50 new openings in McDonald’s restaurants are planned for 2025. The villages are also targeted.
McDonald’s, at the head of already 1560 restaurants in France where nearly 2 million French people order each day, continues its progression in our territory. The brand’s turnover is stable with 6 billion euros in 2024, but McDonald’s still wants to maximize its chances in the face of competition such as Burger King but also fast food brands, Vandant Tacos, Poke Bowls, Bobuns, etc. To achieve this, the brand tries some offensives on prices with the MCSMART menu at 5 euros or the Happy Meal at 4 euros. The chain also multiplies the new features to attract customers: in the coming weeks, a new burger with French beef will be offered and McDo also launched a Happy Meal for adults, available around the Minecraft theme.
In addition, the brand plans to open around fifty new restaurants this year, an acceleration of the opening pace that has been spinning in recent years around 20 to 30 per year. And no need to live in a big city to be able to buy a Big Mac, the fast food chain plays the proximity card. “Each Frenchman is entitled to his MCDO less than twenty minutes from his home,” said Jean-Guillaume Bertola, in charge of innovation and marketing, with the Figaro.
McDonald’s has good reasons to set up in small municipalities, rather than in large cities: “In rural regions, the land costs much cheaper, construction costs much less. In short, what is called the profitability threshold, the minimum turnover to do, is much lower than McDonald’s in large agglomeration”, explains Bernard Boutboul, President of the Consulting Cabinet, RMC. According to him, the number of McDonald’s restaurants could thus double within 20 years.
At the end of this month, the brand arrives at La Châtaigneraie, a municipality in Vendée of 2,500 inhabitants and in Saint-Geniès-de-Malgoirès in Occitanie with 3000 inhabitants. She has also just set up in Tessancourt-sur-Aubette, a village of Yvelines of less than 1000 inhabitants. With these new locations, customers may not go too long to get a fast food and bring it back hot. This also avoids delivery costs.
“McDo, it has become a bit of the village coffee,” said Jérôme Fourquet, director of the opinion department and IFOP business strategies with the Figaro. A situation deplored by Alain Fontaine, president of the association of bistros and cafes of France. He fears competition for villages in villages as well as a call for junk food and an Americanization of consumption: “Tomorrow, tourists will arrive in French villages, that the municipalities will have fought to renovate and 30 m from a 14th century fountain or magnificent arcades, there will be a McDonald’s?” Bfmtv.