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Gone are the heady days of cashiers asking if you want your order "supersized."
Not only has the infamous upgrade gone by the wayside, but cashiers at fast-food restaurants are becoming increasingly uncommon. McDonald's started rolling out ordering kiosks at its US locations in 2015, and the chain hasn't looked back since: by 2020, most of its 14,000 locations will have kiosks installed.
Panera Bread has also committed to digital ordering. Admittedly, when I first tried it in 2015, I found it had decidedly dystopian vibes. But it ended up being a fairly pleasant and painless experience.
A recent poll conducted by Business Insider's partner MSN suggests that diners aren't big fans of automated kiosks: 78% of customers said they would be less inclined to go to a restaurant that has automated ordering kiosks.
The popular narrative is that kiosks and mobile ordering are here to take jobs and hours away from underpaid cashiers, ultimately saving companies money in the face of rising labor costs — but the data suggests that isn't true. It may be true for some, but most chains are simply reallocating labor behind the scenes. And with such a tight labor market, many chains are struggling to hire and retain customer-facing employees.
Americans don't seem too threatened by automation in general. Nationally, only 21% of responders to MSN's poll believe their job may one day be done by machines. And restaurants like automated ordering for its increased accuracy and efficiency as more chains look towards cashless options.
But for now, a question remains: are kiosks, in fact, better for customers?
Source: Business Insider
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ledow on Saturday March 31 2018, @10:17PM (13 children)
I know someone who orders Coke without ice at McDonald's. Literally, it's easier to NOT involve a human in that, despite the fact that they have to add the ice.
Plus, it's quicker, easier and I can spend all the time I want browsing without holding up others. And often, it's so quick that I zip past three sets of people trying to decide what to order even though they got there before me.
I have been saying for years that I can't understand why EVERY restaurant isn't already onboard. McDonald's is fast-food, yes, but look... it works.
How much easier would it be to browse a menu of a touchscreen in the middle of the table, find out about allergies (hey, just record that you're gluten-intolerant and it'll refuse to let you order anything with it in!), order drinks the SECOND you sit down (I have spent 20 minutes waiting for the first order, let alone the actual main course order), split the bill, etc. if you just have a touchscreen. Hell, give EVERYONE a screen under their plate (behind heat-proof glass, obviously). Now I don't have to wait for Fred to order that complicated shite he wants, and I can get in two starters instead. And I can pre-order dessert.
There's a place for humans, sure, but the ordering thing is far too prone to error. Even in those stuffy restaurants where the waiters don't write down your order but just memorise it. Have them bring dishes, wipe tables, take away plates, smile and ask it's okay. But take away the 5% of their job that is ordering which takes up 25% of the customers time trying to get their attention, explain what they want, correct it, send it back, etc.
Sure, there are some people who can't manage those things yet. But do you honestly think that in 20 years time there will be LESS people able to do everything they want on a touchscreen, and wanting to do so?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 31 2018, @10:34PM (4 children)
Where is this McDonald's that the employees still prepare the beverages? Soda fountains have been self-serve at fast food around here for decades.
Local Chilis restaurants have had auto-waiters on the tables for a few years now. You can order, pay, etc. or just summon the human with them: weak magic, the human is still slow to appear, as is the food. What they are brilliant at is taking your money and getting your worthless (now that you're not ordering anything else) butt out of the seat so a new customer can come in. The humans still seat you and greet you and strongly imply that they deserve an 18% or higher gratuity for their service, but the little touchscreen thingy is another way to communicate with the kitchen and wait staff instead of having to flag down "your" server.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Saturday March 31 2018, @10:55PM (3 children)
Our McDonalds uses a robot to make sodas. There's no self-serve. I enter what I want in the app, and inside the store, the right size cup drops, a conveyor device rotates the cup to the ice (if desired), drops the ice, then to the right nozzle, the cup is filled, and the employee has the monumental task of slapping a lid on it and putting a straw into the bag.
As far as I'm concerned, they're on exactly the right track.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday April 01 2018, @02:29AM (2 children)
The meme around here in the 1980s was that the cup cost more than the soda, so why not let the customers bloat themselves on sugar water as much as they want when they pay $1.49 for a $0.10 cup, straw and lid? By the 1990s, self-serve soda was pervasive. The few customers who drank large amounts of syrup were completely offset by the reduction in labor cost of having the customers serve themselves. Customer satisfaction also increased quite a bit: free refills when you want them.
Now, there's the drive-thru beverage situation, and when I worked fast food we had a fair number of customers (maybe 2% of the drive-thru traffic) who would order drinks only - seemed pretty insane to me to pay $1.50 for a cup and straw with ice and soda in it when chilled 12oz cans were selling for $0.50 from machines, or $0.25 from the grocery, but... there were regulars who did drive through for drinks only.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Monday April 02 2018, @02:16AM (1 child)
I guess it makes some sense to get your drink that way. The price isn't all that different from a beverage from a convenience store that has fountains, and you don't even have to leave your car.
Also, I haven't seen 12oz cans in machine for $0.50 for a long time now. If you find a machine that sells cans, the going price is $1. Most machines now sell 20oz bottles for $1.50.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday April 02 2018, @03:24AM
Last time I worked fast food was 1985... soda prices have done weird things since then, they're up ~2x in machines and grocery stores, but not as much in restaurants.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday March 31 2018, @10:39PM (6 children)
Great for McDonald's, but every restaurant doesn't serve bog standard dishes and you eat at the same place every day.
I'd hate this to be everywhere. I'd like to ask a question about a meal, have it changed up perhaps. get that dressing on the side, find out if I can have Halibut instead of Cod , get an opinion of A is better than B, decide to share a dish with the wife, or find out how long the house Merlow has been opened.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday March 31 2018, @10:55PM
If you limit that kind of ordering to fast food, "fast casual" (Chipotle, Panera Bread, etc.) and anything under or possibly including "Macaroni Grill" type places, that would probably cover a lot of ground still leave plenty of fancy restaurants you could go to staffed by real humans. Not to mention buffets.
I tried to look for some stats on the size of restaurant industry ($799 billion in 2017?) vs. fast food places, and found these hot trends [npd.com]:
You decide whether they are talking about the restaurant industry as a whole. Previous link says full service restaurant visits declined by 2%, while fast food sales are growing [nrn.com]: "Taco Bell (4 percent), McDonald’s (3.9 percent in the U.S.), Wendy’s (3.2 percent) and Burger King (3 percent)".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by tftp on Saturday March 31 2018, @11:06PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 01 2018, @12:02AM
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you're not going to be able to get that level of service at McDonalds. You'll have to go to Der Wienerschnitzel (and not the drive-thru).
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday April 01 2018, @10:32AM (2 children)
really?
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 01 2018, @05:05PM
definitely classy, must be a midwestern chicago vintage?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday April 02 2018, @12:56AM
Merlin's Muggle brother?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday April 01 2018, @07:16AM
Perhaps you're familiar with "iPad Restaurants"? DuckDuckGo, don't fail me now... you have a choice of many different Point Of Sale vendors [duckduckgo.com].
I patronized one at an airport not long ago because I liked the look of their kitchen, which was right in the middle of the dining area.
Each seat at the counter had its own iPad. The tables just had two, one for each side.
I puzzled over my iPad for a little while when a live human turned up next to me. "Would you like me to help you order?" she professionally inquired. "I think I got it." Then my debit card was declined.
She started to cry.
"It's cool, I have another." That card worked.
Later that night I got a call on my iPhone asking whether I really intended to pay for a restaurant meal in Boston, given that I live in Washington State. I tapped the "1" button on my iToy; after that my card worked fine.
Oddly, my credit union's automated security bot had no problem with my using my business debit card in Boston, given that I live in Washington State.
I ordered the very cheapest item on the menu, but I must say those live humans cooking their live-human hearts out in the middle of the dining area did a fabulous job.
As I sat there I was treated to display advertising on that iPad, one of which is found at every counter seat. (The tables just have two.)
I could select the advertising by tapping buttons, some of which were in color. Some of the ads but not all of them were in color as well. During my meal I learned all about a really high-tech matress vendor. I don't like the matress I have now, perhaps I'll order one of their SKUs.
But if I didn't tap any of the buttons for a while, the ads played on their own.
I'll never patronize a place like that again.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]