GoKawiilMcDonald's commits $8.5B to cut franchisee costs after admitting menu overload hurt service
McDonald's announced an $8.5 billion investment at its investor day, extending its 'Next' growth plan unveiled in June, aiming to save individual restaurants up to $100,000 a year in cash flow. Executives acknowledged that a rapid pace of recent menu launches had slowed service and hurt customer satisfaction, and the company is now targeting the $30 billion chicken category and menu options for GLP-1 drug users, whose households still frequent McDonald's 84% of the time. Despite the announcement, McDonald's stock fell 4.4% the same day.