McDonald’s Corporation is the world’s largest fast food company and Chris Kempczinski sits at the head of the table of its vast organization. He is the Chairman and Ceo overseeing the 36,000 restaurants scattered across the world. Every single day, around 69 million people pass under the Golden Arches to grab a bite to eat. Those are impressive numbers, but Kempczinski is determined to expand McDonald’s social media presence while also taking additional innovative strides forward to keep the company connected to its customers.
“We’re putting ideas out there and getting consumer feedback all the time—we’re in constant iteration mode,” he explains.
Kempczinski created and is spearheading Accelerating the Arches, McDonald’s new growth strategy. Its goal is to “unlock greater innovation” within its entire system.
“I’m very proud of having put our values front and center, and a big learning for me was realizing there is no such thing as over-communicating,” he says.
During his first year as CEO of McDonald’s, his priority was to “refresh the core values that define who we are as a company.” He was determined to be a good listener so he could understand how people were feeling and “what we could do to support them.”
That support extends to being a trustee of the Ronald McDonald House Charities. The global nonprofit organization’s purpose is to improve the health of children who are seriously ill or injured. It also supports their families, especially when they have to stay far from home while their child receives treatment.
Additionally, he sits on the McDonald’s Board of Directors and the Board of Directors for Procter & Gamble.
Kempczinski lives in Chicago with his wife and two children. He graduated from Duke University and Harvard Business School and began his career working with premier global consumer companies. Those companies include Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, and Kraft Foods. During this time, he accumulated a wealth of knowledge and a quarter century of experience he brought to his role as CEO of McDonald’s in 2015.
Kempczinski’s first role in the company was as Executive VP of Strategy, Business Development, and Innovation. He concentrated on identifying the best practices to accelerate system growth and identified and embraced innovative new ideas to make it happen. Later, he was the President of McDonald’s USA, overseeing the 14,000 McDonald’s in the United States and leading the business operations.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Kempczinski’s emphasis on McDonald’s core values was an asset as the company dealt with an altered global landscape.
“It helped us address the challenges we faced when the pandemic came along, and I could never have anticipated how much those messages would resonate,” he said.
Like the rest of the business world, McDonald’s was left reeling from the impact the pandemic had on its bottom line.
“We had the worst quarter in the history of McDonald’s in the second quarter of 2020,” Kempczinski says. “I stepped up my communication to make sure that our employees understood what our plan was to get through this, but also to get a lot of feedback.”
Toward the end of 2020, 90% of McDonald’s employees felt well-supported by the company, an achievement Kempczinski found very gratifying.
Kempczinski’s determination to keep communication flowing between the company and customers continues through social media. This is a far cry from how things were when he started his career. A marketing campaign would run for a full year before it was reviewed.
“But now we’re in an always-on marketing environment, driven largely by social media. We’re putting ideas out there and getting consumer feedback all the time—we’re in constant iteration mode,” he explains.
