McD’s Says Buy It Your Own Way
By George Anderson
McDonald’s is testing kiosks in several markets that allow customers to place their own orders, according to a report by Reuters. It will review the results of the test and decide by the end of this year whether it plans to rollout the kiosks to its restaurants nationwide.
The kiosks are said to be similar to the self-ticketing systems common in airports. A customer places an order using a touch screen, gets a receipt, then goes to a separate area to pay and pickup their order.
Gene Mitchell, a senior director of operations, McDonald’s told Reuters the kiosk systems will eventually be set up to handle credit and debit card transactions.
Moderator’s Comment: What impact will self-ordering
technology have on the fast food industry?
Our first thought was — great, we’ll finally get the
order exactly as we placed it, even if it does mean getting out of the car and
going into the restaurant.
Our second thought — if it will take the typical 15 minutes
longer to get a hamburger at Mickey D’s, should we ask for it without onions?
[George
Anderson – Moderator]