McDonald’s, the American fast food chain, is gearing up to open 200 new outlests in Italy, which will provide jobs to 12,000 people. The restaurants are expected to come up in five years.
The Italian market is a high-potential one. If the pandemic hadn’t brought about a slump in the fast food space, the Company would have been working to open about 800 restaurants by 2024, and take its headcount to 40,000.
Right now, with sales having been badly affected at the outlets, it is the deliveries, take-aways and drive-throughs that are generating revenue.
The revenue had fallen to 1.4 billion euros last year from 1.6 billion euros in 2019. However, in 2021, the chain expects to clock sales higher than the 2019 levels, encouraged by the rise in demand for take-aways and delivery services. In fact, a significant 60 per cent of its sales comes from these services.
Meanwhile, in the US, McDonald’s has offered $250 million in the form of low-interest loans to new franchisees over the next five years to help give a boost to diversity in the ownerships of its outlets in the US.
In India, McDonald’s recently made news when it entered into a partnership with FMCG company ITC to add a differentiated fruit beverage, B Natural to its Happy Meal, for the three to 12 age group. The new beverage will be available at all its outlets in southern and western India.
