How many McDonald’s are there in the world? 

Global foodservice retailer McDonald’s operated and franchised a total of 37,855 restaurants worldwide in 2018. This figure has seen a year-on-year increase for the last 13 years.

 A global foodservice leader

McDonald’s is undoubtedly the world’s leading quick service restaurant with over 37,000 locations in over 120 markets. Not only is the chain wide-spread it was by far the most valuable fast food brand in the world in 2018, with an estimated brand value of around 126 billion U.S. dollars. The only foodservice company that came close was coffeehouse chain Starbucks, its brand value amounting to the much smaller sum of approximately 44 billion U.S. dollars. Not only has McDonald’s made a name for itself in the fast food industry – but on an intersectoral level as well. In 2018, it was ranked eighth among other leading global brands such as Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Top ranked, and therefore most valuable, was Google which recorded a brand value of over 302 billion U.S. dollars.

 Tapping into new markets 

The Chicago-based quick service chain has the majority of its stores in its native country of the United States. However, McDonald’s has increased its store units in high growth markets, which, as the name already suggests - are markets that continue to grow at an increasing rate. The company has even implemented a growth strategy called “Velocity Growth Plan”, to further its expansion projects.