McDonald’s chief returns to shop floor

McDonald’s head of marketing Frank Stanton is leaving his role to become a franchisee for the chain.

A spokeswoman says Stanton is returning to South Wales, where he started his 18-year career with the fast-food giant, to run two restaurants. She says that Stanton was seconded to the position of head of marketing from the operations department and that the move into marketing was never permanent.

McDonald’s has not decided whether to replace Stanton, but the spokeswoman says that if it does the promotion is likely to be internal.

It is restructuring its UK operations from seven regions to three and says there will be limited redundancies (MW November 15). The spokeswoman says Stanton’s move is not linked to the restructure.

The spokeswoman adds that Stanton’s move does not affect any agency arrangements. Leo Burnett holds the advertising business, while Starcom Motive deals with media.

Stanton has been with McDonald’s since 1983. He gave evidence at the “McLibel” trial brought by McDonald’s against two environmentalists. The trial ran for over two years and became the longest in English history. McDonald’s won, but the case was a PR disaster.