The McDonald’s Philippines network is set to nearly double by 2020.

Parent Alliance Global Group (AGI) says it will reach 500 outlets by the end of 2016 – and it plans to open another 400 restaurants between 2017 and 2020.

The plan was revealed during a briefing of AGI’s broader plan to boost its commercial and retail businesses with a special focus on regions outside Luzon where the pace of economic growth is gaining speed.

“We have already laid out the foundation and made significant investments across all our business segments, both here and abroad, in order to future-proof our growth,” said Andrew Tan, founder of AIG, during a shareholder briefing.

The broader AGI retail portfolio will be expanded from 236,000 sqm currently to 633,000 sqm during the next five years, meaning an annual addition of 80,000 sqm, three times the 25,000 sqm added between 2010 and 2015.

Expanding the McDonald’s store network nationwide will take advantage of a widespread improvement in consumer demand, he said.

AGI president and COO Kingson U Sian described the township developments of AGI subsidiary Megaworld as “a platform for the conglomerate to take advantage of the government’s thrust to develop the provinces”.

“These 3000 hectares that we have for 21 townships – 90 per cent of that is actually outside Metro Manila. So, clearly we are already well positioned if government develops or invests or encourages more development outside Metro Manila,” he said.

“If growth is spurred in Visayas and Mindanao – a sleeping giant – if we can create more interest and infrastructure spending in the south, then that would obviously increase. We believe if we do it properly, maybe from 6-7 per cent we can grow at a faster clip because now we have three engines of growth,” Sian said.