McDonald's plus McCafe recruits 70,000 people

McDonald's, a global fast-food chain, has announced plans to recruit 7000 employees in Shenzhen. A reporter from the Daily Business News learned that McDonald's plans to hire 70,000 employees across the country this year. Since its entry into the Chinese market, the total number of employees in the country is about 80,000, and nearly double the number of new employees within a year. What is McDonald's thinking?

At the same time, McDonald's said that another reason for the recruitment is to prepare for the expansion of the original restaurant business, but also to recruit to increase the number of McCoffee.

The move not only accelerates expansion to catch up with KFC, but also reveals McDonald's determination to expand its coffee business.

Catch up with KFC

"KFC's rapid expansion in China has given McDonald's a sense of urgency." Yan Minghang, a CIC consultant hotel catering industry researcher, told the Daily Business News that McDonald's is forced to continue to accelerate its store expansion because of the wide gap between McDonald's and its rival KFC in China. This must be accompanied by personnel supplies.

Statistics show that at present, KFC has more than 3500 stores in China and more than 1400 McDonald's. In the face of KFC's offensive, McDonald's has previously liberalized its long-standing policy of direct stores and opened up franchises in some areas. It is reported that McDonald's plans to open 225 to 250 new restaurants in 2012, and the total number of restaurants is expected to reach 2000 by 2013. Thus it can be seen that McDonald's expansion plans for this year and next are really eye-catching. But the recruitment of 70, 000 people is enough to meet the needs of its 1000 new stores, which makes the staff seem too large.

In this regard, Yan Minghang believes that the domestic catering industry employment turnover rate is high, this number may also take into account this factor.

However, no matter how mobile the catering industry is, judging from the current operation of McDonald's restaurants, there is no abnormal loss of staff.

In response, McDonald's explained that this year's recruitment also includes reserve requirements, as well as part-time and full-time employees. It is worth noting that in addition to recruiting new restaurant staff, McDonald's revealed that another reason for this recruitment is to prepare for the expansion of the original restaurant business, mainly for some restaurants to be open 24 hours a day and to increase business supplement staff such as McCoffee.

Add "McCoffee"

In the coffee sector, Starbucks, another multinational coffee chain, has achieved enviable success in China. It is reported that Starbucks has exceeded 600 stores in only 13 years since it entered the Chinese market in 1999, opening an average of 60 new stores every year. According to Starbucks' plan, the number of new units will exceed 150 in 2012.

Obviously, McDonald's has its eye on the coffee market. In the past two years, McDonald's has introduced the "McCoffee" brand into China, which is like a fish in water in other markets. The Daily Business News learned yesterday that McCoffee opened much faster than expected, reaching more than 300 in 20 cities across the country as of April 2011. McDonald's expects the number of McCafe shops to exceed 470 by the end of this year.

Chen Yan, a senior researcher at Ruilin Consulting, believes that McDonald's McCoffee business can also broaden its product range and increase its competitive leverage with KFC. McDonald's has always focused on hamburgers and French fries, with a small variety of products, so McDonald's launch of McCoffee products will increase the leverage to compete with KFC. At the same time, as McDonald's has a large number of young consumers, such consumers have a very high demand for coffee, so developing McCoffee business can not only better retain old customers, but also bring more new customers.

At present, McDonald's, which is preparing to speed up its entry into the Chinese coffee market, may still have to face many difficulties. The analysis of the Coffee Bean Branch of the China Fruit Circulation Association concluded that the change in coffee consumption habits was not overnight, such as the previous desire to regard events such as the Olympic Games as the flashpoint of industry growth.

(responsible Editor: Leo)