Slowly but surely, machines are changing the way that we handle everyday things — including the way we order fast food.
According to USA Today, McDonald’s has plans to add ordering kiosks to thousands of stores in hopes of making their profits grow. The company found that when people have more time to look at a screen and think about what they want to order, they actually end up ordering more, thus increasing profits.
“So there is a little bit of an average check boost that comes with it,” CEO Steve Easterbrook says.
According to Info Wars, Easterbrook also said that the kiosks will add more variety to ways that customers are able to order their food.
“You walked to the front counter and line up and take your drink and find a table or you go through the drive through. We’re introducing many options. They can order through mobile, they can come curbside and we’ll run it out as well as the existing traditional ways. You can pay in different ways and customize your food in different ways. I think we’re trying to add more choice and variety.”
Over the next two years, McDonald’s will implement their new ordering system by putting in roughly 10 kiosks a day at various McDonald’s locations. This means that they plan to add about 1,000 every quarter in the U.S. while many locations in the United Kingdom and Canada are already home to self-serving kiosks. And by 2020, they hope to have kiosks at every single location.
But the move may prove to be a risky one for the hamburger retailer. A recent poll from MSN found that “78% of customers are less likely to go into a restaurant that has a self-service kiosk.” However, the CEO makes a point to express that the kiosks are not meant to replace actual workers, they just serve as a way to bring the benefits that come along with technology to the fast-food market.
Just yesterday, the fast food giant came under fire after a woman reported finding a rodent in her food. Fox News shares that 18-year-old Beth Waller claims that she found a dead mouse after she bit into her McChicken sandwich.
“I had only had a couple of bites and it didn’t taste right — there was a funny taste so I knew something wasn’t right,” Waller told the outlet.
The store was located across the pond in Doncaster, England and was not a location in the United States. Since McDonald’s has found out about the incident, they have reached out to Waller and told her that they plan to investigate the incident but also say that judging from the pictures, it appears to be a blood vessel from the chicken and not a rodent.