McDonald's mulls new direction for Hong Kong

McDonald's Corporation has released details of what looks to be a major plan to restructure its directly-owned restaurant business in North Asia, with markets from Hong Kong, China and Korea under the spotlight.An announcement from the fast-food's US headquarters said McDonald's is seeking an investment partner in these key, high-growth markets to speed up expansion plans and make its local offering more appealing. The company also revealed plans to open more than 1,500 restaurants in China, Hong Kong and Korea within the next five years.China, Hong Kong and Korea collectively represent more than 2,800 restaurant locations, the majority of which are company-owned. But that looks set to change.Last year, McDonald’s committed to reducing the number of restaurants it owns and operates. The result will be to place more restaurants under local ownership, in the hands of local franchisees, with a long-term goal of being 95% franchised. The identification of strategic partners in Asia is consistent with this strategy.Randy Lai, managing director at McDonald’s Hong Kong, said the decision to seek out a partner was to make fast, local and relevant decisions that meet the needs customers.“In Hong Kong, we serve over one million customers a day at McDonald’s. Customers are the core of our business and we are taking a proactive approach to equip ourselves with new competitive competencies that enable us to make fast, local and relevant decisions that meet the needs of our business and customers,” she said."In the end, we are looking for strategic partners who share our values and who will commit to grow our business and brand in Hong Kong."New directionsIt's interesting times for the world's biggest fast-food player. In China, the business has struggled to find meaningful growth against a growing number of strong local players. Locally, McDonald's Hong Kong has tested a number of new initiatives from a pop-up restaurant in Causeway Bay where customers name their own price for burgers and the Create Your Taste outlet.Last year it announced wide-ranging plans to reset the business and make McDonald's a more "modern and progressive" burger company. Part of that change saw Steve Easterbrook named president and CEO.READ MORE: McDonald’s makes major global restructure“We’re making progress as we execute our global turnaround plan and we’re challenging our business in different ways to accelerate growth," Easterbrook said.“We’re committed to Hong Kong for the long term and intend to combine our global brand with local insights and expertise. This gives us the ability to enable faster decision-making, achieve restaurant growth and deliver a great restaurant experience for our customers in Hong Kong.”https://youtu.be/pl75QG33DHs