The McDonald’s Corporation, largest hamburger chain in the world, is on track to build upwards of 10,000 new outlets in the next three years.
Based in Chicago, McDonald’s currently has around 42,000 restaurants and, according to industry figures, serves upwards of 69 million customers a day.
In recent weeks, the company has announced plans to build new stores in Wilmington, Delaware; Berlin, Connecticut; and Plano, Texas.
McDonald’s, which dates its origins to a single store in San Bernardino, California in 1940 before launching a franchise chain in 1955, has said that the building plans from here to 2027 will “mark the fastest period of growth” in the company’s history.
According to industry reports, the addition of those stores will represent a 5% annual growth rate for the company.
The expansion also includes the building out of a new small-format model called CosMc’s, which is tapping into the national coffeehouse craze with small snacks and a variety of customizable beverages such as specialty lemonades, teas, and cold coffees.
The CosMc’s stores are significantly smaller, at around 2,500 square feet, than the typical 4,000- to 5,000-square foot McDonald’s outlet, with the stores featuring a mix of Googie architecture and what has been described as “space age aesthetics” to appeal especially to Generation Z customers.
In a statement released earlier this year, McDonald’s said it had settled on smaller format stores for the CosMc’s outlets, “which allow us to test new, unique circumstances that are reflective of our customer base.”
The new look of the CosMc’s stores is in keeping with a long-standing McDonald’s tradition to build architecturally interesting properties. From its first days the company, notes the site Architize, “has emphasized coherent features of design; the yellow rounded ‘M’ signs and the modernistic arches, along with dominant red-yellow color schemes for the interior, exterior, and packaging design.”
Reporting third quarter revenue of $6.9 billion late last year, McDonald’s chief executive officer Chris Kempczinski remarked: “We will stay laser-focused on providing an unparalleled experience with simple, everyday value and affordability that our customers can count on as they continue to be mindful about their spending.”
That late 2024 report also showed that while the company’s global sales had decreased by 1.5%, U.S. sales were up by 0.3%.
February 4, 2025
By Garry Boulard
