MCDONALD’S PLANS TO NEARLY DOUBLE CHINA LOCATIONS
McDonald’s will nearly double the number of its restaurants in China in the next five years, eventually surpassing Japan as the hamburger chain’s second-biggest market outside the U.S.
The company expects to have 4,500 restaurants in China by 2022, up from 2,500. With fewer people eating at U.S. locations, it hopes to grow sales in China by double digits in each of the next five years.
Slowing traffic at home has other American companies turning to China for growth. Starbucks, for example, wants have 5,000 coffee shops in the country by 2021, more than doubling its store count.
The announcement from McDonald’s on Tuesday comes a week after it completed a previously announced deal to sell most of its operations in China. The deal leaves McDonald’s, based in Oak Brook, Ill., with a 20 percent stake in its China business.
McDonald’s said 45 percent of its China restaurants will be in smaller cities, such as Shantou and Shijiazhuang. And 75 percent of the stores will offer delivery.