McDonald’s is committing approximately $8.5 billion through 2036 to support its McDonald’s > NEXT strategy, putting significant capital behind restaurant modernization, technology deployment and operational improvements across its global system.
The investment was announced at the company’s 2026 Investor Day and includes approximately $5 billion through 2030 in rent relief and capital support for franchisees. McDonald’s said the goal is to accelerate modernization while improving restaurant-level economics and creating capacity for further investment.
The company is targeting approximately 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency improvement, which it estimates could translate into roughly $100,000 in annual cash-flow benefits for the average U.S. restaurant. McDonald’s estimates that franchisees could see an approximately four-year payback on their investments after the company’s partnering support.
The commitment comes as McDonald’s seeks to make its more than 46,000-restaurant global system more consistent and productive. NEXT builds on the company’s earlier Accelerating the Arches strategy but places greater emphasis on restaurant execution, food quality, hospitality and unit economics.
McDonald’s has structured NEXT around four areas: Menu > NEXT, Consumer > NEXT, Restaurant > NEXT and People > NEXT.
Restaurant > NEXT is central to the investment. The company plans to modernize restaurant designs, simplify operations and deploy its generative-AI-enabled ArchIQ platform at scale. McDonald’s expects these changes to contribute to the targeted 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency improvement in the U.S. and its international operated markets.
The company also expects restaurant expansion to become a more meaningful contributor to sales. New units are projected to contribute nearly 2.5% to systemwide sales growth in 2027, moderating to approximately 2% by 2030. McDonald’s is targeting a low-to-mid-50% operating margin by 2030 and annual baseline capital expenditure of roughly $3 billion from 2027 through 2030.
On the customer side, McDonald’s wants to gain 1.5 percentage points of market share in both chicken and beverages by 2030, while maintaining its leading position in beef. That puts the strategy beyond a restaurant renovation program; it is also an attempt to capture growth in categories where competition has intensified.
The company is pairing those investments with Make It Golden, a systemwide initiative focused on food quality and hospitality. Employee retraining under the programme is scheduled to begin October 5.
