Make it Golden: Celebrating Founder's Day
October 05, 2026
This message was sent to the Global McDonald's System.
Today, on Ray Kroc’s birthday, we celebrate the promise that has defined McDonald’s for generations: great tasting food, served with a smile, at a good value.
For more than 71 years, people across our System have brought that promise to life through the care they put into our food, the standards they uphold, and the experiences they create for our customers. Now, through McDonald’s > NEXT, we have an opportunity to build on that legacy and make the McDonald’s people love even better.
Our ambition is to be the first choice for more guests, more often. Earning that choice starts with getting the fundamentals right for every customer, every time: Great tasting food. Quality customers can trust. Hospitality they can feel.
That is what it means to Make It Golden, our multiyear Systemwide commitment to elevate the guest experience through great food and great hospitality that are uniquely McDonald’s.
We are launching Make It Golden training, the largest capability building effort in our history. Through tailored learning experiences across the System, we will strengthen the skills, standards, and behaviors that help our people deliver great taste, quality, and hospitality more consistently.
Our initial focus will be equipping field teams and Franchisees with an immersive, restaurant-based experience that brings Make it Golden to life through food, equipment, and operating environments. We expect Franchisees to be trained on the content and begin bringing it into their restaurants by the end of the year. Corporate Employees will also have opportunities to participate through interactive local activations during the week of Founder’s Day and beyond, connecting more closely with our restaurants, our food, and the customer experience.
Suppliers will receive additional details later today from the Global Supply Chain team about how Make It Golden will come to life for them.
Through our evolved customer and employee listening program powered by Qualtrics, we will connect guest feedback, employee feedback, and operational performance data to deliver a more comprehensive understanding of the restaurant experience.
These connected insights will in real time help restaurant teams see what is working, identify where they can improve and better understand how employee and customer experiences contribute to restaurant performance. They will also give teams greater visibility into their performance and more consistent coaching on how to strengthen it. We are also expanding how we think about great hospitality. It is not only about using the right words. It is about whether customers feel welcomed, cared for and valued.
By looking at the experience from both sides of the counter, we can better recognize the behaviors that create meaningful guest moments and help more teams deliver them consistently.
We are also introducing the Arches of Excellence Restaurant Award, our most prestigious global recognition for restaurant teams.
Beginning next year, the award will recognize 100 restaurant teams from around the world every two years for excellence across the guest experience, employee experience and business performance.
Winners will receive a Team Award Fund, permanent recognition in their restaurant and induction into the Arches of Excellence Hall of Fame. They will also have the pride of representing their Market among the very best of McDonald’s.
More information about how to enter will be shared next May, with the inaugural winners celebrated globally on Founder’s Day 2027.
This isn't new to us.
Training, feedback and recognition will help us build on what we do best. But the heart of Make It Golden is found in the everyday moments that make McDonald’s special to our guests.
We were reminded of that on a recent restaurant visit, where we met Maria, who stops by nearly every morning on her way to work. Paul, a crew member, greeted her by name and knew exactly what she was there for: a Sausage McMuffin with Egg, hash browns, and a large coffee with two sugars. Her meal was prepared just right. Her coffee was hot and ready. And it was all handed to her by someone who knew her routine and took pride in getting the details right.
For Maria, it was the familiar start to her day. For us, it was a reminder that great experiences are built one meal, one interaction and one customer at a time.
That’s what we want to make possible more consistently, in every restaurant, for every customer. NEXT isn’t about leaving behind what made McDonald’s great. It’s about taking the best of McDonald’s, learning from it and bringing it to more customers, more often.
THAT'S HOW, TOGETHER, WE MAKE IT GOLDEN.
Happy Founder’s Day!
Tiffanie Boyd Jill McDonald
Global Chief People Officer Global Chief Restaurant Experience Officer