Don Thompson, McDonald’s incoming CEO, discussed the importance of diversity in hiring and its role in innovation and growth in a Wednesday address to the Chicago Urban League Wednesday.
“Diversity fuels innovation, and innovation fuels success,” Thompson said in his first public remarks since his promotion. He added that McDonald’s emphasis on diversity as well as inclusion, “was the reason we were the No. 1 company on the Dow last year.”
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Having diversity in the ranks “helps with the menu too,” Thompson said, adding that “you have to make sure all of the ideas brought into the pipeline don’t look like the ones you brought.”
Thompson noted that the company has 160 menu items in its global pipeline, including oatmeal from the United States and chicken McBites from Australia. He also mentioned “kiwi pops,” popular in Europe and likely to be sold here soon.
While the company has some of the best diversity stats in its peer group, Thompson described the process as one of “evolution.”
“We still have a long way to go, especially as we become a more global company,” he said, adding that as McDonald’s builds its international presence “the idea of diversity takes on a whole different texture.”
Thompson, McDonald’s president and chief operating officer until July 1, said the fast-food giant has sought diversity not just in its corporate ranks, but also among its supplier base and franchisees.
He pointed to Chicago’s Herman Petty, McDonald’s first African American franchisee and the company’s efforts to boost women and minority-owned businesses. When moving into a new neighborhood, he said, it’s been important to find franchisees with deep ties to the community.
But not all of them have access to capital, he said, so the company “helped fill in the gaps,” to get some of these owner-operators started.
He said 45 percent of McDonald’s franchisees are minorities or women.
Thompson said McDonald’s also encourages the food companies it works with to foster partnerships with women and minority-owned businesses.
“Many of our suppliers started as partners of our suppliers and then broke off,” he said, noting that McDonald’s buys 55 percent of its food and paper products from women and minority-owned businesses. Thompson said the chain has an annual grocery bill north of $9 billion in the U.S. alone.
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