McDonald’s finally adds mobile ordering, but with a big drawback
Source: McDonald’s, late to mobile ordering, seeks to avoid pitfalls | Reuters
McDonald’s Corp has begun testing its long-awaited U.S. mobile ordering app, with the goal of avoiding the kinds of service hiccups that have haunted digital debuts by companies such as Starbucks Corp.Digital ordering has been challenging for many restaurant chains and their customers. Domino’s Pizza Inc, now the industry leader, took years to perfect it. Starbucks’ technology took far less time, but in January the chain said mobile orders poured in faster than they could be processed, creating backlogs that drove away time-crunched walk-in customers.McDonald’s sees mobile as a way to win back customers after four straight years of traffic declines, but the project is not without risks.
McDonald’s has tried almost everything to win-back customers – all day breakfast, three different types of Big Macs, expanded coffee-bars. Now the fast food chain finally adds mobile ordering, but it comes with a significant drawback — your order isn’t actually placed until you arrive:
When the customer arrives at the restaurant, the app asks for confirmation and payment before sending orders to the kitchen.
So, it’s not so much mobile ordering, as it is just avoiding standing in line. The drawback is the last few times we’ve been in a McDonald’s, there wasn’t much of a line to avoid. It is, however, yet another technological device to eliminate a $15 per hour employee to take your order.
