Citic Capital, McDonald’s majority owner in China, says online food delivery services is burger chain’s biggest revenue driver
- The biggest shareholder of McDonald’s franchise in China says delivery services account for 21 per cent of overall revenue
- Head of Citic Capital also sees new technology investment opportunities as China decouples from US technology supply chain
More than one-fifth of McDonald’s overall revenue on the mainland now comes from delivery services thanks to the growing popularity of these food apps and the country’s well entrenched mobile payment culture.
Same store sales alone have grown 4 per cent year to date from the same period last year, according to Yichen Zhang, chairman and chief executive of investment firm Citic Capital, which owns a 52 per cent stake in the burger chain’s China and Hong Kong businesses.
McDonald’s sold an 80 per cent stake in the business to Citic Capital, Citic Ltd and US private equity firm Carlyle for US$2.08 billion in January 2017. Carlyle owns a 28 per cent stake, while the Chicago-headquartered fast-food giant retained a 20 per cent stake. Since then the new investors have increased the number of stores on the mainland to 3,000 from 2,400.
“The growth we have been generating today compared to two years ago is mostly through technology,” said Zhang at the SuperReturn Asia conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
In China, delivery apps operated by Tencent Holdings-backed Meituan Dianping, and Alibaba-owned Ele.me have fanned the popularity of online food delivery services.