How Arcos Dorados cut operational treasury costs by 40% at its 2,400 locations

Arcos Dorados, the largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in the world, manages 2,400 McDonald’s restaurants across Latin America, serving 4 million customers each day and employing more than 100,000 people. Managing treasury operations at this scale is no small feat. Yet, Arcos Dorados achieved a 40% reduction in operational treasury costs and unlocked 25% of their liquidity across their McDonald’s network, all while doubling operational volume.

At the heart of Arcos Dorados’ mission to deliver consistent McDonald’s quality and experience was the need for a robust treasury operations framework. They needed a solution that could centralize and simplify processes across varying financial systems, multiple countries, and currencies, ensuring every McDonald’s location could run smoothly.

The challenge

Arcos Dorados was grappling with fragmented cash visibility and inconsistencies in financial operations across its vast geographical footprint. The lack of a centralized system led to inefficient management practices, including delayed reconciliations, manual interventions, and excessive time spent on routine tasks. These inefficiencies prevented real-time insights into cash flow management and foreign exchange (FX) risk exposure for their business.

Some of their key challenges included:

• Lack of consolidated cash visibility across McDonald’s subsidiaries in 20+ countries.

• Labor-intensive daily tasks, such as reconciliations and monthly closings, for hundreds of McDonald’s locations.

• Limited ability to deploy capital dynamically across multiple markets and currencies.

• Difficulties in responding quickly to strategic opportunities or unexpected risks.

For a volume-driven business, operational consistency is essential to serving millions of customers daily.

The solution

Arcos Dorados worked with Kyriba to streamline their treasury operations and implement a centralized treasury management system for their restaurants. The transformation unfolded in two main phases:

• Foundation building: Kyriba enabled real-time cash visibility and automation of repetitive tasks such as reconciliations and monthly closings, transforming daily operations for their footprint.

• Advanced Integration: Arcos Dorados took treasury management a step further by deploying Kyriba’s payment hubs and sanction list solutions, providing centralized control over cash management, FX exposure, and risk management across all McDonald’s restaurants operations.

Key benefits of the solution include:

• Comprehensive cash management through a single platform for all legal entities.

• Automation of routine tasks, drastically reducing the human workload at the centralized corporate treasury.

• Integration with existing ERP systems for smooth workflows across all markets.

• Enhanced decision-making, enabled by actionable financial insights for treasury teams.

Results

Since adopting Kyriba, Arcos Dorados has achieved exceptional results across its McDonald’s business:

• Streamlined daily processes: Automation reduced manual tasks and complexities, allowing the treasury team to focus on strategic initiatives, with quicker reconciliations and faster monthly closings.

• Centralized operations across 20 countries: Arcos Dorados gained real-time visibility into cash flow and liquidity across all its subsidiaries, operating in 16 currencies.

• Improved collaboration: By integrating Kyriba across departments, Arcos Dorados’ accounting and tax teams have access to the same financial information, resulting in increased collaboration and efficiency for non-treasury operations.

Conclusion

With Kyriba, Arcos Dorados has created the financial foundation necessary to support its mission of delivering consistent value to millions of customers each day. Treasury is no longer a bottleneck, but a driver of agility and resilience, enabling the company to respond quickly to opportunities and risks across Latin America’s diverse markets.

The work with Kyriba has done more than streamline processes; it has empowered Arcos Dorados to unlock liquidity, reduce costs, and reimagine what’s possible for a treasury team at scale. As Arcos Dorados continues to grow, their treasury is poised to keep pace, ensuring that, under the golden arches, operational excellence and financial consistency remain at the heart of their success.