Speedee Labs Will Focus
on Innovation, Driving the Customer and Restaurant Team
Experience Forward
CHICAGO, Sept. 14,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, McDonald's Corporation is
announcing the establishment of a new facility, Speedee Labs, which
will be focused on driving the customer experience and supporting
restaurant teams through innovation, at its global headquarters
(MHQ) located at 110 N. Carpenter Street in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood. An example
of McDonald's commitment to the city of Chicago, this new facility will bring teams
from McDonald's corporate office and the existing Innovation Center
(IC) in Romeoville, IL together in
a new innovative environment creating more opportunities for
collaboration and end-to-end development of restaurant solutions
and technologies.
Introduced in 1948, McDonald's Speedee Service System
revolutionized the way a restaurant could operate. New kitchen
processes streamlined crew responsibilities, making it easier than
ever to serve customers efficiently. Now, through Speedee Labs,
McDonald's will continue to define tomorrow's restaurant
solutions.
"Our customers' and restaurant teams' needs are changing, and
meeting their expectations requires us to work together in new
ways," said Manu Steijaert, McDonald's Executive Vice President
and Chief Customer Officer. "Just as the creation of McDonald's
Customer Experience team brought key aspects of our business
strategy together, the creation of Speedee Labs will enable more of
our customers, restaurant teams, markets and global teams to
contribute to our innovation, while driving growth and creating
more seamless and memorable McDonald's experiences."
The new facility will utilize a combination of McDonald's
existing footprint as well as an additional 15,000 square feet in
leased space within the same building as MHQ, furthering McDonald's
innovation strategy and delivering solutions for a new generation
of customers. Speedee Labs is expecting a phased opening to begin
in the second half of 2023, which is when teams currently operating
services out of the IC will relocate to MHQ.
McDonald's moved its headquarters from Oak Brook, IL to Chicago's West Loop in 2018. In the 12 months
ending June 30, 2022, MHQ saw more
than 11,000 visitors to the building - a figure expected to
increase with the creation of Speedee Labs. Additionally, in that
same time span, McDonald's System had a total impact of
approximately $2B on the economy of
Cook County.
"I am thrilled that McDonald's is continuing to bet on
Chicago by adding Speedee Labs to
their global headquarters," said Chicago Mayor Lori E.
Lightfoot. "This new addition will draw even more
visitors from around the world to our city, and I look forward to
welcoming them as they come to collaborate and innovate with this
iconic brand."
Since opening in 1995, McDonald's IC has offered live restaurant
testing – and more recently remote, and simulation-based training –
to help the global McDonald's System refine operations and develop
new solutions to improve experiences for customers and restaurant
teams in nearly 40,000 restaurants around the world. The IC has
long been a hub for collaboration among the company, suppliers and
franchisees on customer-facing solutions and driving innovation
within the System. Many strategic initiatives for the McDonald's
System, including streamlined kitchen processes, updated cooking
methods, McDelivery and Mobile Order and Pay, were developed or
tested at the Innovation Center.
McDonald's plans to relocate all jobs from its Innovation Center
in Romeoville to MHQ's Speedee
Labs, adding to its Cook County
workforce. In total, in the 12 months ending June 30, 2022, the McDonald's System supported
more than 14,000 jobs in Cook County.
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SOURCE McDonald's Corporation