McDonald’s to further expand footprint in PH

The McDonald’s chain in the Philippines sees continued expansion in 2018, buoyed by a growing middle class with a preference for meals on the go.

George Yang, founder of McDonald’s master franchise holder in the Philippines, Golden Arches Development Corp., said the company would end the year in excess of 600 stores nationwide.

Golden Arches, which is itself a venture with billionaire Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), had 570 stores as of end-Sept. last year.

Of the figure, half were company-owned or -operated while the rest were franchisees, AGI’s annual report showed.

“This year, we will surpass 600 stores,” Yang said in an interview last week. “We are optimistic because the economy is strong.”

McDonald’s mainly competes with homegrown Jollibee Foods Corp. in the massive fast-food segment.

Golden Arches posted revenues of P18.7 billion during the nine-month period of 2017, up 13 percent. Profit rose 19 percent to P977 million.

Yang noted that the market was rapidly changing and that the group needed to “stay ahead.”

Last week, PLDT Inc.’s mobile wallet PayMaya announced a partnership with Golden Arches.

This will allow an initial 40 McDonald’s branches to accept card payments for all types of Mastercard and Visa credit, debit, and prepaid cards, including PayMaya Visa cards and Smart Mastercard.

Paymaya’s QR code scan to pay will also be available “soon” in McCafe BGC Arts Center and McCafe Tagaytay Calamba stores. More branches will be added in the coming months.

This feature will allow customers to pay for their meals by scanning the QR code displayed at the cashier area inside participating stores.

Yang said this was one of several steps Golden Arches was taking to adapt to the current environment.

“We have to keep up,” he said.