McDonald's China to invest RMB $40b in digital R&D in next 5 years

McDonald's China has planned to invest RMB$40 billion in digital research and development (R&D) and innovation over the next five years to enhance customer experience, and operations, and drive industry transformation.

This comes as the new building of McDonald's China IT R&D centre was officially opened yesterday (6 August). Located in Nanjing, it serves as the scientific research headquarters of McDonald's China and will accommodate more than 450 technical experts who support McDonald's self-developed digital development.

Phyllis Cheung, CEO of McDonald's China, said that the company’s RMB$40 billion investment is focused on enhancing its digital capabilities and driving innovation within the catering industry. The investment also aims to better serve customers, restaurants, and enterprises, as well as to provide the momentum to achieve the "28,000 stores vision" by 2028.

According to McDonald's China, its self-driven innovation efforts will initially prioritise enhancing the customer experience through continuous digital enhancements. This includes introducing new features such as dynamic meal ordering designs, and AI-powered interactions and games for children.

Furthermore, its digital innovation is focused on empowering restaurant operations and staff efficiency. According to the release, the RGM Boss system launched in 2022 assisted over 200k employees by automating complex tasks, allowing the restaurant management team to save two hours daily from administrative work towards operations and customer experience.

In terms of serving enterprises, McDonald's China is adopting its self-driven digital innovations to streamline internal processes, foster upstream and downstream collaboration, and enable more data-driven decision-making. According to the release, through platforms such as the digital marketing management platform (DCMP) and the store management system (PMT), the company aims to improve operational efficiency, and enable integrated strategic planning and adjustments across the enterprise.

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Shihong Chen, chief information officer of McDonald's China, said: "We hope to use this new building as a starting point, through new thinking and work models, to position ourselves at the forefront of digitalisation and business operations, leading the way towards a digital future," 

"We will continuously enhance our systems thinking, distill solutions into systematic capabilities, cultivate in-depth insights, and go beyond the IT perspective to deeply understand the business. [...] We will also pursue comprehensive forward-looking innovation, keeping a curious mindset and combining business exploration with execution. We will build an open ecosystem, joining innovative networks and actively collaborating for mutual success,” Chen added.

Back in July, McDonald's China launched new staff uniforms as part of its efforts to enhance the overall restaurant experience, coinciding with the company's seventh anniversary in the market. This is the seventh generation of uniforms tailored for McDonald's China restaurant employees after 10 years.

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