mcdonalds kiosk

McDonald’s Kiosk aka McDonalds-like Kiosks

McDonald’s Kiosks

(aka Restaurant Kiosks)

McDonald’s kiosk is the platform and company which influences and drives the self-service self-order QSR kiosk market. In the U.S. they have done many pilots over the years. In Europe, they have moved ahead with self-service. Now it’s big here in States.    Coupling kiosks with in-lane line-busting order, drive-thru optimization, curbside pickup and lockers seems to be the multi-pronged approach.  AI has entered the realm of the McDonald’s Kiosks with 10 stores now testing.

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McDonalds Kiosk Franchisee 2022

McDonalds Kiosk Franchisee 2022

Restaurant Factoids

  • US — Around 14,000 — McDonalds operates 700 of those  – source link
  • WW — 39,000 and 36,000 of those are franchised
  • Financial information – best to start with statements from McDonald’s
  • Digital, delivery and drive-thru are big strategy (80% of sales)
  • The exit from Walmart is noteworthy

Archives Kiosk Machine McDonalds Kiosks News Roundup

To know where you are, best to know where you were.

2022

September 2021

August 2021

July 2021

  • Company Results Scoreboard July 2021 – keywords are “digital”, loyalty and young marketing
    • Yum Brands reports two-year same-store sales growth 4% across all brands —
    • meanwhile Bloomin’s Brands reported 12% gain
    • McDonalds Sales Growth is Up — McDonald’s saw major growth for the second quarter ended June 30, with global same-store sales up 40.5% and U.S. same-store sales up 25.5%, driven by the success of their new chicken sandwich and popular digital marketing initiative with K-pop band BTS, according to the company’s earnings call on Wednesday.  Yahoo Finance wrap.  – Loyalty Initiative — McDonald’s currently has 22 million loyalty members in the U.S. . Will launch rewards program in the UK and Germany.It’s the brand’s latest push when it comes to upping the digital experience that also includes restaurant kiosks, digital menu boards at drive-throughs, McDelivery, and the mobile app.Taco Bell (YUM), Popeyes (QSR), Chipotle (CMG) and others have also launched new loyalty programs (or expanded on pre-existing ones) to retain customers gained throughout the pandemic.  The maxim that says #1 keep your loyal customers, and #2 convert your competitor’s (aka steal) customers still holds true.
  • McDonald’s quietly solved a serious problem and claimed it was nothing — Concedes error in calculating fees for technology upgrades for operators
  • General Manager of McDonalds Singapore Talks About his job — “What they want is good food, food they can trust, which offers value for money as well as a great experience in a hospitable, safe environment,” Benjamin asserts.
  • First ever nationwide loyalty program to launch by McDonald’s — CNBC
  • Market Outlook by Zacks for multiple companies — Partnerships with delivery channels like DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates and Uber Eats, and the rollout of self-service kiosks and loyalty programs continue to drive growth in 2021. The restaurant operators are focusing on driverless delivery systems to augment sales amid the coronavirus crisis.
  • McDonalds McAI seems to be working 85% of the time.
  • We also now maintain a Legal News log with opinion. McDonalds and Wendys are big newsmakers this week.
  • Add Samsung to the Kiosk Supplier Field — Calls it an All-In-One Kiosk for Contactless Ordering

June 2021

May 2021

  • The Truth About Self-Serve Kiosks At Fast Food Restaurants – McDonalds saw 30% increase for example
  • McDonald’s Kiosks and National Federation of the Blind Collaborate. Beginning in California, 100% of company-owned. McDonald’s owns 5% of 14,000 domestic locations and the remainder are franchised. McDonald’s has 39,000+ locations worldwide. https://kioskindustry.org//mcdonalds-kiosks-national-federation-blind-collaborate/
  • McDonald’s Corp. is increasing pay an average of 10% for more than 36,500 workers at its corporate-owned U.S. stores. Erlinger said the company was also urging its franchisee-owned stores to evaluate worker pay. McDonald’s owns about 5% of its nearly 14,000 domestic locations and the remainder are franchised. McDonald’s has more than 39,000 locations worldwide. Earlier this week, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said it would be raising its hourly wages to an average of $15 an hour by the end of June
  • McDonald’s will soon be serving its customers a friendly reminder to get their COVID-19 vaccine. The fast-food chain has partnered with the Biden administration on its “We Can Do This” campaign to help share vaccine information with its customers across the country and the restaurant plans to spread the word in multiple ways over the coming months. Beginning in July, McCafe cups and McDelivery seals will lead customers to vaccines.gov
  • See the latest Wendy’s design portfolio gallery

April 2021

  • McDonald’s Ice Cream Machine Hack — Kytch Serves Up Hidden Menu for Taylor McFlurry machine
  • Panera Drops In-House Delivery Options and Goes to 3rd party. Seems to be a trend.
  • Robotic Delivery by Chick-fil-A in California Being Tested — The quick-service chain has partnered with semi-autonomous robot company Kiwibot for robotic deliveries in Santa Monica
  • New article on “Fully Digital” Times Square Taco Bell  – QSRMagazine — Also they have a nice 3D tour —  Link to 3D
  • By this summer, only 150 McDonald’s will remain inside Walmart stores — down from a peak of 1,000 locations at the height of the two chains’ 30-year partnership. The paper also reported that Subway franchisees are closing locations inside Walmart stores. The news comes as Walmart is trialing new operating models for in-store restaurants. It’s putting ghost kitchens inside select locations that offer pickup and delivery service from popular chains like Saladworks.
  • Related to Walmart and McDonalds and result of pandemic — H-E-B is partnering with Texas A&M University to provide grocery delivery to people who live on its main and West campuses in College Station, Texas. Even as mass vaccinations promise to boost store and restaurant traffic, newly established online buying habits mean retailers are prioritizing omnichannel meal service. Kroger is testing ghost kitchen locations in Indiana and Ohio, while Texas-based H-E-B recently opened a food hall that offers takeout and delivery options.

March 2021

February 2021

  • Smarter Fast Food Drive Thrus at McDonalds [CNN] — At a McDonald’s drive-thru in a Chicago suburb, customers may notice something different about the voice that takes their orders for Big Macs and fries. “Welcome to McDonald’s, what can I get for you?” it asks in a welcoming, unmistakably feminine tone. While the voice sounds helpful, it’s also stilted and monotonous enough for the average customer to figure out they’re being served by a computer, not a human. It’s a lot like Alexa or Siri, but for a drive-thru: a system driven by artificial intelligence that McDonald’s is testing out to speed up its service.
    • Meanwhile, smaller chains are also trying out AI tools. White Castle, which has drive-thrus at 95% of its 362 restaurants, is one example. The preponderance of drive-thrus has “allowed the business to stabilize” during the pandemic, said Jamie Richardson, the family-owned burger chain’s vice president of marketing and public relations. And in November, the company started testing out its own automated ordering system at the drive-thru of a White Castle in Merrillville, Indiana (the same restaurant that already hosts a burger-grilling robot from Miso Robotics).
  • What McDonald’s Shows About The Minimum Wage — excerpt of Planet Money’s newsletter —
    • No relationship between minimum wage increases and the adoption of touch-screen technology
    • McDonald’s restaurants raise their wages after a city or state raises its minimum wage ($1.00 premium above)
    • when the minimum wage goes up, the price of a Big Mac goes up too (just not very much given generally low wage component)
    • Meanwhile, Walmart raised the minimum wage it pays to $15.  Almost no need for government to do anything at this point.

January 2021

  • Technical Review of Drive Thru Display menuboard failures
  • In McDonald’s news and messy exits — looks like Mcdonald’s is taking this very seriously. “We can now move forward with our case seeking the return of his severance payment and to hold him accountable for his lies and his efforts to destroy evidence” Article on NRN
  • McDonald’s and Past Five Years review on minimum wage [Marketwatch] — Naysayers warned of closures, jobs going away and rush to automation.  What actually happened? None of that and McDonalds actually ended up paying workers more than minimum wage. Here is the research report
  • NRA December in Review — December marked the continuation of a downward slide in restaurant business conditions. After reaching a pandemic-era peak in September, restaurant sales trended sharply lower during the final three months of the year. As of December, eating and drinking place sales stood more than $14 billion (or 22%) below pre-coronavirus levels. In September, this shortfall was less than $10 billion. The bottom also fell out for restaurant employment in December, as plunging sales forced operators to cut 372,000 jobs. As a result, the eating and drinking place sector finished 2020 nearly 2.5 million jobs (or 20%) below its pre-coronavirus level.
  • The best restaurant blogs to follow in 2021 – nice list
  • McDonald’s Franchisee Streamlines Food Safety Compliance – Sales at McBee Enterprises’ 12 McDonald’s restaurants are doing relatively well. No lay offs and McBee is, in fact, continuing to hire people.

December 2020

November 2020

11/9 — McDonald’s announced on Monday a new growth strategy going into 2021 — “Accelerating the Arches” — which includes the introduction of a new crispy chicken sandwich early next year and the rollout of a new loyalty program: MyMcDonald’s.

Described as a “new digital experience growth engine,” the personalized loyalty program and all-in-one platform will offer tailored promotions for members and the ability for customers to place orders “through the channel of their choice.” Key components of the new program will begin rolling out in a test pilot in the Phoenix area over the coming weeks. Link to article on NRN

McDonalds kiosk 2005

McDonalds kiosk 2005

October 2020

June 2020

McDonald’s permanently closing Times Square Flagship. Link.  McDonald’s confirmed this week that the company has made the “difficult decision” to close the famed corporate store in Times Square, a move that was in the works prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

Feb 2020

Wow Bao announced further expansion plans within the East Coast market. In quarter one 2020, Wow Bao will open three new locations at some of the largest transportation hubs in the region, including Dulles International Airport, Boston Logan International Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.  https://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/wow-bao-plots-east-coast-expansion-2020

Nov 2016

US news — McDonald’s sanctions a new self-service solution along with digital signs after testing. The new solution package is being offered to franchisees to purchase with a small subsidy from McDonald’s to assist.

Current kiosk industry participants seem to include Coates and Zivelo.  Printers are Epson (after some  troublesome other brands?)

DOL rules are being delayed in states like California. That is a combination of overtime and minimum pay.

Europe News — Back in March McD announced 8000 or so restaurants would be equipped. Estimates are less than 1500.

  • Popeyes Chicken Kiosk in Prague – ACRELEC 2024/06/13
    Popeyes Rolls Out Self Order Kiosks by ACRELEC Good to see Acrelec with big win in Prague and Popeyes.  And we tacked on news from KFC and the UK. As of 2021. We must admit we eat at Popeye’s.  We like the Cajun chicken fingers (Chick-Fil-A is too sweet).  Their drive thru is kind of wonky ...
  • NRA Chicago Kiosk – 2023 Conversational AI 2023/04/04
    NRA Chicago Kiosks In 2024 You can find us in Booth 5536 in the North Building, Here is our portal page. NRA is our next show (May in Chicago). Visit our NRA page. We’ll be in the Tech Pavilion in booth 6475. If you are interested in a free pass, would like to meet or just reconnecting, ...
  • McDonald’s Kiosk – Low Vision, Blind & Robots 2023/03/05
    McDonald’s Kiosk Accessibility We don’t normally see kiosk-related content on the DailyKos but this week a couple of nice videos surfaced on McDonald’s kiosk accessibility and in particular Low Vision and the magnifier. To top it off for McDonald’s videos, we’ve included one from the new robotic server in Dallas. Robotics are NOT going away and will ...
  • Kiosk Meaning – 2023 2023/02/26
    Kiosk Meaning What does the word kiosk mean?  It meant one thing 600 years ago. 1620s, “kind of open pavilion” (made of light wood, etc., often supported by pillars), from French kiosque (17c.), which is (along with German and Polish kiosk) from Turkish koshk, kiöshk “pavilion, summer house,” from Persian kushk “palace, villa; pavilion, portico.” They were introduced in Western Europe 17c. as ornaments in ...
  • Fast Food Kiosks Update – Shake Shack, Taco Bell 2023/02/20
    Fast Food Technology News Bit of news on the restaurant front and as usual it is the smaller chains that are headlining the news. One prediction related to all this that I will make is that given the new generative Chatgpt, VR and the Super Bowl commercial that it won’t be long before some celebrity takes ...
  • Shake Shack Kiosks Drive Thrus 2023 2023/02/17
    Shake Shack Kiosks 2023 Strategy From Yahoo Finance Jan 2023 Tagline – Shake Shack’s outlook for 2023: more locations, more sales—and drive-thrus Looking for a $10 burger? Most chains cannot stop themselves from uttering the phrase “AI” or “robotics” for that matter.  Interesting areas here are the relentless focus on drive-thru, kiosks improving margins (albeit cashless) and using ...
  • Taco Bell Cantina Kiosks in Los Angeles 2023/02/17
    Taco Bell Cantina Kiosks Design elements marry old Hollywood architecture with Taco Bell’s modern Cantina experience – now open on Hollywood Boulevard Editors Note:  We are pretty sure the actual kiosks (seen in ABC video below) are by Elo. Elo does the NYC cantina.) IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Roll out the purple carpet, as Taco Bell has opened its doors to ...
  • ADA Retail Restaurants Regulations – 2023 2023/02/03
    ADA Self-Service News The U.S. Access Board conducted a very in-depth review of accessibility design for retail and restaurants in February 2023. For more information you can email [email protected] – we offer free consulting and advice. There were several areas of interest we found in the 2-hour webinar, including: Queues and Waiting Lines Self service shelves (pickup at Panera?) Dispensing devices ...
  • POS Terminal and McDonald’s 2023/01/03
    POS Terminal from Posiflex Posiflex is pleased to join National Retail Federation at NRF 2023: Retail’s Big Show in New York City on January 15, 2023 in booth #5502. Posiflex will showcase next-generation POS terminals from its popular RT Series: the RT2015-G2 and RT2016-G2. In addition, Posiflex will unveil the Cachet Series, a brand-new large-display self-service ...
  • Diebold Kiosks McDonald’s – Innovation Stores Chicago – NRA Update 2022/05/19
    McDonalds Kiosks Update From Chicago and NRA Josef Schneider(Entrepreneur / Tech Geek) • Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.“  Team Pyramid Computer GmbH North America checking out McDonald’s innovation stores near Chicago prior to National Restaurant Association show. Always great to see kiosks at ...

https://www.fox5ny.com/news/mcdonalds-3q-earnings-down-on-tech-investment

 

McDonalds Kiosk – Great Falls Montana Video

McDonalds Kiosks — Inside Times Square McDonalds flagship – CNBC

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