TL;DR
McDonald's aims to refranchise 90% of its locations by 2018 to improve its fortunes. New CEO Steve Easterbrook seeks to reset the business through this refranchising effort.
McDonald’s may be the reigning champ of fast-food franchising, but the company has faced its fair share of negative news of late.
According to a recent report from USA Today, new CEO Steve Easterbrook is looking to refranchising to improve the company’s fortunes. The news source reported McDonald’s will increase refranchising to include 90 percent of the chain’s 36,000-plus locations by 2018. This marks a 9 percent increase from the current refranchising level.
Easterbrook referred to the company’s increased focus on converting company-owned stores to franchise locations as part of an “urgent need to reset this business.”
This comes on the heels of news in April that first-quarter comparable sales decreased 2.3 percent for the company.
In this story
This story was originally published in 1851 Franchise on May 4, 2015. Burnaze summarizes and links to the original reporting.
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