Irene Jiang / Business Insider
McDonald's new head of the US business is immediately embarking on a tour of the US.
- With McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook being fired, Chris Kempczinski is the company's new CEO and Joe Erlinger becomes the president of McDonald's US business.
- "As part of my transition into the role, I will be traveling around the country visiting restaurants and learning from all of you and your accomplishments," Erlinger told employees in a leaked memo obtained by Business Insider.
- Erlinger is kicking off his US tour by visiting field office summits this week in Bethesda, Atlanta and Dallas, according to the memo.
- Sign up for Business Insider's retail newsletter, The Drive-Thru, to get more stories like this in your inbox.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
McDonald's new head of the US business is immediately embarking on a tour of America.
On Sunday, McDonald's announced CEO Steve Easterbrook had been fired due to his relationship with another employee. Chris Kempczinski, who was serving as president of the company's US business, has replaced Easterbrook as CEO. And, Joe Erlinger becomes the president of McDonald's US business.
This week, Kempczinski was supposed to attend three field office summits, where franchisees meet to discuss upcoming strategies. Instead, franchisees say Kempczinski sent along a video discussing his strategy as CEO, while Erlinger is set to attend the summits.
On Sunday, Erlinger sent an internal email - obtained by Business Insider - discussing his new role.
"As part of my transition into the role, I will be traveling around the country visiting restaurants and learning from all of you and your accomplishments," Erlinger said. "You can expect that I will be observing, listening and asking lots of questions - regrounding myself in our U.S. Business."
Two franchisees told Business Insider that early response to the transition is optimistic.
"I think this is a lot of change really fast. And the variable is people stepping into roles maybe earlier than it's expected," franchisee Travis Heriaud said. "But the positive is, I think Chris will be a better CEO than president and Joe is the relational guy for the US."
Read the full email here:
I am excited to be appointed President, McDonald's USA now that Chris has stepped into his new role as President and CEO of McDonald's. Having spent the last six-and-a-half years abroad, this is a welcome homecoming for me - I am looking forward to reconnecting with many of you and getting to know others. It is great to be back.
In the U.S. or abroad, a constant has always been the power of what can be accomplished when we work together - franchisees, suppliers and company employees - to best serve our customers. And, I look forward to doing just that - working to build on the transformational progress that's happening here in our largest market.
We have tremendous momentum. Together, we'll remain relentlessly focused on serving our customers every day, whether they're dining in one of our newly modernized restaurants, ordering from our drive-thru or enjoying McDelivery.
As part of my transition into the role, I will be traveling around the country visiting restaurants and learning from all of you and your accomplishments. You can expect that I will be observing, listening and asking lots of questions - regrounding myself in our U.S. Business. That starts immediately. This week, I am excited to attend our Field Office Summits for Bethesda, Atlanta and Dallas.
The U.S. System is the heartbeat of McDonald's, and I'm looking forward to all we will achieve together. Thanks for all that you do.