Are you lovin’ it? You better: McDonald’s automated restaurant is the future of fast food
The new hamburger joint just opened by McDonald’s in Fort Worth, Texas looks, at least from the outside, like any other. But it differs in one fundamental way: there are no humans facing customers. The only people work there are a small team of cooks hidden away in the kitchen.
After parking their cars, customers enter and place their order on one of the large touch screens they will have been familiar with for some time; they then pick up their order at the counter, where it arrives on a conveyor belt. For the moment, the service is only takeaway, and there are no chairs or tables. Drive-through order and collection is also available, as is pre-ordering by using the app and indicating your approximate time of arrival, and driving through the Order Ahead lane, where customers are limited to a single stop. You stop the car, roll down the window, extend your arm a bit, and off you go. Next.
It’s the first, and so far only, restaurant the company has tested using this technology, which some believe will spread rapidly, revolutionizing the fast-food restaurant landscape. Critics point to more jobs lost to automation, as well as raising issues such as what happens if the order is incorrect, if something is missing or if customers want a few more ketchup sachets or extra…
