Impressive news! Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is in no way limited to the workplace. Progressive companies understand they key role they can play in helping create more equitable opportunities across the industries that serve their communities. McDonald’s and its U.S. franchisees expect to increase purchases of goods and services from diverse-owned suppliers by nearly 10% by 2025, leading to approximately a quarter of all U.S. System spend.
Supporting diverse-owned businesses
McDonald’s and over 20 of its largest U.S.-based suppliers took an important step to dismantle barriers to economic opportunity in their businesses and in the communities they serve by joining the company’s Mutual Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (MCDEI).
The company and its MCDEI signatories will work toward 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. Any U.S.-based supplier is invited to join the MCDEI, from companies that provide goods and services across the food supply chain to consulting and law firms, technology suppliers and other third parties.
The McDonald’s U.S. System spent approximately $14 billion throughout its U.S. supply chain in 2020, an industry-leading 23% of which was with diverse-owned suppliers. It expects to increase purchases of goods and services from diverse-owned suppliers1 by nearly 10% by 2025 from a 2020 base year. With this increase, approximately a quarter of U.S. spend – about $3.5 billion – would be with diverse-owned suppliers. This builds on a strong history of partnership with diverse-owned businesses, more than 385 of whom currently supply goods and services.
“We’re proud of our leadership position and storied history in supplier diversity, dating back to the 1980s. 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,” said SVP and Chief North America Supply Chain Officer Marion Gross.
“Collaboration is in our DNA as a brand – and through these industry-leading commitments with our supply chain, we’re able to create more equitable opportunities across the many industries that serve our communities. We look forward to continuing to lead well into the future.”
Advancing new actions related to DEI
Since establishing a global ambition on DEI in July 2020, McDonald’s has advanced a variety of new actions including setting corporate employee DEI representation goals and aligning leadership accountability for meeting these targets, implementing actions to dismantle barriers and increasing the allocation of marketing spend to diverse-owned media, content and production partners.
“These commitments allow us to dismantle barriers to economic opportunity in far-reaching ways. Since outlining our global ambition nearly one year ago, we have been focused on bold actions to further our commitments,” said VP and Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Reginald J. Miller. “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.”
Holding suppliers accountable to DEI progress
To date, over 20 U.S.-based suppliers have joined the new MCDEI pledge, holding themselves accountable to:
- Implementing an overall DEI strategy, including annual training for employees to develop as better DEI practitioners and leaders
- Increasing overall representation of underrepresented talent in leadership and staffing of McDonald’s business as well as accelerating their use of diverse suppliers
- Investing in innovation with new partnerships and programs designed to make a measurable difference in talent pipelines, succession planning and in communities where McDonald’s suppliers operate
- Creating a process for accountability to track progress, share regular updates and best practices on effective programs and measurement
“We are proud to be a part of McDonald’s Mutual Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 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,” said John R. Tyson, Chief Sustainability Officer at Tyson Foods. “We are pleased to partner with McDonald’s to help the many people connected to our business feel more included and valued.”
To support implementation of the MCDEI, 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’ annual progress toward MCDEI objectives.
Encouraging suppliers to take a pledge with McDonald's
Learn more about McDonald’s invitation to any U.S.-based suppliers to take a pledge with McDonald's - a pledge to be better when it comes to diversity, inclusion, and equity. The pledge invites those who do business with McDonald’s to commit to greater accountability for DEI progress within their own organizations, and aims to galvanize McDonald’s vast supplier network to greater action and intentionality on the behaviors, mindsets and operations that help advance DEI within the organization and industries beyond.
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Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.