McDonald’s Türkiye hires 2,350 people, how can a small restaurant compete for staff?
With 332 restaurants across the country, McDonald’s Türkiye says it has hired 2,350 people through a new recruitment campaign and that women make up 51.6% of its workforce as of 2026 (Ekonomist, 14 August 2026; Perakende Türkiye, 1 September 2026). The company is also on Great Place to Work’s “Best Workplaces for Young Millennials” list.
What it means for you: a small restaurant or café looking for waiting staff, cashiers and kitchen hands in the same neighbourhood is competing for the same labour pool as a very large employer. The question is how you find people, how you keep them, and how digital steps can take some of the load off your team.
What does McDonald’s Türkiye’s hiring of 2,350 people cover?
According to the announcement, McDonald’s Türkiye now has 332 restaurants and has hired 2,350 people through a new recruitment campaign. Women make up 51.6% of its staff. The headline mentions “investment”, but no investment figure is given, and it is not clear over what period the 2,350 people were hired.
Which restaurants and cafés feel the effect of McDonald’s Türkiye’s hiring the most?
The ones looking for the same profile of worker. Burger shops, cafés and delivery businesses hiring young, part-time staff for the till, the floor and the kitchen are direct competitors for the same people. Upscale restaurants that rely on experienced chefs feel it less, while domestic suppliers and food producers feel it indirectly.
How can a small restaurant find staff in the same labour pool as McDonald’s Türkiye?
By leading with what a big chain cannot easily offer. A shorter commute, more flexible shifts, direct contact with the owner and quick responsibility. Write these into your job ad as concrete sentences; stock phrases like “dynamic team player wanted” convince nobody.
How does a café or restaurant owner build an employer brand that keeps staff?
In a small business, the employer brand is not a logo; it is the sentence your employee says about you to a friend. A sensible shift plan, wages paid on time, a proper first week and a visible path to promotion write that sentence. Every person who stays is one less vacancy to fill.
Picture a neighbourhood café. The employee who opens up every morning becomes shift supervisor six months later, and the café shares that step in a short post on its social media account. When the next job ad goes up, a candidate sees the post and concludes, “people move up here.” That is the small-scale version of a big chain’s career programme.
How can digital ordering and self-service ease the staffing load in a small restaurant?
By handing the job of taking orders to the customer. QR menu ordering at the table, a tablet at the till, or your own ordering page for delivery shift your staff’s hours from taking orders to serving. According to the company’s earlier statement, McDonald’s Türkiye uses 594 digital ordering kiosks; a small business can start with lower-cost tools.
What should a restaurant owner do this week about staff shortages?
Four tasks are enough: rewrite your job ad, post the vacancy on your Google Business Profile, ask your current staff for referrals, and pull one week of order data by hour. None of them needs a big budget.
Quick Summary
- McDonald’s Türkiye reached 332 restaurants and hired 2,350 people through a new recruitment campaign (Ekonomist, 14 August 2026).
- Women make up 51.6% of the company’s workforce as of 2026 (Perakende Türkiye, 1 September 2026).
- No investment figure has been disclosed, nor the period the hiring covers.
- A small restaurant can stand out in the same labour pool through proximity, flexible shifts and fast hiring.
- Digital ordering moves staff time from taking orders to serving.
Short Glossary
- Employer brand
- Employer brand is the term used to describe the impression a business leaves on employees and candidates as a place to work.
- Staff turnover rate
- Staff turnover rate is the measure used to express how many employees leave in a given period as a share of total staff.
- Self-service kiosk
- Self-service kiosk is the name used for a screen-based device customers use to place orders without a cashier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Next Step
If you want to set up your hiring page and digital ordering in a way that eases the load on your staff, fill in our consult your expert form.
Sources: Perakende Türkiye, 1 September 2026 · Ekonomist, 14 August 2026 · Forbes Türkiye, Forbes Stüdyo (sponsored content), 5 February 2026 · McDonald’s Türkiye corporate website · Our retail page, where we interpret the retail agenda for you
Updated: October 2026
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Mwaffak Kanjee, CEO of McDonald’s Türkiye, says the company is happy to add 2,350 more people to its team through its new recruitment campaign. The company says it runs career development programmes for young people and women, and that it is widening its domestic supply ecosystem.
In an earlier company statement published in Forbes Stüdyo, the sponsored content section of Forbes Türkiye, McDonald’s Türkiye said it had 306 restaurants and more than 10,000 employees at the end of 2025. The same piece mentions a target of 500 restaurants by 2030 and 594 digital ordering kiosks. These are the company’s own words, not independent reporting.
The news gives no split between full-time and part-time hires, no pay information and no breakdown by city. So the question “how many people in which province” has no public answer, and guessing would mislead you.
If a chain unit sits on the same floor, a young job seeker may well apply to the brand they already know first. At the small business, the vacancy notice stays up for weeks and the “nobody stays” complaint begins. As shift gaps grow, service slows and customers walk out.
Partly. The neighbourhood café has proximity on its side: if the employee lives on the same block, commuting time and cost drop. But if the job ad does not say so, nobody notices.
A 51.6% share shows that women already make up most of the big chain’s workforce. A small business that cannot offer a safe closing-time routine, flexible shifts and a visible path to promotion risks losing these candidates.
State shift hours, the weekly day off, whether meals and travel are covered, and what the person will learn in the first three months. If you can give a pay range, give it. A vague ad loses the very candidates who would have applied.
Neighbouring shopkeepers, referrals from your current staff, the nearby vocational high school and university. The school calendar changes when student workers are available; we looked at how families behave through the season in our piece on back-to-school shopping.
Interview the same day, offer a trial shift the same week. Speed is something you control, and a quick yes can be what tips a candidate your way.
One common reason is a gap between what they expected and what the job turns out to be. A task list on day one, feedback in the first week and a short review conversation at the end of the first month help close that gap.
With your employee’s permission, use their voice: a short video or a one-line quote. A real sentence from someone who works there is more convincing than any adjective in a job ad.
Cafés with high table turnover and quick-service restaurants. You can also build add-on suggestions into the menu to lift your average basket value. In a full-service, conversation-led restaurant, the waiter’s recommendation is still part of the sale.
Posts on your Google Business Profile and a careers page on your website can make you visible for searches like “waiter jobs near me”. We set up hiring pages and digital ordering flows with clients as part of our digital consulting work.
Digital orders leave an hour-by-hour record. Once you can see how many orders arrive at what time, you plan shifts from records rather than guesses. Fewer quiet hours are overstaffed, and fewer rush hours are short-handed.
Put shift hours, the day off, and travel and meal arrangements in the first three lines. Add a photo of your team. Compete on your own closeness to the neighbourhood, not on the chain’s brand.
This week, have a five-minute conversation with each employee: what do they find hard, and what would they change. A small fix is easier than finding a new hire.
When you plan a new location, the staffing plan matters as much as the rent. We cover the franchise growth model through Terra Pizza’s 250th restaurant; for the company’s own account, see McDonald’s Türkiye’s website.
Spell out your non-pay advantages: proximity, flexible shifts, meals, quick responsibility. Put them in the first lines of your job ad.
No, it cuts the time spent taking orders. Your staff’s time goes to serving, looking after tables and suggesting extras.
A simple one-page section is enough. A page showing your shift pattern, a team photo and how to apply reassures a candidate who looks you up.