The world’s biggest restaurant chain, fast-food giant McDonald’s, has announced a massive restructure of its business aimed at increasing the amount of franchised restaurants worldwide. The moves will include removing management layers to streamline the reporting structure with “hard-edged accountability”.

The news came as British chief executive Steve Easterbrook said that recent performance had been “poor”.

In a wide ranging plan to shake up the group, he added that McDonald’s will be concentrating on restaurants in the core US market, which brings in 40% of operating income, as well as looking at its major overseas markets including Canada, France, Australia and the UK.

Mr Easterbrook continued: "We can no longer afford to carry legacy commitments, legacy structure or legacy attitudes” as the 60 year-old McDonald’s loses out to newer competitors such as Five Guys. Approximately a million customers stopped eating at their restaurants in 2014, causing a 15% drop in profits.