McDonald’s Strategy For The Future: Yuliya Badritdinova

The golden arches and deep red logo of McDonald’s is considered one of the most recognized symbols in the modern world. Since Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s in Illinois in 1955, the brand has expanded across the globe and continues to dominate the fast food industry.

Today, there are more than 38,000 McDonald’s restaurants in over 100 countries, with approximately 95 percent of these owned and operated by independent local business owners worldwide.

There’s no denying that it is one of the most successful brands ever to exist – but the question is: how do you keep evolving such a well-established and already flourishing company?

For Yuliya Badritdinova, Managing Director of McDonald’s Ukraine, Czech Republic and Slovakia, the answer is combining a global outlook with local talent.

"McDonald’s is unique because it’s an international brand, but it’s very local in terms of operations and people who are actually serving in the restaurant," she tells The CEO Magazine.

"We still have the opportunity to open more restaurants, to improve, extend and grow our customer and employee experience. It’s about how we can match even better McDonald’s international standards and local cultures."

Fast food, fresh ideas

"Our multinational team is driven by the same values, which helps develop creative ideas and make the right decisions in our high-paced business and enables engaging best practices."

Badritdinova explains that one facet of this plan is a global strategy called ‘Accelerating the Arches’, now in its second iteration. "It’s a framework for the world. But depending on the priorities and opportunities of the market, you can pick your focal point," she notes.

"The interesting fact is that, even though the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine are in completely different situations right now, the strategic priorities are exactly the same. It’s the same streams of opportunities, but the way we will execute those strategies is definitely different.

"Also, our multinational team is driven by the same values, which helps develop creative ideas and make the right decisions in our high-paced business and enables engaging best practices."

Committing to sustainability

"Now we are doing things more consciously and taking even bigger steps in this direction, with the elimination of plastic packaging and focusing on more sustainable business."

In recent years, sustainability has become a buzzword for companies across the globe. However, it’s rare to find a business that is actually taking tangible steps to not only improve its practices, but also ensure it’s setting the blueprint for how others can follow suit.

"First of all, it’s relevant for the entire globe," Badritdinova says. "It’s something that is really interconnected to how we operate. And because it’s a huge company, and we have a huge footprint, it’s also about how we can really use our scale."

She breaks down McDonald’s approach into three main directions, the first being in terms of energy consumption and waste.

"Our operations are based on food in packaging and we have a significant supply chain with transportation as well. So we started to work on our sustainability strategies long ago," she says.

"Now we are doing things more consciously and taking even bigger steps in this direction, with the elimination of plastic packaging and focusing on more sustainable business."

The second factor is McDonald’s impact on the people and communities in which it operates. "For instance, in these three countries I work with 17,000 people, which is a huge number of people who are interacting with the company," Badritdinova says.

"We say that we are creating the opportunities for youth, for young people, offering stable employment, encouraging leadership development and providing career opportunities. We have exceptional training programs – a global curriculum which is always up to date with trends."

Sourcing mindfully

"What I love about our company, and what a lot of people, especially young people, like about McDonald’s, is that we are a values-driven company."

It is also immensely important for McDonald’s to be squeaky clean when it comes to responsible sourcing of products.

"Everybody comes to McDonald’s because of the joyful food. But we also have to ensure that our global supply chain, which has a huge footprint, is good for the planet, for farmers and for everything else," Badritdinova says.

"We are very advanced. This is something that we started focusing on in the early 90s and we continue developing and looking for solutions.

"I remember when I joined McDonald’s, I learned that our fish is completely wild-caught. Or coffee – we know that the rainforests are protected and it is all responsibly sourced because of the origin."

This unwavering commitment to doing things the right way has always set McDonald’s apart from its competitors. Now, as the consumer demographic continues to shift, with the next generation imploring businesses to make conscious, sustainable decisions, this has become more vital than ever before.

"What I love about our company, and what a lot of people, especially young people, like about McDonald’s, is that we are a values-driven company," Badritdinova says. "This is extremely important because we actually understand that the baby boomers are exiting the labor market and my daughter’s generation is so conscious, naturally.

"If you say that we’re thinking about the communities and actually taking our impact strategy seriously and are not just about words, it’s about real impact, that’s something that people will take as one of the important criteria when they choose where to go, what to buy and what to do."

Part of the family

I really feel that the purpose of McDonald’s is to feed communities and the mission is to deliver these feel-good moments every day.

Integral to the success of that strategy is, of course, to have a solid network of like-minded suppliers – all part of the "McFamily".

"It’s always about mutual respect," Badritdinova says. "We understand that if they are not successful, we are not successful in the future. And it’s exactly the same with the franchisees. It’s a partnership. We were both born to grow the business."

It’s this intense passion and desire to spread joy that Badritdinova believes is at the heart of the ongoing success of McDonald’s – and as long as that remains the driving force behind what it does, there’s truly no slowing the company down.

"I really feel that the purpose of McDonald’s is to feed communities and the mission is to deliver these feel-good moments every day," she says.

"I think that the biggest beauty of all of this is that it’s enjoyable, it’s purposeful and it’s value-driven. To work at McDonald’s, for every employee, in every level, is about being on this same mission."