group opened 19 new stores in 2020.

“The expansion plans reflect the strong performance of the network through COVID-19 when drive-through and takeaway sales surged,” Ms Grosmann said.

“We have looked at the right real estate opportunities and sought approval for these sites, given the business generally owns the land that we build on.”

She acknowledged community opposition to developments in suburban areas.

“We are committed to being good neighbours.

“The fact is we do bring in a number of jobs longer-term and during the construction phase, building on our ability to be a strong contributor to job creation.”

McDonald’s Australia said it serves two million customers daily across its network of stores, 85 per cent of which are operated by franchisees.

“Our property strategy ongoing is focused on expanding drive-through and targeting suburban metro and growth locations,” she said.

Post-COVID-19, the group has seen a rise in demand for a contactless convenience, which will see the majority of the new restaurants now include a drive-through, McDelivery and digital ordering system.

The focus on contactless convenience is also bringing some updates to training programs.

As a Registered Training Organisation, the group offers external qualifications and traineeships while helping people into careers in the business, retail, food service or hospitality sectors.

“That training is not just about flipping burgers – our CEO Andrew Gregory came from the floor of McDonald’s Australia,” said Ms Grosmann, who has spent nearly a decade with the group, including a nine-month training stint in the kitchen.

Most of the new entrants are teenagers on their first job.

The expansion plan comes as McDonald franchisees in SA face court action over their treatment of workers.

In response, the group said it was continuing to work closely with its restaurants to ensure employees receive all correct workplace entitlements and pay.

After-tax profit from the Australian arm fell 6 per cent to $302.7m in the 2019 calendar year with revenues at $1.68bn, according to documents lodged with ASIC in May last year.

The group also reported paying $132m in income tax to the Australian Taxation Office in 2019.

The aggressive push by McDonald’s Australia comes as competitor Hungry Jack’s marks its 50-year milestone, growing from one store in Perth to 440 restaurants and 20,000 staff.

Hungry Jack’s founder Jack Cowin recently said he wants to increase the fast-food chain’s footprint to about 700 stores.

This article first appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au.