McDonald’s Enters the Future
As part of an overarching effort to elevate customers’ experience in the New York Metro area, McDonald’s has recently undertaken an initiative to transform 100 restaurants in the region with new technology, service and design concepts.
The brand’s new customer experience, which has appeared in five prototype restaurants in New York City and target markets across the country, integrates initiatives around McDonald’s menu customization, brand and digital technology.
The key components of the new restaurant environment – design, menu customization and technology – are the result of customer-led innovation efforts to align the brand with evolving tastes and preferences. McDonald’s new experience elevates the brand’s best attributes – great food, excellent service and a friendly environment – to appeal to evolving customer expectations.
Per an article from Queen’s Tribune’s James Farrell:
As part of the popular fast-food franchise’s efforts to modernize and introduce new elements to its traditional style, a number of changes recently came to a Queens Village McDonald’s, at the corner of Hillside and Springfield avenues. Back in August, it was one of the first locations in Queens to undergo the fast-food revolution, which McDonald’s has called its “Experience of the Future” campaign. Since then, a number of other Queens McDonald’s restaurants have followed suit, as the new features spread across the country.
Paul Hendel, the owner/operator of 22 McDonald’s spots, including the Queens Village location, explained that the restaurant has a different feel than it used to, where diners came in, ordered from a cashier and waited in line for their food to be delivered on a tray. The Experience of the Future features self-serve kiosks, signature crafted and customizable burgers and sandwiches, and table service, as well as a more lounge-like seating area and a more upscale food presentation.
“We call the person that helps assist people in the lobby with the kiosks ‘the concierge,’” he said. “We have servers. Those are new terms in McDonald’s. I started when I was 16 years old, it was order taker, grill person, fry person.”
It’s really incredible where we were 40 years ago in this business and where we are now,” he added.
In the new system, a worker stationed near the kiosk walks users through the steps on the kiosk’s screen. Ordering a burger takes you through several steps, where you can pick creative options for toppings like pico de gallo and guacamole. You pick up a small locator device and go to your seat. Within 10 minutes, a server brings the food out on the classic McDonald’s tray, but in more modern-looking baskets, more evocative of a sit-down restaurant.
The full article can be found here.
Further coverage can be found below: