McDonald's Philippines finishes strong in Q1, poised for full recovery in 2022

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — With the Philippine economy on an upward trend, quick-service restaurant giant Golden Arches Development Corp. (McDonald’s Philippines)—majority-owned and operated by McDonald’s Master Franchise Holder, Dr. George Yang (chairman and founder), and Kenneth Yang (president and CEO)—is poised for sustained growth and recovery in 2022.

Coming into 2022, McDonald’s remained resilient and sustained its recovery momentum in the first quarter of the year despite the Omicron surge in January. 

It continued its commitment to being a trusted partner of the Filipino community with its safe, quality food, innovative services, focus on supporting its employees and communities in need, and being a partner of the government in navigating through the pandemic. 

“We’ve overcome the challenges of the past 2 years because of strategic investments on innovations we made before the pandemic, which enabled us to serve a safe and frictionless omni-channel experience for our customers. We are confident that this will continue to drive our growth in 2022," president and CEO Kenneth Yang said 

In the first quarter of the year, McDonald’s Philippines achieved double-digit sales growth of 29% versus the same period last year driven by strong same-store sales growth of 22%. 

The company has also achieved 100% of its sales recovery plan versus 2019. 

“With the ease of restrictions that enabled consumer mobility and confidence, we’re very happy to welcome back more of our customers in our stores,” the younger Yang noted.

Dine-in sales experienced a double-digit increase from February to March of this year and continued to pick up in April as more areas shifted to lower Alert Levels and election campaigns were in full swing.

YTD March, drive-thru and delivery continued their strong performance both experiencing double-digit growth in sales and guest counts. 

Growth across all channels is enabled by the company’s initiative to roll out cashless solutions. To date, 86% of its store base is equipped with cashless. 

Robust momentum towards growth

McDonald’s kept its focus on improving the quality and safety of its food and service across all customer channels. It was underscored by initiatives that the company implemented in support of its employees, owner-operators and partners. 

To ensure safe restaurant operations throughout the pandemic, McDonald’s launched the M Safe program in 2020. According to the company, the principle of M Safe is that if their employees are safe, they will keep customers safe.  

Aside from compliance with all government-mandated health and safety protocols, McDonald’s rolled out its employee vaccination program with education initiatives and providing access to the vaccines. 100% of its crew and managers have been fully vaccinated, while 70% of NCR employees and 50% of employees outside NCR have already been boosted. 

“Nothing is more important to us than people—our customers, our crew, and managers. It is imperative to have safety programs in place consistently. Keeping our people safe allows us to serve a better customer experience,” Yang said. 

All set for a strong sustainable recovery

McDonald’s ended 2021 with a 671-store base, opening 36 new stores. With every new McDonald’s store that opens, the company provides employment opportunities with its direct hiring practice, which has been in place since 1981. With direct hiring, even part-time students are given equal opportunities because of a flexible work schedule, allowing them to fulfill their academic requirements while earning. 

“With over 40,000 employees systemwide, we will remain committed to working with different stakeholders for our shared goal of the country’s full economic recovery. As McDonald’s continues its growth path in 2022, we will be steadfast in our pursuit of sustainable development, employment and community building with even more vigor,” Yang concluded.