McDonald’s Aims To Unify Its Channels With New Customer Experience Team

As customers increasingly turn to digital and delivery methods to get their foodservice fix, one leader in the industry is hoping to make the customer experience, both in-person and virtual, “frictionless.”

On July 26, McDonald’s announced the creation of a new customer experience team, which will be tasked with ensuring customers’ experiences across all platforms—from in-person and drive-thru to digital and delivery—are unified with better personalization.

To lead the team, McDonald’s promoted Manu Steijaert to the newly created role of executive vice president and global chief customer officer, effective Aug. 1. Steijaert will report to Chris Kempczinski, president and CEO.

The team also will bring together different company departments, including data analytics, digital customer engagement, global marketing, global restaurant development and restaurant solutions.

Steijaert has been with the McDonald’s brand for more than 20 years, starting in 1987 when he began as a crew member at his parents’ restaurants in Belgium. He most recently served as vice president of international operated markets.

In a letter to McDonald’s owners, operators, employees and suppliers worldwide, Kempczinski wrote that this new team comes as the company continues to evolve. No longer is it the relatively simple experience it once was where “customers would walk up to the front counter, place their order and get hot, delicious food served to them quickly,” he wrote.

Today, more service channels than ever are available to customers, and Kempczinski says that evolution was the inspiration behind the new customer experience team.