McDonald's Plans Massive Hiring Surge in China to Double Staff

McDonald’s said it will hire about 70,000 workers in China in the current year to staff a wave of new restaurants and to support a bigger footprint of locations that offer delivery. The company framed the push as part of an aggressive plan to accelerate restaurant openings during 2025 to 2026, improve service levels including delivery, and respond to intensifying competition from other quick service chains in China.

For workers the announcement means a substantial increase in entry level and hourly opportunities across Chinese cities. Large scale hiring will expand local headcount quickly, creating new roles in kitchens, service, delivery operations, and store management. The move could be a career ladder for employees seeking stable hourly work or routes into supervisory positions as new stores mature.

For workplace and operations teams the scale and speed of the expansion present practical challenges. Recruiting teams must ramp sourcing and hiring pipelines to fill tens of thousands of roles. Onboarding and training systems will be tested as new hires require standardized training in operations, food safety, and delivery coordination. Scheduling complexity will rise as stores open at different times and offer varying service modes. Local management capacity will need strengthening to supervise growing teams, maintain service quality, and retain staff in a competitive labour market.

The expansion also carries implications for franchise partners who typically run most restaurants. Rapid openings increase reliance on local managers and franchisee investment in staffing and training. Wage and benefit dynamics could shift regionally as chains compete for workers with delivery platforms and domestic quick service brands.

In the larger market context this hiring effort underscores how international chains are pressing to regain growth momentum in China through faster openings and broadened delivery offerings. For employees the plan offers substantial new job opportunities, but it will test the company’s ability to scale recruitment and training without eroding service standards or worker experience.