Chigaco - McDonald's on
Wednesday announced a push to embrace apps aimed at speeding up
service at drive-thrus, which account for about 70 percent of
the fast-food chain's US business, as it looks to woo back
diners.
The company's US restaurants have suffered four straight
years of traffic declines, resulting in 500 million lost
transactions since 2012. As part of the push for greater
convenience in the United States, which contributes more
operating income than any other global market, McDonald's will
also offer curbside pickup of orders to reduce wait time at
drive-thrus.
McDonald's will start to roll out "mobile order and pay" in
the fourth quarter and have it available at all of its roughly
14 000 US restaurants by year-end, Chris Kempczinski,
president of McDonald's USA, said at the company's investor
meeting in Chicago on Wednesday.
Customers who use the app will have the option to pick up
orders at drive-thru windows or in designated curbside delivery
parking spots, where a restaurant worker will hand off orders.
Customers could also choose to pick up orders at restaurant
counters.
Service times at McDonald's have recently slowed, and the
new initiatives are expected to cut wait times, shorten
drive-thru lines and prevent customers from skipping visits due
to long delays, said Jim Sappington, McDonald's executive vice
president of operations, digital and technology.
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McDonald's has lagged other fast-food restaurants such as
Domino's Pizza, Panera Bread and
Starbucks in its use of digital technology.
The company is also developing a loyalty program and testing
delivery in Florida.
The goal is "progress over perfection," Sappington said.
McDonald's will also introduce "mobile order and pay" in
about 6 000 locations outside the United States by year-end.
McDonald's said it would use a part of the savings from
refranchising restaurants outside the United States to modernize
about 650 U.S. outlets, under what it calls the "Experience of
the Future" plan. Those plans include adding self-service
kiosks, table service and reconfigured kitchens designed to
slash the distance a restaurant's workers walk on a given day by
as much as seven miles.
Together with already modernised restaurants, McDonald's
aims to end 2017 with 2 500 "Experience of the Future"
restaurants in the United States.
Shares of McDonald's closed up 1.1 percent at $129.05 after
hitting a nine-month high of $129.99.