McDonald’s Philippines signs power deal for 224 Luzon stores, eyes expansion

A power contract covering 224 McDonald’s stores in Luzon goes far beyond a utility bill. For the people running fryers, coolers and dining rooms, a steadier electricity supply can shape whether refrigeration holds, air-conditioning keeps up with peak heat and equipment stays online during a rush.

Golden Arches Development Corp., McDonald’s Philippines’ local franchise operator, tapped EvoEnergi to supply the first-phase rollout under the Retail Aggregation Program, grouping the restaurants into 23 retail aggregated groups with combined demand of about 22 megawatts, or 22,000 kilowatts. The covered stores sit across Manila Electric Co., Pangasinan III Electric Cooperative and Batangas II Electric Cooperative franchise areas, giving the deal reach across a large slice of Luzon’s restaurant base.

For store managers, the practical value is predictability. McDonald’s Philippines said the arrangement could help it better plan and budget and potentially realize energy savings. That matters in a business where energy costs affect cold storage, kitchen uptime, store comfort and the margin room needed to keep value meals competitively priced. When utility shocks hit, franchise operators often feel them first in maintenance schedules, staffing decisions and the pressure to trim hours or delay equipment replacement.

The deal also fits a broader regulatory shift. The Energy Regulatory Commission adopted the Retail Aggregation Program rules in 2022 to standardize how eligible customers pool demand and negotiate with licensed suppliers. The commission has said a new threshold for more medium-sized enterprises and institutions to join will take effect on June 26, 2026, a change that could widen access to the same kind of supply strategy McDonald’s is now using.

EvoEnergi, a licensed retail electricity supplier and an affiliate of D&L Industries, said it was selected through a competitive bidding process as the Retail Electricity Supplier for the first phase. McDonald’s Philippines and EvoEnergi said the collaboration covers both conventional and renewable energy, adding another layer of cost control and supply stability to a network that has to keep thousands of daily orders moving.

The move lands as GADC works under a new 20-year franchise agreement with McDonald’s Corp. that runs until 2045. McDonald’s Philippines became fully Filipino-owned in 2005, with the Yang family as majority owners and Alliance Global Group as investment partner. The scale is already large: the chain ended 2024 with 792 stores nationwide, opened 65 new outlets that year and has been aiming for its 800th Philippine store. For crews and managers, the power deal is part of the same growth story, because expansion only works if the stores already open can run reliably enough to support the next one.