Chris Kempczinski | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Christopher John Kempczinski 1967or1968(age 56–57) [1] Boston, Massachusetts, US |
| Education | Duke University (BA) Harvard University (MBA) |
| Title | President, chairman and CEO, McDonald's |
| Term | 2019–present |
| Predecessor | Steve Easterbrook |
| Children | 2 |
Christopher John Kempczinski is an American business executive, and the president, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of McDonald's Corporation.
Christopher John Kempczinski was born in Boston, [2] and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. [3] He is the son of Richard Kempczinski, who was Professor of Surgery and Chief of Vascular Surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, [4] and Ann Marie Kempczinski ( née Campbell), who was a primary school teacher at Terrace Park Elementary in Cincinnati, Ohio. [5] He graduated in 1987 from Indian Hill High School in suburban Cincinnati. [6]
Kempczinski earned a bachelor's degree from Duke University in 1991, [7] and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1997. [8] [9]
Kempczinski started his career with Procter & Gamble in brand management, and worked for four years in its soap sector division, before leaving to attend Harvard Business School (HBS). After HBS, he became a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, focusing on consumer products and pharmaceuticals. [5]
In 2000, Kempczinski joined PepsiCo in its corporate strategy & development group, and in 2006, was VP, Marketing, Non Carbonated Beverages, Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. [5]
Before joining McDonald's, Kempczinski worked for Kraft Foods as executive vice president of growth initiatives, and president of Kraft International. [10] He left Kraft in September 2015. [9]
Kempczinski joined the McDonald's global strategy team in late 2015, and was promoted to president of McDonald's USA in October 2016 where he oversaw the business operations of approximately 14,000 restaurants. [9] [11] [12] In November 2019, he succeeded Steve Easterbrook as president and CEO. [13] Easterbrook was fired for violating company policy by having a relationship with an employee. [14] Shortly after joining the company, Kempczinski moved to create a "more professional culture" among executives and other staff, focusing on human resources. [15]
In November 2020, Kempczinski launched a new digital approach to sales mainly for drive thru, home delivery and pick up, known as "Accelerating the Arches." [16] [17] In 2023, McDonald's unveiled 'Accelerating the Arches 2.0,' focusing on delivery, drive-thru, and development. [18]
In 2021, Kempczincki apologized to employees and the public for private remarks he made about the gun deaths of children at McDonald's. In correspondence with Mayor Lightfoot of Chicago, he blamed parents of the victims: "With both, the parents failed those kids which I know is something you can't say. Even harder to fix." [19] Publication of the exchange "sparked outrage." [20] Chicago civic groups and the Service Employees International Union demanded Kempczinski apologize, saying "Your text message was ignorant, racist and unacceptable coming from anyone, let alone the CEO of McDonald's." [21]
In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kempczinski decided to suspend sales and operations for all company-owned restaurants in Ukraine indefinitely, while continuing to compensate Ukrainian employees. Similar operational changes were initially implemented in Russia, until McDonald's announced a complete withdrawal of business in the country in May. In Russia, his plan impacted 853 restaurants and approximately 62,000 employees. [22]
In a 2022 speech addressing the Economic Club of Chicago, Kempczinski expressed concerns about the impact of crime on business in the city and encouraged public–private partnerships to enhance safety. [23] [24] [25]
As of March 2024, Kempczinski is also chairman of McDonald's. [26]
In 2021, Kempczinski's total compensation from McDonald's was $20 million. [27] In 2023, Kempczinski's total compensation from McDonald's was $19.2 million, or 1,212 times the median employee pay at McDonald's for that year. [28]
Kempczinski received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Indian Hill Foundation, [29] and was named a person "shaping retail's future" by the NRF Foundation (the philanthropic branch of the National Retail Federation). [30] [31]
Kempczinski is married with two children. [5] He has run marathons, [36] and as of 2020 was running at least 50 miles (80 km) a week. [37]
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., often known simply as Chipotle, is an American multinational chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos, and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer. As of June 30, 2024, Chipotle has 3,500 restaurants. Its name derives from chipotle, the Nahuatl name for a smoked and dried jalapeño chili pepper.
Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is an independent American nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children.
A drive-through or drive-thru, is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the United States in the 1930s, and has since spread to other countries.
Cintas Corporation is an American corporation headquartered in Mason, Ohio which provides a range of products and services to businesses including uniforms, mats, mops, cleaning and restroom supplies, first aid and safety products, fire extinguishers and testing, and safety courses. Cintas is a publicly held company traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS and is a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and, in 1961, bought out the McDonald brothers. Previously headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, it moved to nearby Chicago in June 2018. McDonald's is also a real estate company through its ownership of around 70% of restaurant buildings and 45% of the underlying land.
The American fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's was founded in 1940 by the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice, and has since grown to the world's largest restaurant chain by revenue. The McDonald brothers began the business in San Bernardino, California where the brothers set out to sell their barbecue. However, burgers were more popular with the public and the business model switched to a carhop drive-in style of restaurant. From the 1940s to the mid 1950s, the brothers expanded their business, even incorporating the golden arches, until Ray Kroc turned their small business into the well-known and commercially successful business that it is today. Kroc convinced the brothers to move into a more self-serve business model and to expand nationwide.
The American restaurant chain McDonald's has been criticised for numerous aspects of its business, including the health effects of its products, its treatment of employees, the environmental impact of its operations, and other business practices.
McDonald's Restaurants of Canada, Limited is the Canadian master franchise of the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's, owned by the American parent McDonald's Corporation. One of Canada's largest fast-food restaurant chains, the franchise sells food items – including hamburgers, chicken, French fries and soft drinks – all across the country. McDonald's is known for its high fat and calorie foods. McDonald's was Canada's largest food-service operator before being overtaken by Tim Hortons in 2005.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) is the world's largest retail trade association. Its members include department stores, catalog, Internet, and independent retailers, restaurants, grocery stores, multi-level marketing companies and vendors.
McDonald's Israel is the Israeli master franchise of the fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. Previously operated and licensed by Alonyal Limited, McDonald's Israel is the largest of Israel's burger chains with a 60% market share. It was the first Israeli outlet to be opened in 1993 and a major competitor of the local restaurant chain Burger Ranch. The world's first kosher McDonald's was opened in Mevaseret Zion in October 1995. After a sales decline attributed to consumer boycotts as part of the BDS movement, McDonald's Corporation announced in 2024 that it would buy Alonyal pending regulatory approval.
Donald Thompson is an American engineer and business executive who was the president and chief executive of McDonald's Corporation from 2012 until 2015. He announced on January 28, 2015, that he would retire from the company and leave his position on March 1, 2015, and was succeeded by Steve Easterbrook, the senior executive vice president and chief brand officer. He is currently the CEO of Cleveland Avenue, an investment group and accelerator that focuses on building new food, beverage, and restaurant concepts, which he founded in 2015. Cleveland Avenue has invested in Beyond Meat and Taste 222, among other food industry companies, and Thompson has served as a member of the board of directors at Beyond Meat since October 2015.
Mondelez International, Inc., styled as Mondelēz International, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26.5 billion and operates in approximately 160 countries. It ranked No. 108 in the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.
Arcos Dorados Holdings is the master franchise of the fast food restaurant chain McDonald's in 20 countries and territories across Latin America and the Caribbean. As of October 2024, it operates nearly 2,400 restaurants, making it the largest independent McDonald's franchisee in the world and the largest quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain in Latin America and the Caribbean, serving over 4.3 million customers daily.
Stephen James Easterbrook is a British business executive. From March 2015 to November 2019, he was president and chief executive of McDonald's, the American fast food company.
The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC), commonly known as Kraft Heinz, is an American multinational food company formed by the merger of Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz Company co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Kraft Heinz is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest in the world with over $26.0 billion in annual sales as of 2021.
Guzman y Gomez is a Mexican casual and fast food restaurant chain based in Australia. Many restaurants also serve coffee through the “Cafe Hola” brand which operates during the morning.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the United States restaurant industry via government closures, resulting in layoffs of workers and loss of income for restaurants and owners and threatening the survival of independent restaurants as a category. Within a week after the first closures, industry groups representing independent restaurateurs were asking for immediate relief measures from local, state, and federal governments, saying that as many as 75 percent of independent restaurants could not survive closures of more than a few weeks. By late July, nearly 16,000 restaurants had permanently closed.
David Gibbs is an American businessman and CEO of Yum! Brands Inc.
From 1990 to 2022, the American fast food chain McDonald's operated and franchised McDonald's restaurants in Russia.
CosMc's is an American concept fast food restaurant, a spin-off of McDonald's. It launched on December 7, 2023, with a drive-thru only location in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, Illinois, with nine total locations planned to open in Texas in 2024. The CosMc's Brand includes McCafe products sold at each location, some of which also available at McDonalds locations, alongside exclusive drinks and food.