With 65% of its volume flowing through the drive-through, McDonald's needed to understand how to win across more of the convenience moments in consumers' days, not just the restaurant visit. Vivaldi Group led global research into consumers' product, packaging and service expectations across convenience occasions and turned the findings into an innovation platform. McDonald's gained a structured framework for product, packaging and service innovation that extended its role from restaurant brand to a broader convenience ecosystem.
With 65% of volume flowing through the drive-through, McDonald's needed to understand how to stay relevant across a wider range of convenience occasions beyond in-restaurant dining. It needed an innovation strategy grounded in how modern consumers actually live, work and look for convenience.
Vivaldi led a global research initiative that examined consumers' product, packaging and service expectations across different convenience occasions. The findings informed an innovation platform that extended McDonald's role from restaurant brand to a broader convenience ecosystem.
The convenience innovation strategy gave McDonald's a structured framework for product, packaging and service innovation, positioning the brand to compete across more daily consumer occasions and to grow beyond its traditional restaurant-centric model.
| Client | McDonald’s |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food and beverage, quick-service restaurants |
| Region | Global research program |
| Starting point | 65% of volume through the drive-through |
| Vivaldi scope | Global consumer research across convenience occasions, innovation strategy and platform, product, packaging and service innovation framework |
| Outcome | A structured innovation framework extending McDonald’s from restaurant brand to convenience ecosystem |
McDonald’s had built one of the world’s most efficient convenience businesses around the restaurant and, above all, the drive-through, which carried 65% of its volume. But convenience was being redefined outside the restaurant’s four walls, by delivery, on-the-go formats and digital ordering.
A strategy organized around the restaurant visit would leave McDonald’s strong where it already was and absent from the moments where consumer expectations were changing fastest. The company needed to understand those moments on consumers’ terms.
Vivaldi led a global research initiative that started from how people actually live and work across the day, rather than from how restaurants currently serve them. For each convenience occasion, the team examined what consumers expected from the product, the packaging and the service.
Mapping occasions independently of the existing format surfaced needs the restaurant model could not meet on its own. Those findings became an innovation platform that extended McDonald’s role into a connected convenience ecosystem. Vivaldi’s argument for why brands must own demand spaces, not categories sets out the thinking behind this approach.
Vivaldi has also worked with McDonald’s on reconnecting with modern consumers.
McDonald’s partnered with Vivaldi to expand its strategic role across modern convenience occasions, beyond the restaurant-centric model that delivered 65% of volume through drive-through alone. Vivaldi’s global research examined consumer product, packaging, and service expectations across different convenience moments, producing an innovation platform that gave McDonald’s a structured framework for product, packaging, and service innovation across the broader rhythms of daily consumer life.
McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain, serving approximately 69 million customers daily across more than 40,000 locations in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, McDonald’s generates annual revenues exceeding $23 billion and is consistently ranked among the world’s most valuable brands. The company’s focus on convenience and accessibility has made it a defining model for quick-service restaurant innovation globally.
Vivaldi led a global research initiative into consumers’ product, packaging and service expectations across convenience occasions, then turned it into an innovation platform. The resulting framework extended McDonald’s role from restaurant brand to a broader convenience ecosystem.
The research started from how consumers live and work across the day rather than from the existing restaurant formats. Mapping occasions that way revealed needs the restaurant model could not meet by itself.
It treats the consumer’s day as the unit of strategy, with restaurants, drive-through, delivery, app ordering and packaging working as a connected set of offers for different occasions. Consumers think in moments, not formats, and the brand present in the most moments wins.
It shows how much of the business depends on one format and one kind of occasion. When delivery and digital ordering redefine convenience outside the restaurant, a brand that innovates only around its current format risks missing where growth moves next.