McDonald’s switches to MHP poultry in Ukraine

The move is called to tackle the supply bottlenecks that constrained sales of chicken products in previous years, Yulia Badritdinova, CEO of McDonald’s branch in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, recently unveiled.

In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, Badritdinova disclosed that the share of chicken products in McDonald’s Ukrainian menu was lower compared with other European countries since the company had no opportunity to import it in the required quantities.

Badritdinova shed light on the challenges McDonald’s faced with chicken imports in Ukraine. She explained that the Ukrainian authorities had imposed various veterinary restrictions on poultry imports from multiple countries, which significantly limited the company’s ability to source chicken from its usual suppliers.

Badritdinova indicated that in the first stage, MHP poultry cutlets will be introduced in several restaurants in Ukraine in the test mode, and later, the entire chain plans to switch to MHP poultry.

The move is generally in line with McDonald’s strategy of increasingly relying on local suppliers. Badritdinova estimated that the company sources roughly 60% of raw materials for its Ukrainian restaurants from the local market.

The transition to local supplies may help McDonald’s bolster its financial health in Ukraine. Badritdinova shared the financial performance of McDonald’s in Ukraine, highlighting the impact of the past few years’ turbulence. In 2022, the company generated revenue of UAH 3.2 billion (US$80 million) and a net loss of UAH 2 billion (US$50 million). In 2023, revenue jumped to UAH 12.9 billion (US$324 million), and the company generated a net profit of UAH 1 billion (US$25 million).

Meanwhile, the company still refrains from resuming operations in the eastern and southern regions. According to Badritdinova, restaurants in Kharkiv, Kherson, and Mykolaiv remain shut, and in general, the number of customers across the chain is nearly 30% below the pre-war level.