---
title: "USA Today: McDonald’s opens their new HQ in downtown Chicago"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/0ec571f7-b419-4f45-9fc6-c5398c352663
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/usa-today-mcdonalds-opens-their-new-hq-in-downtown-chicago-2706734
category: "Restaurants"
industry: "Restaurants"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2018-06-06T18:13:30.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:09:25.384Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/e27e06f42173b7ad234f3f34cf93d8814111.jpg
---

# USA Today: McDonald’s opens their new HQ in downtown Chicago

**TL;DR:** McDonald's has opened its new headquarters in downtown Chicago, moving from its previous location in Oak Brook, Illinois. The new headquarters features a restaurant on its ground floor with a rotating menu selection from McDonald's outlets around the globe.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-06-06. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/usa-today-mcdonalds-opens-their-new-hq-in-downtown-chicago-2706734).*

## Story

McDonald's has returned to the nation’s third-largest city and has moved into its new HQ in Chicago’s West Loop. The new headquarters is on the 9th floor of what was previously Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios, in an area of Chicago that is known for its nightlife and at the heart of one of the city’s most highly regarded restaurant scenes.

USA Today quotes McDonald’s CEO, Steve Easterbrook, on the choice for the upscale location, saying, “We firmly believe that part of the importance of the move downtown is that it gets us closer to our customers, it gets us closer to competition, it gets us closer to the trends in society.”

The new headquarters will feature a restaurant on its ground floor that is open to the public. The menu at the new HQ will include a rotating menu selection from McDonald’s outlets around the globe. USA today reports the inaugural global menu will include the McSpicy chicken sandwich from Hong Kong, cheese-and-bacon-loaded fires from Australia and a Mozza salad from France.

From humble beginnings as a small restaurant, McDonald's is proud to have become one of the world’s leading foodservice brands with more than 36,000 restaurants in more than 1,000 countries. McDonald's continues to be recognized as a premier franchising company around the world with more than 90 percent of its restaurants in the U.S. owned and operated by franchisees.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- menu pricing (topic)
- franchising (topic)
- McDonald's (company)
- Chicago (location)
- global expansion (topic)
- USA TODAY (company)
- hq relocation (topic)
- restaurant scene (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/usa-today-mcdonalds-opens-their-new-hq-in-downtown-chicago-2706734). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/0ec571f7-b419-4f45-9fc6-c5398c352663).