• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, September 1, 2016

McDonald’s announced yesterday that Mike Andres would retire as U.S. president at the end of the year and be replaced by Chris Kempczinski, its current EVP strategy, business development and innovation, on Jan. 1. Kempczinski, 47, will be the fourth head of McDonald’s U.S. business since November 2012, reports Ezequiel Minaya in the Wall Street Journal. He joined McDonald’s last October.

“We are confident Chris is the right leader to build upon our U.S. progress and bring a new level of convenience and excitement to the restaurant experience,” CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a statement announcing the changes. McDonald’s announced earlier this month that chief administrative officer Pete Benson would retire tomorrow after 20 years with the company.

“The departures are a sign that the rapid transformation at McDonald's over the past 18 months is shifting into higher gear,” observes Samantha Bomkamp for the Chicago Tribune after crediting Andres, 58, as “a key architect of the fast-food giant's attempt to reinvent itself.”

Indeed, “Mike has been relentless in his commitment to building a better brand,” Easterbrook said. “From significant strides in food quality to meaningful customer initiatives like All Day Breakfast and forging an even stronger partnership between U.S. operators and the company, his commitment to our customers is unmistakable.”

“McDonald's has taken a number of steps to reinvent itself and jump-start its business over the past year and a half, but the gains have started to slow,” Bomkamp continues in a piece rich with details. “Americans also are eating out less, compounding the slowdown. In quickly tapping a relative newcomer to the company to replace Andres, Easterbrook is showing his desire to bring fresh blood into a company that traditionally has promoted almost solely from within.”

Kempczinski holds a Harvard MBA and an undergraduate degree in public policy and economics from Duke. He has experience at Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and most recently, Kraft Heinz, where he was EVP of growth initiatives and president of Kraft International, where he was responsible for driving its business in 80 countries outside of the United States. 

“He was among the Kraft executives pushed out in the wake of Kraft Foods Group's merger with H.J. Heinz,” reports Peter Frost for Crain’s Chicago Business.

“There is one glaring hole in Kempczinski's resume, however. He has never held an executive position at a restaurant prior to joining McDonald's,” writes Brian Sozzi for The Street. “It's unclear from his LinkedIn profile if he has worked in a restaurant at all during his career. So that makes him a somewhat odd choice to arguably be the number two exec at the world's largest restaurant chain.”

The headline over Sozzi’s story is: “McDonald’s Has Lost The Mastermind Of Its Epic U.S. Turnaround.”

“I don't think (Andres) has gotten nearly enough credit for what he's done to turn around that business,” Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy tells Bomkamp. “More often than not, a new CEO wants to fill up his own bench ... but I'm surprised by this move.”

Hottovy makes similar remarks to Frost, adding that Andres’ departure “raises some concerns about the efficacy of the turnaround going forward, but we don't expect any major or significant strategy changes because of this.”

Andres began his McDonald’s career managing a family-owned outlet in Northern California and went on to hold managerial positions including regional VP and division president. He also was president and CEO of Boston Market when it was a McDonald’s subsidiary and left the company from 2012 to 2014 to be CEO and chairman of Logan’s Roadhouse. 

“He's widely credited with spearheading a series of seminal changes, including cleaning up food by removing artificial ingredients and fillers, and offering meat and eggs from more humanely and sustainably raised animals,” writes Crain’s Frost.

“Andres also led a push to simplify the chain's sprawling menu and its complicated drive-thrus in an effort to increase speed, a hallmark of the quick-service restaurant chain, which has more than 15,500 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. With Easterbrook's support, he also started tinkering with items once thought untouchable, including the Big Mac, Egg McMuffin, Chicken McNuggets and the Quarter Pounder with Cheese.”

“With the strides we have made in the U.S. business this is the right time for me to retire,” Andres said in the company statement.

In other changes announced yesterday, Doug Goare, a CPA who is president of the international lead markets, is also taking the role of chief restaurant officer and will oversee a number of business functions managed by the retiring Bensen.

Lucy Brady, senior partner and managing director at The Boston Consulting Group, will be SVP of corporate strategy and business development, replacing Kempczinski.

Both of the latter announcements are effective this month.