In Texas, United States you can now go to a McDonald’s where no one will attend you since everything is automated. We tell you everything you need to know in this note!
To the surprise of many, McDonald’s He opened his first fully automated store, that is, where nobody attends you and everything is delivered to you through a conveyor belt. The restaurant is in Texas, United Statesand the company confirmed that it is the first of many and that this is simply a preview of the changes that will take place in the world of fast food in the future.
However, there is a reason why this type of restaurant works. During the pandemic, McDonald’sand most fast food outlets, had to adapt to the circumstances and offer their service only with the self-service. Through it, you can buy any combo on the menu and pick it up at the window without having to enter the establishment. In a pandemic with everyone using it, fast food chains realized that they were taking longer than normal to deliver orders.
It is for this reason that McDonald’staking advantage of what he learned thanks to the pandemic, he decided to launch the first fully automated restaurant. “Customers interact with others less in person and more through their digital devices with higher expectations for the service they receive”explained the CEO of the chain Chris Kempczinski during an update for investors in November 2022. And at this same conference he announced that they were testing new concepts to improve the needs of post-pandemic customers.
The first place this is being tested is in Fort Worth,Texas, where at the end of January the first fully automated premises began to operate. We only have to place our order through the application of McDonald’s and ask to withdraw it in the Drive-Thru Express Lane. This section is specific and the place will deliver the food to us through a conveyor belt. Since no one in this queue is going to place an order they just pick up foodMcDonald’s ensures that the process will be much faster.
Inside the premises, which is much smaller than the normal ones, there are the automatic ordering terminals and there is no person at the counter. The staff are only in the kitchen, so they do not interact with any of the customers. “The technology in this restaurant not only allows us to serve our customers in new and innovative ways, but also gives our restaurant team the ability to focus more on speed and accuracy of ordering, making the experience be more pleasant for everyone”commented Keith Vanecek, manager of the restaurant being tested in Texas.
One of the biggest criticisms that most people who saw the news have is that McDonald’s it is putting many of its employees out of work and replacing them with machines. However, the company explained that the number of people hired in this restaurant is the same as in any other location, only that the customers do not see them because they are all in the kitchen and are focused on getting the orders out faster. This is because they are only focused on making the food and putting it in the bag that customers then receive on the conveyor belt.
For now, this new McDonald’s it’s only in Texas, United States. The company commented that it is only a test site and that according to the results they have they will see what will be done with this new concept. So we will have to wait at least a few years to find out if these automated fast food places will really replace the ones we use today.