McDonald’s is gearing up for a massive expansion in China with an ambitious plan for reaching double-digit sales growth per year.
The American fast-food giant has unveiled its plans to bring 2,000 additional stores to mainland China in a recent announcement, Shanghaiist reports.
McDonald’s has set the plan to be completed within five years, which would mean an increase of the number of Mcdonald’s restaurants in the country from 2,500 to 4,500, almost doubling its current number of outlets there by 2022.
The expansion is reportedly made possible after the completion of a partnership with the Carlyle Group, along with China government-backed CITIC Ltd. and CITIC Capital Partners. McDonald’s said in a statement that the group will operate and manage the restaurant chain’s businesses in mainland China and Hong Kong.
“China will soon become our largest market outside of the United States,” McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook was quoted as saying.
Currently, the company operates 37,000 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide and more than 14,000 in the U.S.
China has consistently been considered as a highly viable market for many global brands as of late. Last year, Starbucks also announced its massive plan to open over 5,000 stores in China by 2021.
Featured Image Via Wikimedia Commons / Chen Shaoju (CC BY-SA 2.5)
