👉 Background: Maccas is the all-things-to-all-people restaurant started way back in 1955. And 1971 for Australia.

👉 What happened: Now, Maccas is piloting new tech to help get more meals into more mouths, faster. Essentially, customers can order ahead using the Maccas app and pick up their order from a food and drink conveyor belt.

👉 What else: It’s supposed to keep the drive-thru lanes moving smoothly. The feature is being tested in the US first and if successful, could be rolled out around the whole-wide-world.

What's the key learning?

💡Supermarkets took the lead and fast-food players have watched with bated breath. Around 20 years ago, the first stores started to roll out self-service checkouts (i.e. get your customer to do the work of selecting their items, scanning them, bagging them and leaving).

💡Not only did it reduce the queues in the supermarket but significantly reduced the labour costs too. And now, in 2022, it seems like Maccas is applying the same logic.

💡In 2022, drive-thru times have become 45 seconds slower on average compared to 2019 at industry-leading chains. By ordering ahead and not requiring the chit-chat with a Maccas staff member, it’ll save Maccas a whole lot of staff costs and save Macca’s customers from being stuck in a drive-thru queue.

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