Fastfood giant McDonald’s has announced that McDonald’s Bulgaria has transferred to a Developmental Licensee (DL) structure, a form of franchising used by McDonald’s for about 20 years that enables local ownership and brand development.

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“It has been a long and careful process to identify those people we wish to entrust with the future of our brand in Bulgaria,” said Denis Hennequin, president of McDonald’s Europe. “We have every confidence in the commitment and entrepreneurial skills of the DL franchisees we have chosen for Bulgaria. Our new DL franchisees are a reflection of our key European strategy of preserving local relevance as they understand the market, the people and the opportunities.”


The three new DL franchisees are Ivan Lissikov, Svetozar Janevski and Zoran Matlievski. Lissikov is a former McDonald’s Bulgaria employee with more than 10 years with the company, who has also held various European positions for the group. Svetozar Janevski and Zoran Matlievski are both longstanding DL franchisees of McDonald’s Macedonia


“It makes me feel proud to become a franchisee partner and to be developing the McDonald’s brand and its people in my home country and I know that my business partners are equally committed to developing opportunities for the McDonald’s brand in Bulgaria,” said Ivan Lissikov.


Early last year, McDonald’s announced its intention to find 15 to 20 countries, amounting to around 1,500 outlets, over the next three years to convert to the DL structure. There are currently 35 such DL structures around the world.

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McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Bulgaria in 1994, and there are now 21 McDonald’s outlets in the country, employing over 1,000 Bulgarians and serving more than 6m customers a year.