“Can McDonald's unify its payment, loyalty, and digital ordering infrastructure across 40,000+ global franchise locations on a single embedded finance stack?”
McDonald's began as a single California burger stand in 1940 before Ray Kroc franchised the concept nationally through the 1950s–60s, creating the world's largest quick-service restaurant network. The company generates revenue through a mix of company-owned restaurants, franchise royalties, and licensing. On the embedded finance front, McDonald's has progressively consolidated payments infrastructure around Adyen across 60+ global markets, with the partnership expanding to the US mobile app in 2024, signalling a push toward a unified global payment stack.
Mcdonalds processes payments through Adyen.
Mcdonalds's investing and wealth products are powered by Empower.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 3 layers in Mcdonalds's stack: Payments / PSP (Adyen); Lending (McDonald's Franchisee Financing Program (Wells Fargo) and McDonald's Franchisee Financing Program (PNC)); Investing (Empower).
Mcdonalds was founded by Richard McDonald and Maurice McDonald and is founded in 1940, headquartered in 110 North Carpenter Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Mcdonalds and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.