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McDonald's to retire self-service soda fountains by 2032

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Re: McDonald's to retire self-service soda fountains by 2032

#21

Post by irjustin »

discardable_dan wrote: post #7

The writing between the lines is that McDonald's is preparing to do away with human order-takers altogether, replacing that role with a food runner that can occasionally take an order but mostly just takes food to people's seats. The ordering will move to digital kiosks and online. And when you do all of that, having the fountain machine on the customer side makes almost no sense.

I'm in Singapore now and all the main fast food brands do this.

There's one or two normal "registers" and like 3-5 touch screens.

Re: McDonald's to retire self-service soda fountains by 2032

#22

Post by spoonjim »

Simulacra wrote: post #15
boomboomsubban wrote: post #13

I wonder what the primary reasoning is. They mention health concerns, theft, and delivery orders but all three seem like fairly weak reasons to justify the increase in labor and the cost of a new cup each time. Also, I don't think I've been in a McDonald's since they've started offering self serve soda. For some reason, when I stopped being interested in the playroom, I completely stopped going inside, even though I…

Cost and Profit. A corporation very rarely, if ever does anything for health reasons.

McDonalds has one of the most extensive food safety programs in the restaurant industry and a sterling track record. McDonalds is perhaps the meal least likely to give you food poisoning of anything in America

Re: McDonald's to retire self-service soda fountains by 2032

#23

Post by 1123581321 »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #13

I wonder what the primary reasoning is. They mention health concerns, theft, and delivery orders but all three seem like fairly weak reasons to justify the increase in labor and the cost of a new cup each time. Also, I don't think I've been in a McDonald's since they've started offering self serve soda. For some reason, when I stopped being interested in the playroom, I completely stopped going inside, even though I…

No need to worry about waste from refills when you don't staff the counter or give any visual indication that refill requests are welcome. That's the current case at any McDonald's remodeled in the last decade.

Re: McDonald's to retire self-service soda fountains by 2032

#24

Post by WJW »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #18
Simulacra wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cost and Profit. A corporation very rarely, if ever does anything for health reasons.

That's a given, though health concerns can drive down profits. I'm wondering specifically, given the increased cost per refill.

Self service (unlimited) refill seems to be mostly a US-only thing btw. I've never seen one in anywhere else. If you want more drinks you have to pay more, which also presumably covers the cost of the extra paper cup.

Re: McDonald's to retire self-service soda fountains by 2032

#25

Post by tshaddox »

discardable_dan wrote: post #7

The writing between the lines is that McDonald's is preparing to do away with human order-takers altogether, replacing that role with a food runner that can occasionally take an order but mostly just takes food to people's seats. The ordering will move to digital kiosks and online. And when you do all of that, having the fountain machine on the customer side makes almost no sense.

I'm not sure how that change would result in self-service soda fountains making any less sense. Surely it would still be cheaper to let the dine-in customer fill their own cup regardless of whether humans take orders. Unless of course McDonald's got rid of dine-in altogether.

Re: McDonald's to retire self-service soda fountains by 2032

#26

Post by paleotrope »

Funny how self serve soda machines have really taken off in the last 5 years or so in most of the newer franchise operations.

I can't help but think they (McDs) are struggling to hire people to keep those stations orderly and frankly the last few times I went into a mcds those stations are all disgusting and disordered.

I would add that all the mcds I've been in recently are actively hostile to the dine in experience now. Cold, dirty, and the furniture is awkward.

Re: McDonald's to retire self-service soda fountains by 2032

#30

Post by gedy »

pests wrote: post #16
discardable_dan wrote: post #7

The writing between the lines is that McDonald's is preparing to do away with human order-takers altogether, replacing that role with a food runner that can occasionally take an order but mostly just takes food to people's seats. The ordering will move to digital kiosks and online. And when you do all of that, having the fountain machine on the customer side makes almost no sense.

A lot of McDonalds around me are already like that. There is no ability to place an order at the counter. They still have a register and menu but all in-store ordering is via the kiosk. The one I visit the most already removed the self-service fountain drink station and you need to ask them for refills.

Their kiosks area pain and confusing to use, and I consider myself a savvy UI type person.
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