McDonald’s is trying out a new idea for their restaurants. It’s an idea that is being done to help improve the experience of their customers, but it’s causing some people to consider boycotting the American icon.
The new style of restaurant, being tested in one location near Fort Worth, Texas, eliminates human interaction for customers when ordering and picking up their food. I love this idea.
McDonald’s is introducing what they call an order-ahead lane. Instead of going through the traditional drive-thru lane, customers can go through this lane to pick up their order off of a window where the food comes off of a conveyor belt. The technology included in this idea will get the order started when the customer gets close to the restaurant.
The restaurant is much smaller than a normal McDonald’s with additional outside parking spots for curbside orders. There are parking spots marked for delivery drivers, like those who drive for GrubHub or Uber Eats.
What is the downside to this test? Well, people are complaining that this will eliminate the jobs of those who currently interact with the customers, either taking their order or handing them their food. I understand the concern of someone losing their job. That stinks, but you don’t employ people just to be nice. You employ people to do the work you need. And frankly, I don’t think most people have a problem not interacting with someone at McDonald’s. It’s usually either a negative experience or neutral at best.
I love this idea. Let the McDonald’s employees focus on preparing the food for the customer. Maybe orders can be done more accurately. Maybe the franchisee can make more money for the amount they risk. Can this lead to the food preparation being automated at some point? I’ll be surprised if that doesn’t happen.