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If you think the technology is there, what explains its lack of adoption? I don’t think McDonalds et al. are in the business of leaving easy optimization on the

by majos 7y ago

If you think the technology is there, what explains its lack of adoption? I don’t think McDonalds et al. are in the business of leaving easy optimization on the table. (My own guess is that touch screens are still more expensive and buggy than humans, and machine-made food still trades off novelty to be profitable. But I don’t know.)

nitrogen 7y ago
McDonald's already uses touchscreens in some locations. I'm guessing the rest comes down to tradition and the availability of cheap labor preventing the motivation to turn existing technology into a packaged franchise of automated restaurants.
rfmw19 7y ago
McDonalds seems to be rolling them out slowly, but are actually cutting staff while simultaneously increasing their fleet of touchscreens. I see a lot more employees alternating between doing work in the kitchen vs. taking orders at the cashier. This is even during relatively high demand times with long customer wait lines. This is just an anecdote though, the data may disagree. I'd also be curious to see any user interface studies on these touchscreens. In my limited experiences, they are completely slow and thus an awful experience. They clearly are trying to sell more at every step instead of being useful and efficient for the end user.
kds3 7y ago
In my city almost all of them were replaced by big self-service touchscreen displays with credit card reader attached. It's usually 4-6 machines and one assistant on call from kitchen area / takeout area when someone wants to pay with cash. They also help clients use touchscreen display to make orders when someone don't understand how to work with them. So my guess for lack of adoption can be explained by: - inertia and lack of incentives (who said recession?), - people with cash, - people who aren't good with technologies, - people who have no one to talk to (they don't know what they want to eat today and want your advice).

by majos 7y ago

nitrogen 7y ago

McDonald's already uses touchscreens in some locations. I'm guessing the rest comes down to tradition and the availability of cheap labor preventing the motivation to turn existing technology into a packaged franchise of automated restaurants.

rfmw19 7y ago

McDonalds seems to be rolling them out slowly, but are actually cutting staff while simultaneously increasing their fleet of touchscreens. I see a lot more employees alternating between doing work in the kitchen vs. taking orders at the cashier. This is even during relatively high demand times with long customer wait lines. This is just an anecdote though, the data may disagree. I'd also be curious to see any user interface studies on these touchscreens. In my limited experiences, they are completely slow and thus an awful experience. They clearly are trying to sell more at every step instead of being useful and efficient for the end user.

kds3 7y ago

In my city almost all of them were replaced by big self-service touchscreen displays with credit card reader attached. It's usually 4-6 machines and one assistant on call from kitchen area / takeout area when someone wants to pay with cash. They also help clients use touchscreen display to make orders when someone don't understand how to work with them. So my guess for lack of adoption can be explained by: - inertia and lack of incentives (who said recession?), - people with cash, - people who aren't good with technologies, - people who have no one to talk to (they don't know what they want to eat today and want your advice).