Fast food giant McDonald’s shrugs off Brexit vote and pledges to create 5,000 new UK jobs by the end of next year
McDonald's has announced plans to create more than 5,000 new jobs in the UK by the end of next year.
The move marks a major investment by the global fast food chain in the wake of last month's Brexit vote.
It will build on the 8,000 jobs the company announced in 2014, McDonald's said today as it opened its 500th "Experience of the Future" restaurant, which includes features such as touch-screen ordering.
The company now has more than 110,000 workers in the UK at 1,250 restaurants in total.
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Paul Pomroy, chief executive of McDonald's UK, said: "As a major UK employer, we have added more than 15,000 people to our workforce during the last five years as a result of our sustained business growth and long-term investment in recruitment and training.
"Growth has been driven by investment and innovation in the restaurant experience, new restaurants and extended opening hours – over half of our stores are now open 24/7 throughout the week.
Our multi-million pound investment into the next chapter of the McDonald’s story continues, and today we have opened our 500th restaurant as part of that transformation, with a further 250 stores to be completed by the end of the year.
Innovations like table service where customers place their order via our new digital kiosks and have their food brought to them, are proving incredibly popular and in place in over 350 restaurants across the UK.
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Yesterday McDonalds announced global same-store sales growth of 3.1 per cent, though its US same-store sales missed expectations, rising just 1.8 per cent.
McDonald's has posted 41 consecutive quarters of sales growth in the UK.
Greg Clark, secretary of state for the department of business, energy and industrial strategy, said: "McDonald's announcement that they will be creating over 5,000 new jobs is great news for the UK economy.
"The government is committed to ensuring businesses have the support they need to thrive and today's announcement underlines that businesses are confident that the UK remains open for business."