https://hotair.com/archives/ja...st-no-workers-guess/

The fast-food giant is planning to roll out a new “format” for its stores in select locations. The major change is that there will be no tables or seating inside the restaurant. Known as “McDonald’s to Go,” all orders are for takeout only.

All ordering is done using a kiosk

there are no tables, chairs, or decor. The menu is also stripped down to the chain’s staple items

You can only pay with plastic… no cash option is provided. The kiosk prints your receipt with your order number and you go to a counter and wait for your number to come up.

there are still humans in the back, cooking the food and loading the orders into bags. But as soon as the price comes down on Flippy the hamburger robot, they’ll probably be on the way out as well.

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historical note: when McDonalds first started, there were no tables or chairs. The concept was to get people in and out quickly.

The menu only had few items such as hamburger, cheeseburger, fries. There were silver trays that were kept loaded up. The idea was very fast service.

McDonalds also thought the main business would be away from the inner cities. They concentrated on suburbs.

A lot changed over the years.

Ray Kroc started McDonalds when he was 52. He was a milkshake machine salesman. When he visited the McDonald brothers hamburger fast food place in 1954, he saw the possibilities. Kroc joined w the McDonald brothers and later bought them out.

This doesn't surprise me and I think it's a good business decision. People going there are there for a quick in and out snack....not to engage with the person behind the counter.

My wife and I stopped at McDs for lunch today after our range trip.

Walked in and saw several people waiting in line to use the ordering kiosk thingy...
we walked up to the cashier and the guy took our order and we were out in under 5 minutes.

Works for me...

The ordering kiosks slow down the whole process. Try ordering multiple, but varied, happy meals. Takes days.

Back to their roots

So, how's that $15/hr working out for y'all?

all those $15/hr hamburger flippers will be headed to a job fair soon.

You will have to train the customers to use the kiosk. That will not be easy with some folks. There are still people that struggle with vending machines.

We saw a Chick-fil-a like this in the LA area (Simi Valley, IIRC) a couple years ago.

Ordering was outside at a walk up window (also had a drive-thru). No inside seating, just a couple chairs outside on a patio.

Was raining, so we decided to not eat there that day.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
You will have to train the customers to use the kiosk. That will not be easy with some folks. There are still people that struggle with vending machines.

i fix vending machines i have found folded up dollar bills in the coin slot

I don’t eat in my car and I don’t eat outside.
Reducing costs by (presumably) slightly reducing staff versus reducing the number of customers.
It will be interesting to see how that works for them in the long run.

They should've been doing this a long time ago. Go to certain urban business districts or, airports, this is already done.

While McDonald's has openly acknowledged that they aren't in the food business but, instead the real estate business, the habits and options for food has changed. Sticking to their model of speed and efficiency, order-counter only locations, will be the future for 'fast-food'. They can dramatically reduce their overhead while keeping the equal number of locations thus, maintaining regional/area market share. You want a sit-down, nice place, go to an actual restaurant.

Falmouth, KY has the best McDonalds I've ever been to. Staffed by all older folks, clean, clean workers, prompt service and the foods are prepared correctly. All the others I've been to in northern Kentucky should just be shut down by the Health Dept. It is the night crews who make them SUCK. Wendys have like workers on nights. Tiny town of Falmouth could show them all what a real McDonalds is.

The local McDonald’s has a kiosk for ordering but I never use it. To get my veteran discount I have to have place my order with an employee.

Looks like I'll have to go to Chick-fil-A more often. Who knew?

At times, the drive through at Richwood, KY McDonalds will have 2 lines of vehicles and it could take over a half hour to get to the window. I get out, walk inside to find not 1 patron at the counter. Pretty telling.

A business model that will prove appropriate for some areas, and not others. It will be trial and error that sorts it out.

The one time I’ve wandered into the one locally to let my son play on the indoor jungle gym while it was pouring rain, I figured the correct thing to do was to at least order some nuggets so we were paying customers. I went to the touch screen kiosk and simply couldn’t find them as an option after actually waiting in line to use one. I gave up, walked up to the counter and said “ten piece nuggets.” And that was pretty much that. I got my stuff before the guy ahead of me in the kiosk line was done fiddling with the screen.

The technology isn’t really an an improvement on the experience, it’s more of a hindrance unless you’re the guy that eats there five times a week and knows how to instinctively navigate their poorly laid-out kiosk menu screen. That ain’t me, and they’re going to find out how rabid their fanbase is when this is all said and done. The kiosks may well end up going the way of Ray Kroc’s powdered milkshakes.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
We saw a Chick-fil-a like this in the LA area (Simi Valley, IIRC) a couple years ago.

Ordering was outside at a walk up window (also had a drive-thru). No inside seating, just a couple chairs outside on a patio.

Was raining, so we decided to not eat there that day.

There is a Chick-fil-A like that in Washington D.C. I think it is like that due to the small footprint of the building and to cut down on armed robberies.

I like stuff like this. It's like a big 'fuck you' to the we-demand-fifteen-dollars-an-hour-for-work-that-a-trained-chimp-can-do crowd.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
Falmouth, KY has the best McDonalds I've ever been to.

As a life-long resident of Northern Kentucky, I can honestly say this is the first time I have heard that Falmouth has the best ANYTHING. I may have to take a trek down there just to see it for myself. Simply mind boggling.