Continually at the forefront of technological change, McDonald’s was named winner of the Best Use of Tech Award at MCA’s Retailers’ Retailer Awards 2023 – for the third time in five years.
But Alison Gillham, vice president, technology and change at McDonald’s UK & Ireland is keen to point out that the fast-food giant is conscious that it doesn’t introduce the latest tech “just for the sake of it”.
“There has to be clear rationale and that usually means answering the question: ‘Will it support our crew to deliver the best possible customer experience?’, she tells MCA.
“For a long time, the biggest challenge has been working out how we most effectively utilise the technology at our disposal in restaurants which were originally designed for just two channels: eat in and drive-thru,” she explains.
“That is why our Convenience of the Future programme is so important as it’s helping us to reimagine the restaurant space – and we’ve tried to design it with future innovations in mind too.”
McDonald’s launched the £250m programme in May last year, that is seeing its restaurants evolve to meet the needs of an omnichannel world.
When launched, the plan was to roll out the new store design to an initial 200 restaurants in 2022, with a further 800 conversions planned over the proceeding four years.
Progress may have been slightly slower than originally envisaged, but McDonald’s has completed more than 160 conversions to date and its ambition is to complete a further 60 by the end of the year.
“It’s a big project but the reaction from our customers, crew and franchisees has been hugely positive,” Gillham says.
Technology has driven the redesign process
The evolution of technology and the way in which its customers are using it has driven the whole project.
The business needs to be able to keep up with their expectations, and to do that it needs to help its restaurant teams service all channels to the high standard its customers expect every time, she explains.
It therefore made sense that staff in the restaurant were a big part of helping McDonald’s to identify the problems it was trying to solve.
“They know the challenges we face in our restaurants better than anyone, so their feedback was crucial in informing the decisions we made around which technology we would deploy.”
One of the key aims of the redesign programme has been to significantly improve the way its kitchens work, using tech to help simplify and streamline processes.
“A good example is how we carefully thought about the ways in which technology could help reduce the cognitive load being placed on our teams. As our business has evolved through the addition of a home delivery service, our crew were faced with the challenge of managing away from restaurant dining experiences.
“With the aid of technology, we introduced a separate screen solely for our delivery channel, and crew can now easily identify delivery orders and fulfil them more effectively,” Gillham explains.
“Another is how we’ve unlocked extra kitchen capacity through more initiation points and a ‘Hub and Spoke’ line which improves kitchen access, allowing our crew to operate more efficiently.”
The programme has also resulted in a separate entrance for couriers to use when collecting orders, which helps to create a more positive experience for them and, in turn, its customers.
Given that what looks good on paper doesn’t always translate to real life, the business went through a rigorous test and learn phase. And that hasn’t stopped now that the programme is being rolled out.
“We’re keeping up increased levels of communication with our restaurant teams on sites that have been completed, so that we can understand what has or hasn’t worked, and then ensuring we have the flexibility to take on those learnings, make changes and use that feedback to further inform future conversions,” she says.
One of the main learnings to come out of the rollout so far, has been the importance of aligning its technology and construction teams as early as possible.
“Having all the different teams that are involved in conversions working collaboratively from day one sets us up for greater success and leads to a better understanding of the needs of each other at every point of the work.”
What does success look like?
As you’d expect, McDonald’s is measuring lots of different performance metrics to gauge the impact the new store design is having on both staff and customer experience and sales. One that stands out most for Gillham is its people’s job satisfaction.
“We’ve heard that our people are genuinely reenergised when coming to work – and as a result we’ve seen a decrease in employee turnover, which in the current climate is incredibly valuable.”
As well as considering how its customers use technology, Gillham notes that as the majority of its restaurant crew are Gen Z, and are used to intuitive technology, it can also cause frustration if the tech it’s asking them to use on a daily basis doesn’t match their expectations. So this was a key consideration when it came to developing the programme, and one that it will continue to consider when making improvements in the future.
In addition to the introduction of new technology within its stores, McDonald’s has also been working to develop its app, with the MyMcDonald’s Rewards programme introduced across the UK in July last year.
The scheme was launched following analysis of the customers that were using its app and enables them to earn points which they can redeem on products – or they can choose to give their points to one of its charity partners as a donation.
“We’re seeing a big uptake in the programme as it’s one of the ways that we can pass on value to our customers, which is more important than ever before,” Gillham adds.
Where next for the tech?
“There are a number of really exciting innovations we’re seeing that I think will be really interesting for our industry over the next year,” she says.
“The two main areas where our focus remains are: what tech do our customers want from us and expect to be able to utilise? And secondly, what innovations will help us deliver hot, fresh food to our customers more quickly?
“It’s also clear that delivery is here to stay and will continue to be an incredibly important channel. We’re excited about the opportunities this presents and how we can become not just the leader in this space but really do it best. And there is no doubt that technology will be a major part of that.”
While all businesses can probably relate to the challenge of keeping up with the relentless pace of change when it comes to technology, Gillham praises the team of innovative thinkers at McDonald’s who constantly monitor the latest innovations and solutions and how they might be used to better service its customers. “This cycle will never stop as we’re continuously evolving.”
