Would you be more likely to eat McDonald’s food if you could order and pay for it ahead and pick it up at the curb — or never leave your house in the first place? McDonald’s hopes so.
We first heard McDonald’s was working on these features back in 2014, a plan the company confirmed in 2016. Today, McDonald’s confirmed to its investors at an event in Chicago that it will finally bring these options to some 20,000 restaurants by the end of 2017.
This plan was also noted in a new McDonald’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission [PDF].
Chris Kempczinski, McDonald’s USA President, admitted that the chain has lost “hundreds of millions” of visits to competitors since 2012, a trend the company is trying hard to turn around with initiatives like the new mobile app.
Customers will be able to access their app profiles — which can include their preferred payment methods and a customized list of menu favorites — on the touch-screen ordering kiosks McDonald’s has introduced to some U.S. stores already, the company says.
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And for those who don’t feel like going out in public to get their food at all, McDonald’s says it’s experimenting with different delivery models, including partnering with third parties like GrubHub.
“Through enhanced technology to elevate and modernize the customer experience, a focus on the quality and value of our food and redefined convenience through delivery, we have a bold vision for the future and the urgency to act on it,” said CEO Steve Easterbrook.
(h/t CNBC).
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist