McDonald's to open 1000 new stores and ramp up tech efforts after strong Q4 results

McDonald’s plans to open 1000 new restaurants and ramp up its digitisation strategy in 2018 after posting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

The fast-food giant said that it hopes to invest US$2.4 billion into its current sites by adding more self-ordering kiosks and other technology upgrades to help with delivery and digital services.

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The news comes as the company announced its best same-store sales growth in six years.

McDonald’s noted that this was fuelled by a “strong customer response” to its beverage deals, McPick 2 promotion and its new product Buttermilk Crispy Tenders.

Last year, McDonald’s spent nearly US$2bn to win back customers from competitors. This involved refranchising over 4,000 stores, investing in technologies like self-service kiosks, and adopting a new sleeker restaurant design.

In the fourth quarter, sales at McDonald’s locations rose 4.5% in the Us and 5.5% worldwide.

"Our business is growing, and it’s fundamentally sound," said McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook to USA Today. 2017 was our best performance in six years. Customers are rewarding us with more visits."