McDonald’s is going to expand significantly in our country. In the next five years, fifty new restaurants of the fast food chain will open, good for 2,500 new jobs.
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Tomorrow McDonald’s will open the chain’s hundredth restaurant in Belgium in Bree, Limburg. But it doesn’t stop there. McDonald’s has great ambitions, says the new CEO Stijn Heytens. The chain is increasing the number of new openings to ten a year and wants to open fifty new restaurants. It concerns an investment of 192 million euros, good for 2,500 new jobs.
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“Very big ambitions”
The sprint is striking. The first McDonald’s in our country opened its doors in 1978, on the Beursplein in Brussels. In 43 years that grew to a hundred restaurants. This year seven new restaurants saw the light of day. Now the chain wants to open another fifty in five years. “Very, very big ambitions”, admits Stijn Heytens. The managing director has been at the head of the Belgian department for seven months.
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The results of the recent openings gave the chain sufficient confidence for the extra restaurants, Heytens assures. A study showed that there are also many opportunities geographically. The new McDonald’s locations will be opened representatively across the country.
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Table service
The acceleration comes at a time when the fast food market is becoming increasingly crowded. That doesn’t deter McDonald’s. “There is still plenty of opportunity. Now more than ever is the time to realize our ambitions,” said Heytens. He refers to the increasing demand from customers for ease of use. The table service concept that McDonald’s has introduced also allows the chain to reach a new type of customer.
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The corona crisis ensured that 2020 and 2021 were “not obvious years”, the new CEO acknowledges. Some restaurants performed quite well, while other establishments were heavily impacted by the crisis. He does not want to release figures about turnover and results in our country.
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