McDonald’s Corp. and its franchisees have committed, along with more than 20 of the company’s largest U.S.-based suppliers, to increasing purchases of goods and services from diverse-owned vendors by 10% between now and 2025, setting of goal of $3.5 billion — or a quarter — of their annual supply-chain spend, the company said Thursday.
The Chicago-based quick-service brand said its largest suppliers joined the new Mutual Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which includes “the shared goals of supporting and empowering diverse-owned businesses, creating new pipelines of diverse talent, driving greater innovation and competition and building economic growth in diverse communities.”
McDonald’s said its U.S. system, in 2020, spent about $14 billion in its U.S. supply chain, of which about 23% was with diverse-owned suppliers. It expects to increase purchases of goods and services from diverse-owned suppliers1 by nearly 10% by 2025 from that 2020 base year.
The company said it currently has about 385 diverse-owned businesses that supply goods and services to the company. McDonald’s USA defines diverse-owned business as those owned by women and/or Black, Hispanic, Asian, indigenous, veteran, LGBTQ+ and disabled persons.
“We’re proud of our leadership position and storied history in supplier diversity, dating back to the 1980s,” said Marion Gross, McDonald’s chief North America supply-chain officer, in a statement. “McDonald’s partnership with our vast network of suppliers is not only fundamental to delivering on our purpose to feed and foster communities. It’s also key to realizing our diversity, equity and inclusion ambition.”
In February, the company committed to leadership diversity and equity, with a goal of having 35% of its leadership roles, from senior director and above, filled by people from under-represented groups by 2025.
In November, McDonald’s named Reginald Miller to the position of vice president and global chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, a role intended to support the company’s equity goals across all business channels.
Miller said the supply-chain Mutual Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion would allow the company “to dismantle barriers to economic opportunity in far-reaching ways.”
Miller added: “As a values-based organization, we are compelled to do our part to make the world more equitable, and the absolute best way to do so is to leverage our size and scale through our value chain.”
Suppliers in the Mutual Commitment pledged to:
- Implement an diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, including annual training for employees to develop as better DEI practitioners and leaders.
- Increase overall representation of under-represented talent in leadership and staffing of McDonald’s business as well as accelerating their use of diverse suppliers.
- Invest in innovation with new partnerships and programs designed to impact talent pipelines and succession planning.
- Create a process for accountability to track progress, share regular updates and best practices on effective programs.
Among the suppliers making the mutual commitment were: Accenture, Alma, Baker McKenzie, Burrell Communications, Cargill, CPH Inc., Ecolab, Elkay Interior Systems, Everbrite LLC, Fair Oak Foods LLC, Flavor Reddy Foods LLC, FordHarrison LLP, Greenberg Traurig LLP, HAVI/The Marketing Store, IW Group Inc., New Horizons Baking Company, Omnicom Group, Perrino & Associates, Schreiber Foods, Tyson Foods and Wieden+Kennedy
“We are proud to be a part of McDonald’s Mutual Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” said John Tyson, chief sustainability officer at Tyson Foods, in a statement. “We are committed to furthering equality within our business with every team member — every shift, every day — and in the communities where we live and work.”
As part of the Mutual Commitment, McDonald’s is working with Supply Hive, a Chicago-based technology firm and certified minority-owned business, to provide resources and shared learnings to suppliers. The firm will also help track suppliers’ progress toward diversity objectives.
McDonald's has more than 39,000 locations in over 100 countries.
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