RT- MCD Kiosks (could use some sound from HSS)McDonald's tests self-ordering kiosks
By Deborah Cohen
CHICAGO, July 9 (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp. <MCD.N> is
testing a system in several markets that lets customers place
their own orders, a move that could eventually become standard.
at many of its restaurants, an executive told Reuters.
The technology, which uses electronic terminals known as
kiosks, lets customers place their orders on a touch screen and
either pick their food up at a separate area or wait to have it
brought to their table.
It is just one of several initiatives the world's largest
fast-food company is taking to attempt to improve service in
the face of stepped up U.S. competition and flagging sales.
McDonald's has been testing variations of the system for
more than year. It will soon have a total of 13 stores in the
Denver, Colorado and Raleigh, North Carolina areas using a form
of the technology. Those stores also give customers the option
of placing orders the old-fashioned way with salespeople.
"It's basically all about choice, about allowing our
customers the opportunity to use McDonald's the way they want
to," Gene Mitchell, a senior director of operations with the
company, told Reuters. "It's all done with pictures. It's very
easy for the customer to use."
Similar to the self check-in systems used by some major
airlines, a customer enters an order on the kiosk, which then
prints a receipt used to claim the food. The machines accept
currency but they don't make change; customers pick that up
when they get their Big Macs and Quarter Pounders.
Eventually, McDonald's will experiment with kiosks that
accept credit and debit cards, Mitchell said. He likened the
kiosk's potential to that of the drive-thru window, which
McDonald's added in the 1970s. Known for quick service,
drive-thrus have become fixtures at many of the company's more
than 13,000 U.S. restaurants.
PLEASING THE CUSTOMER
"Anything that speeds up or simplifies the ordering or
payment process is very positive," said Robert Goldin, a food
industry consultant with market research firm Technomic Inc.
"It is directly what customers are looking for."
McDonald's Chief Executive Jim Cantalupo promised earlier
this year to improve the company's operations and position
McDonald's as a more contemporary company in touch with the
latest trends.
Best known for hamburgers and shakes, the company recently
launched healthful menu initiatives that include improved
salads and choices like milk and fruit in its children's Happy
Meals. On Tuesday, it detailed moves to establish wireless
Internet connections in many of its urban stores.
Only months ago, however, Cantalupo scrapped a
billion-dollar technology project designed to link McDonald's
restaurants worldwide. The company, which reported a quarterly
loss in January, has been under pressure to trim spending.
Mitchell said it's too early to tell whether the new kiosks
will help McDonald's save money. However, he said they do allow
restaurants to increase the amount of orders taken at a given
time, a benefit that could help offset rising labor costs.
"We are able to increase our order capacity, to get the
order done more quickly," Mitchell said. "That allows the crew
people to focus on preparing the food."
Consumers, he said, especially like the test kiosks that
McDonald's has installed in some of its Play Place playgrounds.
Those machines let parents and their kids enter orders and have
them delivered directly to their tables.
He declined to discuss the cost of the system or the
companies that developed the technology. McDonald's will decide
whether or not to roll-out the technology by the end of 2003,
he said.
"We'll then decide what the value is, what the benefits
are, and then we'd make a decision on whether we'll move
forward," Mitchell said.
((Reporting by Deborah Cohen; editing by Michael Miller;
Jul-09-2003 12:00 GMT
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