CHICAGO, United States – McDonald’s is committing approximately $8.5 billion through 2036 to help franchisees modernize restaurants, deploy new technology and reshape parts of its menu as the fast-food giant looks for new sources of growth.
The investment is part of a new strategy called McDonald’s NEXT, announced Wednesday at the company’s investor meeting in Chicago. McDonald’s said approximately $5 billion of the support will be provided through 2030, mainly through rent relief and capital support for franchisees.
The plan comes as customer traffic in major markets, including the United States, remains relatively flat. Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski said the company needs to generate additional demand while making restaurants more productive.
The overhaul covers restaurant design, kitchen operations, artificial intelligence, employee training and the food itself.
Restaurants are being redesigned around speed and convenience
McDonald’s plans to modernize restaurants with redesigned kitchens, dedicated lockers for delivery orders, more visible coffee-preparation areas and larger play areas.
The company is also expanding the use of scales designed to improve order accuracy. Those systems are already operating at about 10,000 restaurants worldwide, with McDonald’s targeting 20,000 locations by 2028.
The company said the changes are intended to improve both restaurant efficiency and the customer experience.
Franchisees will carry part of the investment.
McDonald’s said its franchisees typically spend as much as $450,000 over a decade on required restaurant remodels. Under the new plan, the additional investment could reach about $800,000 over time, although McDonald’s will provide support through capital contributions and rent relief.
The company estimates that the completed improvements could generate roughly $100,000 in additional annual cash-flow benefits for the average U.S. restaurant.
AI moves deeper into restaurant operations
Artificial intelligence is another major component of the strategy.
McDonald’s is accelerating deployment of ArchIQ, a system developed with Google that the company says can improve order accuracy while automating administrative work such as inventory management and scheduling.
The company is also expanding Archy, its AI-enabled drive-thru ordering system.
Archy can now handle orders in English and Spanish, with McDonald’s reporting approximately 90% accuracy in its current testing. Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said the system could eventually reduce at least 50 labor hours a week at a typical restaurant.
McDonald’s said that does not mean those hours are intended simply to disappear.
Borden said employees could instead spend more time on hospitality and other tasks, including preparing hand-breaded chicken.
The company is also introducing new employee training focused on hospitality and food quality.
The menu is shifting toward chicken and protein
McDonald’s is simultaneously changing its approach to the menu.
Hand-breaded chicken has already been introduced at about 10,000 restaurants in Asia and at a small number of locations near Chicago. The company said the product has improved sales and customer quality ratings in those markets.
McDonald’s plans to expand testing into additional U.S. and Irish markets next year.
The company also plans to introduce grilled chicken sandwiches and wraps in the United States and other markets, while testing products such as egg bites and bowls.
The changes reflect a broader effort to appeal to customers looking for more protein and different portion sizes.
Skye Anderson, president of McDonald’s USA, said the company estimates about 60 million Americans are actively seeking more protein in their diets. She also cited the growing use of GLP-1 weight-loss medications, saying users of those drugs are seeking smaller, protein-focused meals.
The figures about consumer demand and GLP-1 use are McDonald’s estimates and should not be treated as independent industry measurements.
Value remains central as consumers watch spending
The strategy does not abandon McDonald’s traditional focus on affordability.
Kempczinski said lower-income U.S. households continue to visit fast-food restaurants, but less frequently than before. The company has used promotions such as the $5 meal deal to reinforce its value proposition and is considering additional entry-level pricing options for core menu items.
That creates a balancing act for the company.
McDonald’s wants to offer products perceived as higher quality while also maintaining affordable options for customers facing continued cost-of-living pressure.
At the same time, it wants restaurants to become more efficient without reducing the customer-service component of the business.
McDonald’s is setting longer-term growth targets
The NEXT strategy includes specific targets through 2030.
McDonald’s is targeting a 1.5-percentage-point gain in market share in both chicken and beverages while maintaining its leading position in beef. It also expects restaurant-level efficiency to improve by approximately 250 basis points as the strategy is implemented.
The company is targeting an operating margin in the low-to-mid 50% range by 2030.
McDonald’s also expects restaurant expansion to contribute nearly 2.5% to systemwide sales growth in 2027, moderating to about 2% by 2030.
The company said its baseline capital expenditures are expected to be about $3 billion annually from 2027 through 2030, with an additional $1.5 billion to $2 billion in cumulative capital support for accelerated restaurant modernization.
A global strategy with local implementation
McDonald’s operates a global restaurant system, but the NEXT strategy will not be implemented identically in every market.
The company said individual markets will determine how and when the changes are introduced, taking into account local conditions, franchisee capacity and expected investment returns.
That approach allows McDonald’s to use common technology and restaurant concepts while adapting menus and operations to different consumer markets.
The company currently operates roughly 46,000 restaurants globally, making a uniform transformation impractical.
The scale also explains why McDonald’s is spreading the investment over a decade rather than attempting to modernize the entire system immediately.
The overhaul puts technology and food changes on the same track
McDonald’s is effectively pursuing two transformations at once.
One is operational.
Restaurants are being redesigned around faster kitchens, automated administrative tasks, AI-assisted ordering and greater order accuracy.
The other is consumer-facing.
The company is adding chicken products, exploring higher-protein and smaller-format offerings and emphasizing food quality and hospitality.
McDonald’s says the two sides are connected: better operations should create more capacity for employees to interact with customers, while menu changes are intended to give consumers more reasons to visit.
Whether those changes translate into sustained traffic growth will depend on how quickly the investments reach individual restaurants and whether customers respond to the new products and experience.
For now, McDonald’s is committing substantial capital to a long transition rather than relying on a single menu launch or technology upgrade.
The NEXT strategy represents the company’s latest attempt to modernize a global restaurant system while responding simultaneously to changing consumer preferences, labor requirements, technology and price sensitivity.
Reporting Credit: McDonald’s Corporation — NEXT strategy, investment commitments, financial targets, restaurant modernization plans, technology deployment and menu initiatives; U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — McDonald’s September 23, 2026 investor disclosure filed as an exhibit to the company’s regulatory filing.
