While many international brands retreat, McDonald’s is supersizing its China business

Even as numerous international consumer brands shrink their footprints in China, McDonald's is bucking the trend thanks to consumers like Yue Ma. Over the May Day holidays, Yue showed up at the U.S. fast food giant's newly opened McDonaldland store in Beijing's Chaoyang Park — one of the few stores countrywide that reintroduced the chain's classic strawberry and vanilla milkshakes on May 1. The businessman, who was born in the 1980s, told CNBC he came not only for the shake, but also the childhood memories. "McDonald's left a great first impression for those eating Western fast food for the first time," he said. "Nowadays we have so many options in fast food, Western or Chinese, but for me, 70% of the time, I go to McDonald's." While brands like Starbucks, Nike, and LVMH struggle in the country, McDonald's is supersizing its presence. The chain plans to have 10,000 stores in mainland China by 2028, from over 7,700 at the end of 2025. Only the U.S. has more McDonald's stores than China. Pedestrians use smartphones while walking past a McDonald's restaurant at Dongmen Pedestrian Street on April 18, 2026, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. Cheng Xin | The market is a big source of the company's unit growth. Half of its new stores last year were in mainland China. The China business is part of what the U.S. company calls its international developmental licensed markets segment, where same-store sales rose 3.4% in the first quarter, McDonald's reported Thursday . …