Despite difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, McDonald’s Korea witnessed a 7 percent growth in sales last year, driven by strong drive-thru and delivery orders, the company said Tuesday.

In a pre-recorded video, McDonald’s Korea Managing Director Antoni Martinez revealed that overall sales for McDonald’s and its franchises here topped 980 billion won ($866 million) in 2020, up 7 percent from a year earlier.

Excluding franchise outlets, the revenue for stores directly managed by McDonald’s Korea increased 9.1 percent on-year to 790 billion won, Martinez said. The US fast food chains runs around 400 stores here, nearly 70 percent of which are directly managed by McDonald’s Korea.

Despite strict social distancing regulations and business restrictions placed on restaurants, the company managed to perform relatively well thanks to McDrive drive-thru and McDelivery, which saw a surge of 23 percent and 38 percent, respectively, in orders, the company added. Sales from the two channels accounted for more than half of the total.

“More than 400,000 customers a day visit McDonald’s Korea. That is 200 million customers every year. This is indeed a privilege and something we are incredibly proud of, and a big responsibility,” Martinez said.

The chief attributed the improved sales to the Best Burger initiative, introduced in March last year, to improve the overall burger-building process.

Martinez said the effort has led to immediate responses from customers, as witnessed in monthly burger sales.

From April to December, total burger sales jumped 18 percent, with more than 20 million Big Macs sold throughout 2020, Martinez explained.

Following through with its promise to contribute to society, Martinez said McDonald’s will accelerate its “Small but Great Changes for a Better Community” initiative in 2021.

Under the plan, McDonald’s will concentrate its efforts on four key areas: food quality and sourcing, the planet, community connection and jobs, inclusion and empowerment.

The burger chain said it hired 530 employees in 2020, the highest number of full-time employees hired since entering the Korean market in 1988. As a follow-up to the large-scale job creation efforts, McDonald’s Korea plans to add 500 full-time positions this year, the company said.

In promotion of food quality and shared growth, the burger chain said it adopted premium sunflower oil last October, bearing the cost increase of 20 percent, and also incorporated more domestically produced ingredients into its menus.

This year, McDonald’s Korea will partner with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation to establish a strong network with local farmers.

Last year, McDonald’s Korea also reduced plastic use by 14 tons by eliminating plastic lids on McFlurry cups and saw a 32 percent decrease in the use of plastic straws.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)