Arcos Dorados Opens Its Corporate University to Young People in Latin America by Offering Free Trainings in Skills That Will Contribute to Their Future

August 12, 2021 /3BL Media/ - Arcos Dorados, the franchisee which operates McDonald's restaurants in 20 markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, announces - aligned with the International Youth Day celebration – an initiative for young people in the region to improve their personal and professional skills. Committed to constantly providing formal job opportunities, the company opens the doors of its "Hamburger University" for the first time to offer free on-line express courses on: Emotional Intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Personal Finance, Customer Service and Health and Wellbeing.

At www.recetadelfuturo.com, it is possible to access the five quick, digital courses, available starting today until December 31. Each module will provide a certificate that endorses the training received and that will be useful to highlight their skills in the search for a first job or for a new professional opportunity. The courses are independent among themselves, with no specific order or limit per person.

This initiative arises as a solution to one of the main concerns that young people in Latin America and the Caribbean highlighted in an opinion study carried out by the company together with Trendsity. In this research, 61% of the respondents stated that they consider that training is necessary to strengthen their skills and compensate the lack of experience in order to access a first, formal job or a better one. Among the topics they consider important to deepen in, stood out Teamwork and leadership with the 73%, followed by Innovation and Entrepreneurship with the 50% and Sales and Customer Service with the 44%, among others.

“Youth unemployment is one of the main problems in the region and, at Arcos Dorados, as leaders in the sector, we are convinced that it is important to take action and provide support to reverse it at the same time generating a positive impact on the communities in which we operate and consolidate our goals of being good neighbors to those around us. For this, not only every year we employ thousands of young people, but today we are also thinking of all those who are not part of our company. We are proud to be able to bring them content that will help them in their development and to facilitate the search for a first, formal job or new professional challenges. We are a young company, operated by young people who oversee the satisfaction of the families who visit us and enjoy our food”, stated Woods Staton, Executive Chairman of Arcos Dorados.

Within the strategic pillars of the ESG platform Recipe of the Future, which guides the actions of Arcos Dorados, there is a strong commitment to the continuous training of its employees. During 2020 and despite the context presented by the pandemic, the company not only maintained its education structure, but also allocated more than 10 million dollars to ensure more than 373 thousand hours of online training to employees, presenting 380 new courses on operational, academic and personal development themes.

This was possible due to a partnership with Hamburger University, the largest corporate university and leader in the region, known for promoting its three pillars: leadership, performance and culture. In the last year, the institution encouraged more than 50 selected contents to continue promoting development and allowing more than 8,000 restaurant leaders to graduate from core curriculum courses and more than 71,000 young people to complete self-learning courses. The university also provided 18 of its “HU Sessions”, of which more than 7,000 people have participated in a single year.

“The new context represented challenges for all of us and forced us to change the way we access the content and the experiences we seek. At Hamburger University we understand the complexity that this represents for the youth of the region and we are proud to be part of this new proposal. Education is our passion, and we hope to be able to reach as many young people as possible with this initiative”, commented Josane Juliao, Rector of Hamburger University.

Youth’s opinion

Committed to providing formal job opportunities to young people in the region, Arcos Dorados carried out together with Tendsity a new opinion study with people aged between 16 to 24 years to find out how they are experiencing the pandemic and what they think employment will be like when "the new normal" begins.

85% of the people interviewed confirmed that the pandemic negatively affected the job opportunities, while 74% made the same statement about accessing to training and education. On this last point, in addition, 2 out of 5 people indicated that since the beginning of the Covid - 19 they studied less than the pre-pandemic period. The study also inquired about the possibility of generating its own projects, obtaining similar results to the previous topics: 57% indicated that during 2020 there were no possibilities for starting a business.

Among the queries, one invited them to sort, according to importance, the issues that most concern them for the future, with surprising responses: 66% of young people indicated employment as a priority need, while a 51% declared that education is one of the keys for their future.

Taking this last result into account and the topics selected as the most important, mentioned above, Arcos Dorados offers its exclusive training and contents to continue being an agent of change and approaching solutions to the problems raised in support of the communities in which it operates.

To learn more about this study, visit www.recetadelfuturo.com

About Arcos Dorados

Arcos Dorados is the world’s largest independent McDonald’s franchisee, operating the largest quick service restaurant chain in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has the exclusive right to own, operate and grant franchises of McDonald’s restaurants in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories with more than 2,200 restaurants, operated by the Company or by its sub-franchisees, that together employ over 100 thousand people (as of 06/30/2021). The Company is also committed to the development of the communities in which it operates, to providing young people their first formal job opportunities and to utilize its Scale for Good to achieve a positive environmental impact. Arcos Dorados is listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ARCO). To learn more about the Company, please visit our website: www.arcosdorados.com/ir