Kenneth Chan: CEO McDonald’s China, APMEA Division President Greater China
Kenneth started his career in McDonald’s in 1993 as an Assistant Marketing Manager, having come from Procter &
Gamble. He claims to be a McDonald’s kid being one of the first teenagers to frequent the inaugural McDonald’s
Singapore outlet then at Liat Towers. Within a year on the job, he won the coveted President’s Award in 1994 which
recognizes the top 1% of performers within the global system. Kenneth later switched career paths into restaurant
operations and worked his way through the numerous positions in operations management, human resources and
training. His career came full circle in 2004 when he was appointed General Manager, then Managing Director, of the
Singapore business. During his tenure at the helm, Kenneth’s efforts were recognized when McDonald's Singapore was
awarded the Service Excellence Award (2008), Singapore HR Corporate Award (2008), Top 10 Best Employer in Singapore
(2007 & 2009), amongst others. Kenneth was also conferred the Leading CEO Award by Singapore Human Resources
Institute (SHRI) in 2007 and the Champion of HR in 2008 by the HRM Magazine. From 2006-2007, he was also a GEMS
EXCO member and Co-Chairman GEMS Mindset Sub-Committee.
While serving as Managing Director of Singapore, Kenneth later had added regional responsibilities of overseeing the
company-owned businesses in Malaysia, Korea and Taiwan.
Behind the backdrop of the Chinese economic recession, Kenneth was appointed CEO of McDonald’s China in 2009.
Given the scale and importance of the China economy and the emerging middle class consumer -- as well as the fierce
competitive environment where the best of the best compete -- Kenneth was given the task of re-structuring the business
to grow at a more rapid pace, at a higher competitive level, and to ensure a long term sustainable runway for growth.
With a strong mix of local and global talent within his team, he began the company’s journey of building the McDonald’s
business behind a BIGGER, BETTER, FASTER growth strategy.
In making the business BIGGER, Kenneth set out first to develop an expansion strategy of where to grow new restaurants
in step with the megatrend of urbanization. He tripled his real estate and development organization and resourced the
necessary systems and tools to ensure that leadership could manage thousands of real estate pipelines and make quality
opening decisions that allowed brand presence and accessibility while also ensuring a strong return on the capital
invested. While opening the practical store fronts and shopping mall restaurants, Kenneth is also driving the more difficult
but blue ocean configurations of drive thru restaurants which will have a long runway of growth as car sales and usage
rapidly increases in China. It took the company all of 18 years to open the first 1000 restaurants in China. In the five years
that Kenneth has been at the helm, the company has already opened an additional 1000 restaurants and growing year on
year. The process and systems and tools that the China team has deployed are now considered world class best practices
used by the rest of the system.
Kenneth also got the company to embark on franchising to expedite growth, allow for a better deployment of shared
capital investment, and to put the business in to the hands of strong local entrepreneurs. From a base of zero franchised
restaurants, franchisees now operate about 15% of the restaurant base, open about 15% of all new restaurant openings
and this number is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years.
In making the business BETTER, Kenneth has set out to not only grow sales but to build a brand that is both accessible but
aspirational. In order to broaden accessibility, Kenneth set out to provide the best value for Chinese consumers in offering
everyday affordable pricing. This pricing has set the industry standard and has led to the growth of the overall eat out
category. To offer a more modern face to the brand, Kenneth set out a capital intensive re-imaging program to provide a
facelift to all restaurants, taking in world class leading edge designs from Australia and Europe to capture the imagination
of the Chinese consumer. To date, about 75% of all stores in the tier 1 cities have been re-imaged and about 60% of the
countrywide restaurants has been re-imaged. In terms of menu, Kenneth has stayed true to building equity behind the
heritage of the billion dollar brands of the Big Mac, French Fries and Chicken McNuggets. But he has also injected a strong
balance of providing both local and innovative menu options. From no McCafes in 2009, there are now already over 700
McCafes in China, introducing the local population to the coffee culture at prices that are accessible. Kenneth has also
built the breakfast business in China and today McDonald’s leads the western quick service category in breakfast sales.
McDonald’s in China has also been pioneering the ways in terms of technology. McDonald’s is the first restaurant chain
offering cashless payments in partnership with UnionPay. The brand has also shifted significant resources towards online
advertising, digital engagement and social media, working with leading edge companies like Tencent in offering the first
mobile coupons in China.
In a challenging regulatory and social media environment, McDonald’s China has also established itself as an industry
leader in quality and food safety, working with the Chinese Cuisine Association of China in upgrading the skill sets of the
industry and working with suppliers to upgrade the agricultural and preparation standards of food to market in China.
In 2013, McDonald’s was listed in Millward Brown’s Top Ten most powerful foreign brands in China
In building the business FASTER, Kenneth has focused on building the organization, competencies, infrastructure and
systems to enable fast but sustainable growth. Since 2009, the organization has doubled from a base of 50,000 employees
to past 100,000 and growing. To meet the needs of the highest level of training and development of employees, Kenneth
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established McDonald’s 7 global Hamburger University in Shanghai. To-date, all leaders in the field have now been 100%
localized and the top leadership team has now a better mix of 50% local leadership vs zero just a few years ago.
McDonald’s China has been recognized with the AON Hewitt’s Best Employer Award consecutively in 2009, 2011 and 2013,
the only MNC in China to have achieved this three times and a testament to the engagement built throughout the
organization ranks.
McDonald’s has invested heavily in infrastructure especially in IT – all restaurant operation systems have been simplified
and made more productive with IT investments from the most modern point of sale registers, to inventory and scheduling
automation, to business insights and analytics to manage the business better.
McDonald’s has also worked with its supply chain and distribution partners to create a robust farm-to-fork chain that is
cost effective, safe and with capacity to grow. McDonald’s has embedded itself into the agricultural economy in China,
now sourcing 95% of its products locally. The distribution, logistics and cold chain infrastructure is world class and
represents a significant competitive advantage for expansion in China.
RESULTS
Over the last 5 years that Kenneth has been at the helm in China, and through the volatility of the ever changing business
and political environment, revenue has doubled to over US$2.5 billion and profit has grown by close to 90%.
Today, China is already the third largest market in the McDonald’s system in terms of number of restaurants, the fastest
growing business, and the inspiration for the company’s emerging market possibilities.
Kenneth is currently the most senior Asian leader in the organization. His ability to lead a large business with a strong
vision for sustainable growth, his passion for the brand, his ability to marshall significant resources and channel them
towards the right focus areas, and his ability to energize and grow the organization makes him an Outstanding Overseas
CEO and a proud son of Singapore