This story has been updated.
McDonald’s own menu innovation was hurting the very restaurants it was meant to help. New product launches came so fast that service slowed down and satisfaction dropped, the company admitted at its investor day this week.
Now the company is spending $8.5 billion over a ten-year period to fix this issue and more, according to Bloomberg. The investment builds on McDonald’s “Next” growth plan, the company’s broader growth and productivity strategy focused on restaurant modernization, technology deployment, operational simplification and stronger restaurant economics.
McDonald’s says the plan should make restaurants run more efficiently enough to add about $100,000 a year in cash flow for the average U.S. location, with most of that money eventually landing in franchisees’ pockets. The company estimates it’ll take about four years for franchisees to earn back what they’re spending
Part of the fix involves chasing a market McDonald’s has historically underserved: chicken, a category worth an estimated $30 billion. The company also wants back into the wellness conversation. McDonald’s says 84% of households with a GLP-1 user still visit its restaurants, and it’s building new menu options aimed at that audience.
McDonald’s is staking billions on the idea that better-run restaurants, not flashy new products, are what will win back customers.