McDonald's tests mobile ordering from iOS app ahead of global rollout
McDonald's has started to test mobile ordering of food from some of its restaurants, with customers in areas of Washington and California among the first to try out the iOS app's new feature, which the fast food chain hopes to spread globally later this year.
Customers will be able to place their order from the iOS app before arrival, with the app tracking the user's location to make sure the right restaurant, according to Reuters. The location tracking will also allow the restaurant to start preparing the order a short time before the customer is expected to turn up, timing the order's completion for their arrival to keep the food as fresh as possible.
Before orders are delivered to the restaurant's kitchen, customers will have to confirm and pay for it via the app, though the final version will also include options for table service, counter pickup, a drive-through pickup, and curbside delivery. AppleInsider has asked for clarification on whether this will use Apple Pay or some other payment method for Apple devices.
Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook suggests that if 20 percent of drive-through customers used curbside delivery and another 20 percent used the drive-through lanes for pickup only, restaurants would be able to serve another 20 cars per hour on average. Drive-through business is the biggest source of revenue for the company in the United States, accounting for approximately 70 percent of sales.
Mobile ordering is live at 29 restaurants in Monterey and Salinas, California as of Wednesday, with an extra 51 restaurants in Spokane, Washington set to join the pilot scheme on March 20.
Following the trial, McDonald's expects to start rolling out the app to most of the other 14,000 restaurants in the United States, as well as 6,000 located in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Australia later this year.
Initially announced as part of a financial release at the beginning of March, McDonald's digital expansion will also see a greater presence of ordering kiosks in restaurants. The kiosks will be able to bring up the customer's favorite and previous orders from the app, as well as preferred payment methods, to speed up the ordering process.
McDonald's is relatively late compared to its competition in providing mobile ordering to its customers. Major chains such as Domino's Pizza and Starbucks have offered app-based ordering for a number of years, while a collection of startups are also making it easy to order food from a smartphone.
Customers will be able to place their order from the iOS app before arrival, with the app tracking the user's location to make sure the right restaurant, according to Reuters. The location tracking will also allow the restaurant to start preparing the order a short time before the customer is expected to turn up, timing the order's completion for their arrival to keep the food as fresh as possible.
Before orders are delivered to the restaurant's kitchen, customers will have to confirm and pay for it via the app, though the final version will also include options for table service, counter pickup, a drive-through pickup, and curbside delivery. AppleInsider has asked for clarification on whether this will use Apple Pay or some other payment method for Apple devices.
Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook suggests that if 20 percent of drive-through customers used curbside delivery and another 20 percent used the drive-through lanes for pickup only, restaurants would be able to serve another 20 cars per hour on average. Drive-through business is the biggest source of revenue for the company in the United States, accounting for approximately 70 percent of sales.
Mobile ordering is live at 29 restaurants in Monterey and Salinas, California as of Wednesday, with an extra 51 restaurants in Spokane, Washington set to join the pilot scheme on March 20.
Following the trial, McDonald's expects to start rolling out the app to most of the other 14,000 restaurants in the United States, as well as 6,000 located in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Australia later this year.
Initially announced as part of a financial release at the beginning of March, McDonald's digital expansion will also see a greater presence of ordering kiosks in restaurants. The kiosks will be able to bring up the customer's favorite and previous orders from the app, as well as preferred payment methods, to speed up the ordering process.
McDonald's is relatively late compared to its competition in providing mobile ordering to its customers. Major chains such as Domino's Pizza and Starbucks have offered app-based ordering for a number of years, while a collection of startups are also making it easy to order food from a smartphone.
Comments
At Taco Bell, you place your order with the App, and when you arrive at the Drive Thru, you're just bypassing the "talking-to-the-moron-thru-the-speaker" except to let them know you've arrived. They immediately begin making your meal and its ready as soon as you pull up to the next window. No more advance notice than that is needed.
location tracking would make it possible for them to optimize orders group of orders on when then will likely arrive at the store. You could call it JIT ( Just it Time) for the fast food industry. In logistics and manufacturing, timing and location is important to keep costs down and improving speed.
Eventually, it is obvious they'll mostly automate the kitchen. Keeping some people to serve customers up front and a few managers to take care of the back.
Of all the restaurants in the world, McDonald's moves very quickly to adapt to changes in markets despite their size and age.
Exactly! And what restaurant apps allowed you to order food in 2010?!!
So wrong it's not even funny.
Some restaurants that service business crowds moved from calling ahead which moved into faxing in your orders, and eventually into online orders. Many allowed you to pay online, as well. I know Chipotle had this. Others will let you order online but need to you pay in person.
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/cafe-x-robot-barista/
This is the next step to replacing most food and drink prep positions. I suspect the number of people needed to run the average McDonald's will be cut in half or more.
Actually, I will speculate and say that at some point there will be McDonald's kiosks where you'll be able to preorder on your phone or at a touchscreen and simply pick up your entire meal, untouched by human hands, and walk away. Further off in the future there may be self-driving "roach coaches" that are entirely automated, making their rounds (sans human beings). Hey, if someone can figure out how to make a buck with ice cream trucks, why couldn't food retailers figure out how to deliver the food based on the same principles, but have the entire process automated?
There are two McDonald's near me and they are both jammed up at the end of day commute hours and on weekends. During those times they add someone outside taking orders in advance of the speaker/mic.
Until this point or that of the speaker/mic, they're only making an educated guess based on experience as to what sandwiches to run. Knowing exactly what to expect from an in-app order further refines their production.
So far, McDonald's is the only chain I know of that provides for Apple Pay to be used in the drive-thru.
Another chain, El Pollo Loco, was taking AP but seems to have stopped (or it may be just one store) but you can only use it at the counter.
What about Chick-Fil-A? I've only been to the counter since the drive-thru is always far too long.
The franchise owners of McDonald's in parts of India is introducing soups and salads to woo health-conscious people.
http://www.livemint.com/Consumer/dQyihCXI0sbwjPZ8I8ophJ/McDonalds-woos-healthconscious-customers-with-new-stores-a.html