Driving Hyperlocal Success with a McDonald’s Franchisee

success stories

Driving Hyperlocal Success with a McDonald’s Franchisee

Partnering with TODC to Unlock Hidden Demand

Client: Prominent McDonald’s Franchisee*

Number of Locations: 34

Partnership Start Date: November 2024

Analysis Period: 90-Day Lookback (November 2024 – February 2025)

The Challenge

In today’s fast-paced world, delivery isn’t just a convenience—it’s the heartbeat of quick-service restaurant (QSR) growth. For one McDonald’s franchisee in rural and suburban Chicago, third-party platforms like DoorDash and UberEats were a necessary evil: critical for reaching customers but often unprofitable and underutilized. With no dedicated marketing budget for these channels and a modest baseline of 30 orders per day, the franchisee faced a familiar dilemma—how to turn a cost center into a profit driver without betting on an unrealistic surge through their native app.

Enter TODC. Since November 2024, we’ve partnered with this franchisee to flip the script, proving that growth isn’t about fighting where customers are—it’s about meeting them there with smart, hyperlocal strategies.

The TODC Approach

At TODC, we bring a proven playbook to the table, honed over seven years of mastering the on-demand economy. Our work with this franchisee leaned on three core pillars:

  1. Data-Driven Campaign Management We unlocked hidden potential by crafting hyperlocal, data-backed marketing strategies tailored to the unique customer bases surrounding each individual location. No blanket campaigns—just precision targeting that maximizes every dollar spent.
  2. One Point of Contact We streamlined operations with a single, unified strategy across all digital platforms, providing the franchisee with one point of contact for execution, results, and analytics. Simplicity meets efficiency.
  3. Increased Profitability Leveraging our scale as a collective negotiator, we secured unique platform contributions and terms unavailable to individual operators. The result? Increased transaction margins & incremental sales—a profitability lifeline in a high-cost channel.

Starting from a $0 marketing budget, we scaled investment to tens of thousands per month, redirecting resources to where they’d deliver the most impact: third-party platforms where customers were already searching for their next meal.

The Results

The 90-day lookback paints a picture of undeniable success:

Transaction Growth:

Orders surged from 30 per day to 40—a 33% increase—unlocking demand the franchisee didn’t know existed.

Profitability:

Drove incremental sales while maintaining transaction margins and even achieving slight margin growth, proving delivery can be a profit engine, not a loss leader.

Momentum:

With campaigns optimized and customer behavior trending upward, we project up to 60-80 orders per day in the near future—a potential 100-166% increase from the baseline.

These numbers aren’t just stats—they’re proof of concept. In just three months, TODC transformed a stagnant channel into a growth driver, all while keeping the franchisee’s operations lean and focused.

Why It Worked

Unlike corporate-led efforts that cast a wide net, TODC zoomed in. We dug into sales data, ad returns, and local trends to build campaigns that resonated with real customers in real time. Platforms like DoorDash and UberEats became launchpads, not hurdles, because we met consumers where they were—hungry, scrolling, and ready to order.

As a single point of contact for the franchisee to manage multiple platforms, we cut through the noise, providing clarity and control. And by negotiating as a unified force, we turned the economics of delivery in their favor—something solo operators rarely achieve.

The Bigger Picture

This partnership is a microcosm of TODC’s mission: to empower franchisees with the tools, insights, and strategies to thrive in the digital age. Our beta tests with McDonald’s & KFC operators in 2024, yielding 30% – 50% increases in digital transaction volume, set the stage for this success. Now, officially launched in January 2025, we’re bringing that expertise to franchisees of McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Bell, and beyond.

For this McDonald’s franchisee, the story is just beginning. With a 33% transaction boost in 90 days and a clear path up to 60-80 orders daily, the future is bright—and profitable. At TODC, we don’t just see possibility; we deliver it, one hyperlocal campaign at a time.

*Franchisee Partner is David Bear – President of the McDonald’s National Owners Association