Dive Brief:
- McDonald’s will update how the restaurant company assesses customer satisfaction by letting customers directly review their experience inside its app, CEO Chris Kempczinski said during a Q3 2026 earnings call Wednesday. The system will roll out in the U.S. at the end of Q4.
- The change marks “significant enhancements” regarding the accuracy and visibility of customer feedback, Kempczinski said on the call. “All of that is going to give us much better insight into how the customer is actually perceiving the experience that they're getting in the restaurant.”
- The change is part of Make It Golden, a multiyear commitment to improving McDonald’s customer experience that launched in October. Make It Golden is an element of McDonald’s > NEXT, the company’s long-term growth strategy.
Dive Insight:
McDonald’s is focused on offering a clear value perception and an elevated customer experience as it works to grow sales and traffic.
“At its core, McDonald's > NEXT is all about how we improve the customer experience from the food we serve to the hospitality we offer while making our restaurants easier to operate and more efficient,” Kempczinski said. “Our ambition is simple: to be the first choice for more customers more often.”
During the first month of Make It Golden, McDonald’s completed training for leaders and experts who will bring the program to its more than 18,000 restaurants in the first quarter of 2027, according to Kempczinski.
The strategy is drawing upon the power of McDonald’s loyalty program as well.
The company has begun restoring a bigger range of regional and national offers to improve frequency from active members while bringing in new and lapsed members, according to EVP and CFO Ian Borden.
The initial response exceeded expectations for both traffic and sales and helped reverse the declines experienced in the second quarter and early third quarter quarter of 2026, according to Borden.
McDonald’s work is showing positive signs, but there is still work ahead.
Global comparable sales increased 1.5% year over year in Q3, though U.S. comparable sales decreased 0.2% year over year during the same period, according to an earnings report. Global systemwide sales rose 4% year over year to more than $38 billion for the quarter, including more than $11 billion sales to loyalty members.
Moving forward, McDonald’s is expanding its test of ArchIQ, its AI-powered operations platform, across the majority of U.S. restaurants by the end of 2027, according to Kempczinski. The technology includes the Archy drive-thru ordering system, which lets workers spend more time helping customers.
“This is NEXT in action, strengthening how we operate today while building the growth platforms and capabilities that will position McDonald's to lead for the long term,” Kempczinski said.
