At the 2026 Annual Meeting of the China Entrepreneurs Forum held from March 17 to 19 in Yabuli, Heilongjiang, Zhang Yicheng, Chairman and CEO of CITIC Capital Holdings Limited, delivered a speech.

As Chairman of the Board of McDonald's China, Zhang Yicheng detailed the company's digital advancements. He stated that since taking over McDonald's China in 2017, the chain has opened an average of nearly 1,000 new stores per year over the recent three-year period—a pace unprecedented in McDonald's history. The store count has grown from 2,200 to approximately 7,900, nearing 8,000 locations. Furthermore, the proportion of sales from delivery services increased from 12% in 2017 to 48% in the fourth quarter of last year, with Zhang noting that "the figures far exceeded expectations."

He explained that the primary driver behind this growth is digitalization, with digital orders now accounting for 97% of the total. One of the first initiatives after the 2017 acquisition was the launch of the McDonald's app, which now boasts close to 400 million members.

"This transformation is entirely attributable to China's digital ecosystem, which is something Americans fundamentally don't comprehend. In the United States, McDonald's marketing still heavily relies on advertising—whether on television, in print, or online. But in China, marketing efforts are more targeted towards members, making them more precise," Zhang remarked.

Additionally, Zhang Yicheng highlighted that artificial intelligence is extensively utilized not only for corporate-level decision-making but also at the restaurant manager level, where AI-assisted tools are available on their mobile devices. For instance, tasks that consume the most time for restaurant managers in the U.S., such as scheduling staff and inventory management, have been fully digitized using AI in China. This includes AI calculating the optimal time to start cooking items like chicken in anticipation of peak hours.

"After the global McDonald's CEO visited last September, he commented that everything they had planned to do, we had already accomplished," Zhang shared.

In conclusion, Zhang Yicheng reflected that McDonald's China has successfully seized the opportunities presented by China's rapid development and its robust internet ecosystem, transforming a traditional fast-food company into a data-driven enterprise and a leading adopter of AI technology.