You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: At the heart of McDonald's is the experience we offer.
And for 65 years, we've created iconic experiences for billions of people around the world.
Along the way, we've always focused on following our customers' needs, finding the most convenient and engaging ways for them to enjoy McDonald's.
At our founding, the restaurant experience was relatively simple: Customers would walk up to the front counter, place their orders and get hot, delicious fresh food served to them quickly.
In the early 1970s, McDonald's pioneered the drive-thru as a new service channel for customers.
And in the last few years, we've added even more service channels with delivery, curbside pickup, kiosks and table service.
At the heart of each of these innovations was our global mobile app, which has evolved our customer experience from the physical world to the digital world.
As this evolution continues, our digital offerings will become even more important to serving, interacting with and delighting our customers around the world, and the insights generated from these platforms will help us further improve their experience.
Our marketing power and scale will continue to be critical throughout this journey, turning the various customer touch points into a holistic and compelling brand experience.
But our aspirations are even higher.
And to reach these goals, we need to create a more frictionless customer experience across all our service channels.
Our customers should be able to move seamlessly between the in-store, takeaway and delivery service channels so that we offer even more convenience and better personalization.
That's why we were excited to announce earlier this week the creation of a team that has oversight for the end-to-end customer experience under the leadership of our first Chief Customer Officer in McDonald's history, Manu Steijaert.
Manu will oversee everything from the physical restaurants that we design and build to the digital experiences that we embed along each step of the customer journey.
As we finished the global rollout of EOTF, Manu and his team will now be focused on what's next to drive a new layer of sustained growth for our system that leverages the foundations that we've built.
For the past 18 months, our digital customer engagement, global marketing, data analytics and restaurant solutions teams have worked to standardize our infrastructure and align the system against some common frameworks.
These efforts ultimately paved the way for MyMcDonald's Rewards, our first global digital offering that we are now deploying across our largest markets.
MyMcDonald's Rewards is just the first example of how we will lead as a digital innovator by leveraging our scale and engaging with our customers in a truly integrated way.
Manu is the ideal choice to integrate these teams and take their work to the next level, with an intense focus on driving incomparable customer-centric innovation.
He's been an important part of the McDonald's system for more than 20 years at every level.
Manu knows these teams well and has an incredibly deep understanding of the needs of our customers, one rooted in his early experience as a crew member in his parent's McDonald's franchise in his native Belgium.
We believe that connecting these teams will enable us to deliver the seamless omnichannel experience that our customers want and only McDonald's can provide, transforming the way customers connect with, interact with and experience our brand.
Further strengthening our ways of working to better serve our customers is one of many ways we're working to accelerate the Arches today.
This complements the work underway to accelerate the Arches with investments in customer-centric creative marketing that only McDonald's can offer so fully.
That marketing made a measurable impact in the second quarter with the global debut of our incredibly successful Famous Orders marketing platform.
I'll have more to say about that a bit later.
We're accelerating the Arches by committing to our core menu.
We're tapping into customer demand for the familiar and making the chicken, burgers and coffee our customers love even more delicious.
We're borrowing from what has worked well in other markets like the growing success of the McSpicy Chicken Sandwich.
McSpicy launched in China over 20 years ago, and customers can now enjoy this great-tasting sandwich in multiple markets around the world.
Late last year, we launched McSpicy in Australia as part of their new chicken sandwich lineup.
And earlier this month, it debuted in the U.K. to great fanfare.
We also continue to leverage our familiar favorites and create new ones to make our menu even more craveable.
In the U.S., the momentum from the successful launch of our Crispy Chicken Sandwich continued into the second quarter as we supported the platform with culturally relevant advertising, just one more way that our beloved core menu continues to drive growth while anchoring a customer experience that is second to none.
We also know that the customer experience today reaches beyond the physical walls of our restaurants.
And that's why we're accelerating the Arches to better serve our digitally connected customers.
To give you a sense of the growing digital connection we have to our customers, we have the most downloaded QSR app in the United States.
And earlier this month, we were proud to launch our new loyalty program, MyMcDonald's Rewards, in the U.S. The loyalty of every McDonald's fans has been unmatched for 65 years.
And with these new digital connections, we're able to do an even better job of rewarding them for it.
We already have over 22 million active MyMcDonald's users in the U.S., with over 12 million enrolled in our new loyalty program, MyMcDonald's Rewards.
And that's before national advertising for loyalty, which began earlier this week.
Well, it is a good example of how our core menu and personalized marketing come together through digital channels to build a stronger relationship with our customers.
Our digital systemwide sales across our top six markets were nearly $8 billion in the first half of 2021, a 70% increase versus last year.
And that's why we're moving aggressively to bring MyMcDonald's Rewards to our top six markets.
We currently have loyalty programs in place in France and the U.S. Germany and Canada plan to launch MyMcDonald's Rewards before the end of this year, followed by the U.K. and Australia in 2022.
We're just as excited about our drive-thrus through which much of our business has come from this year and about delivery.
Over 80% of our restaurants across 100 markets globally now offer delivery.
We're excited about our success with multiple 3PO partners.
And as I said last quarter, we continue to innovate.
Overall, our recent successes show that our M, C and D growth pillars working in concert can deliver unmatchable experiences for our customers and drive growth unlike anything else in customer retail.
Of course, our work to accelerate the Arches is built on the foundation of the very core of McDonald's success: running great restaurants.
As we open our dining rooms, return to regular hours and get back to full staffing, we know that world-class execution will be more important than ever.
While the Delta variant has brought more stops and starts to the COVID story around the world, people are venturing out and establishing new routines.
That includes a return to in-person dining.
Today, about 70% of our dining rooms in the U.S. are open.
By Labor Day, barring resurgences, it will be nearly 100%.
Internationally, the majority of our restaurants are now operating all channels, including dine-in, but many continue to operate with limited hours or restricted capacity.
We're working hard to get back to normal.
Not only are we more resilient today than we were heading into the pandemic.
As Kevin will tell you, we are building from a position of strength.
I'm pleased to share that global comp sales were up 40% in the second quarter or 7% on a two-year basis.
Our performance has continued demonstration of the broad-based strength and resiliency of our business.
We've surpassed 2019 sales levels for the second consecutive quarter and now at an accelerated rate.
Turning to the segment performance for the quarter.
We grew comp sales across all segments versus 2019 levels as business recovery progresses at varying degrees around the world.
In the U.S. our momentum continued with Q2 comp sales up 26% or 15% on a two-year basis, our strongest quarterly two-year growth in over 15 years.
And we saw double-digit positive comps across all dayparts on a two-year basis, while at the same time, franchisees continue to achieve record-high operating cash flow.
Our performance in the U.S. is the result of an accumulation of decisions that we've made over the last 18 months.
This includes bold marketing initiatives, investing in the core menu and strengthening our digital offerings with an underlying focus on running great restaurants.
As customers in the U.S. began to venture out more during the second quarter, we continued to see strong average check growth driven by larger order sizes and menu price increases.
That's been bolstered by growth in delivery and digital platforms as well as robust menu and marketing programs.
This includes an advertising rehit of our Crispy Chicken Sandwich, which continues to perform at an elevated level and the success of our BTS meal.
Both initiatives attracted customers and drove incremental sales in the quarter.
In our International Operated Markets segment, which has been historically strong, recovery is taking hold.
Comp sales were up 75% in the quarter or nearly 3% on a two-year basis as we lapped the peak in 2020 restaurant closures.
Remember, in some cases, full country operations were shut down in Q2 last year due to the pandemic.
Although we're continuing to monitor recent resurgences of COVID in countries around the world, Western Europe began to reopen during the quarter, allowing us to bring back indoor dining, still with some restrictions in place.
IOM segment comp sales began exceeding 2019 levels in May.
Strong performance continued in Australia.
The market benefited from continued growth in delivery and successful marketing and core menu news, including the BTS Famous Orders and 50th Birthday Big Mac promotion.
While Australia produced strong results for the quarter, outbreaks of the COVID-19 Delta variant throughout the country have led to recent lockdowns and reduced customer mobility.
Momentum accelerated in both the U.K. and Canada in Q2.
In the U.K., the national lockdown ended, and the market reopened dining rooms in mid-May.
The market saw record digital engagement with a significant portion of sales coming through digital channels, where customers place delivery orders and used self-order kiosks as dining rooms reopened.
Canada benefited from strong marketing activity featuring our core menu, including the BTS Famous Orders meal.
In France and Germany, comp sales were still below 2019 levels for the quarter.
While some restrictions are still in place, indoor dining reopened for both markets in June, and we've seen steady improvement since then.
As we look ahead to Q3, we expect comps to surpass pre-pandemic levels across all of our big five international markets.
The past year has shown us that when markets reopen, customer demand for McDonald's returns quickly.
Comp sales in the International Developmental Licensed segment were up 32% for the quarter or relatively flat on a two-year basis.
Performance was largely driven by positive results in Brazil, Japan and China.
Japan maintained momentum in Q2 with comps up nearly 10%, achieving an impressive 23 consecutive quarters of comp sales growth.
The market's performance was driven by strong menu and marketing promotions, delivery growth and our ability to continue serving customers their favorites safely and conveniently throughout state of emergency waves across the country.
In China, comps were strong for the quarter but have yet to return to 2019 levels due to COVID resurgences in Southern China, resulting in operating restrictions.
The market continues to build its digital member base with a successful MyMcDonald's app launch and focused delivery expansion in the breakfast and evening dayparts.
In addition, China surpassed the 4,000-restaurant mark in June and is now on pace to open over 500 new restaurants this year.
Given our slightly quicker recovery and continued momentum around the world, we now expect full year systemwide sales growth in the mid- to high teens in constant currencies.
However, there's still some uncertainty as we continue to see pandemic-related stops and starts in markets around the world, especially now with the Delta variant.
As we look ahead to the rest of 2021, we're finding ways to capitalize on our strengths.
As we've seen, the growth pillars of accelerating the Arches are deeply interconnected, reinforcing and bolstering one another.
It is at the intersection of our MCD that we continue to deepen our connection with customers and create a consistent and enjoyable experience, proving that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which brings us back to our Famous Orders platform.
When it launched in the U.S. last year, our goal was to create an ambitious marketing campaign, one that would leverage our customers' favored core menu items, speak to a new generation in authentic ways and increase digital engagement without adding any restaurant complexity, all while positioning us for the longer term.
The Famous Orders platform was based on a simple idea but unites all our customers, including famous celebrities, is everyone has their go-to McDonald's order.
The Travis Scott then J Balvin Famous Orders broke records in the U.S.
This quarter, the BTS Famous Order took that ambition global, connecting our marketing, core menu and digital strategies in 50 markets.
And it was our first Famous Order with custom packaging and app-exclusive content.
It has been, to borrow a BTS lyric, Dynamite.
We saw significant lifts in McNuggets sales and record-breaking levels of social engagement.
McDonald's customers and BTS fans all over the globe downloaded our app, ordered Chicken McNuggets with delicious sweet chili and cajun dipping sauces and posted about it on social media, leading McDonald's to trend number two on Twitter globally and number one in the U.S. And then the BTS ARMY took it a step further and memorialized the partnership, creating shoes, accessories and frame memorabilia from our packaging.
They were so appreciative of the meal that the BTS ARMY went out of their way to prepare snacks for our crew and managers in Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam to support them on launch day.
The Famous Order platform is the M, C and D in action.
Both Famous Orders and MyMcDonald's Rewards are also reminders of the unrivaled convening power of McDonald's.
And this is just the beginning of the digital customer journey at McDonald's.
As we create more personal and seamless McDonald's experiences and make it easier for our crew to connect with our customers, we're giving customers multiple reasons to continue to come back to McDonald's.
By using digital, we'll also leverage our advantages in value and convenience, daypart and menu breadth and our biggest advantage, our size and scale.
Now for more on the financial performance in Q2, I'll pass it back to Kevin.
Adjusted earnings per share in Q2 was $2.37, which excludes a gain on the further sale of some of our ownership in McDonald's Japan and a onetime income tax benefit in the U.K. In year-to-date, adjusted operating margin was 43%, reflecting improved sales performance across all segments and higher other operating income compared to last year.
Total restaurant margin dollars grew $1.3 billion in constant currencies with improvement in both franchised and company-operated restaurant margins, mostly driven by higher comp sales as a result of COVID-19 impact last year.
Company operating margins in the U.S. were strong as we continue to see top line growth driven by higher average check.
In the IOM segment, company operating margins improved significantly in Q2 as sales have recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
G&A decreased 1% in constant currencies for the quarter, primarily due to lapping our $160 million incremental marketing investment last year, offset by higher incentive-based compensation and increased spend in restaurant technology.
Our adjusted effective tax rate was 21.7% for the quarter.
And we're projecting the tax rate for the back half of 2021 in the range of 21% to 23%.
And finally, foreign currency translation benefited Q2 results by $0.13 per share.
Based on current exchange rates, we expect FX to benefit earnings per share by about $0.03 to $0.05 for Q3, with an estimated full year tailwind of $0.20 to $0.22.
As usual, this is directional guidance only as rates will likely change as we move through the year.
I'm proud of all that we've accomplished during the past 18 months.
It's a remarkable testament to the resiliency of the McDonald's system.
But as we turn our focus to the incredible opportunities that lie ahead of us, it's also reminded us of where we must go.
For 65 years, the one unassailable truth about McDonald's is that we get better together.
There's a reason why it's one of our core values.
Continually finding ways to better ourselves and our system is how we keep our business relevant, not just for this generation but the next.
How do we get better together today?
We get better together by focusing on our people.
In this highly competitive market for talent, successful employee recruitment and retention is fundamental to drive growth.
That's why in May, we announced a 10% increase in the average hourly wage at our company-owned restaurants in the U.S., with the goal to get to a $15 an hour wage by 2024.
We get better together through diversity, equity and inclusion.
Today, 23% of our U.S.-based suppliers come from diverse backgrounds, more than double the industry average.
We have set a goal to increase purchases of goods and services from diverse-owned suppliers by 10% over the next four years.
That will put us in a position where 1/4 of our U.S. spend is with diverse-owned suppliers by 2025.
And we've committed to doubling our national advertising spend with diverse-owned media here in the United States between 2021 and 2024.
We get better together by serving our customers but also serving a larger purpose in communities across the world.
Our part in the national We Can Do This campaign continues this month with McDonald's hot McCafe cups and McDelivery seal stickers, both of which lead customers to vaccines.gov.
In Canada, we're doing something similar around This Is Our Shot.
It's a national campaign through which McDonald's will supply information in restaurant and drive-thru orders, while supporting a digital campaign to replace vaccine hesitancy with confidence.
Finally, we get better together through our commitment to our planet.
In May of 2014, we were one of the first major corporations of our size to publicly commit to a sustainability framework.
We promised that we would report on our progress against our 2020 sustainability goals by the fall of this year.
As we prepare to release our impact report, I've never been prouder of the difference we are making in the world.
We are working closely with partners across the globe today to source food locally and responsibly, to expand our use of sustainable packaging and to power our restaurants with renewable energy sources.
It's the ultimate example of our three-legged stool in action, where owner-operators, suppliers and employees each play a critical role in our efforts to protect the planet.
We're working every day to set ambitious goals and to hold ourselves accountable, to be known not just for what we do as a company but how we do it.
It's part of our broader commitment to transparency and to following clear science-based guidelines from the experts.
We know we still have much work to do, but our internal strategy and the external landscape are converging to create a moment unlike any other.
We are aware of our unique role in the world.
We are inspired by all the opportunities that lie ahead.
Over the back half of this year, I'm looking forward to getting back into the restaurants around the world and spending more face time with our people.
I'm amazed with everything that our system has accomplished over the past 18 months, and we can't wait to write the next great chapter of the McDonald's story together.
With that, we'll begin Q&A.

user
mcdonald's - qtrly earnings per share $2.95; qtrly adjusted earnings per share $2.37.
mcdonald's - crispy chicken sandwich, bts famous order promotion, growth in delivery, digital platforms contributed to qtrly u.s. comparable sales growth.
mcdonald's - for international operated markets, qtrly results reflected strong positive comparable sales in the u.k. and france.
mcdonald's - foreign currency translation benefited earnings per share by $0.13 for quarter.

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