McDonald’s gives its restaurants an AI makeover
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. McDonald’s is giving its 43,000 restaurants a technology makeover, starting with internet-connected kitchen equipment, artificial intelligence-enabled drive-throughs and AI-powered tools for managers. The goal? To drive better experiences for its customers and workers who today contend with issues ranging from broken machines to wrong orders, according to Brian Rice, the Chicago-based burger giant’s chief information officer.
“Our restaurants, frankly, can be very stressful. We have customers at the counter, we have customers at our drive-through, couriers coming in for delivery, delivery at curbside. That’s a lot to deal with for our crew," Rice said in an interview.
“Technology solutions will alleviate the stress." The investments are coming at a key time for McDonald’s, whose U.S. sales were sluggish in January—reflective of a broader slump in the fast-food industry. McDonald’s said consumers remain pressured, particularly low-income diners and families.
The restaurant is hoping that a better tech-enabled experience will help it deliver on its goal of growing its loyalty patrons from 175 million to 250 million by 2027. To accomplish that, McDonald’s tapped Google Cloud in late 2023 to bring more computing power to each of its restaurants—giving them the ability to process and analyze data on-site. The setup, known as edge computing, can be a faster, cheaper option than sending data to the cloud, especially in more far-flung locations with less reliable cloud connections, said Rice.
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