31–40 of 68 posts
I used to work for McDonald's Corp., I was told by some one in operations that the rationale for self-service drink station was that customers actually used more ice than the actual soft drink and was as a result more profitable over time/scale.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Also, there's the cafes at IKEA, which have free refills in all countries, AFAIK?
Didn't Dean Kamen invent those to get funding to make water purifiers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Freestyle
"The Freestyle's beverage dispensing technology was designed by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, in return for Coca-Cola distributing his Slingshot water purification system."
I'm not sure how much human intervention it required. A human had to place the lids on the filled cups. I didn't see if it had a hopper to drop empty cups into the filling area, or if humans had to do that part.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
This is mostly due to understaffed (cough underpaid staff at) locations needing to help in the kitchen so often that having a cashier only increases frustration for customers that are waiting in line and don’t see it moving. Easier to place a sign saying “order at kiosk” to make sure the kitchen has enough staff to keep up.
One such time was at a Taco Bell, and I was trying to go inside because I saw that the drive-through line was massive. There was a hastily-drawn note on the door that said "go to drive-through for online pickup orders," which I thought would be pretty frustrating if you had ordered ahead! (Not that I blame any of the workers, of course.)
I used to work for McDonald's Corp., I was told by some one in operations that the rationale for self-service drink station was that customers actually used more ice than the actual soft drink and was as a result more profitable over time/scale.
Which is of course why you can fill a cup in 1 second, but takes several seconds to fill with a drink. Also the ice comes out forcefully enough that you have to do the ice first if you don't want to make a mess.
If the soda water was dispensed faster it would bubble over even more so then now.
And the same exact dispensers are used behind the counter. Why would you hamstring your employees the same way.
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…
I used to work for McDonald's Corp., I was told by some one in operations that the rationale for self-service drink station was that customers actually used more ice than the actual soft drink and was as a result more profitable over time/scale.
A Chick-fil-a near me recently remodeled and moved to a dine-in model where you don’t order at a counter- you sit down and someone comes to take your order on a tablet. I suspect we’re 5-10 years out from McD and others trying to incentivize tipping for order takers, and eliminating dine-in from some locations entirely. McD fries just aren’t the same when delivered!
Pro tip: reheat them in an air fryer.
This article made me grieve the loss of my precious chicken selects. Damn those were good. And my angus third-pounder with red onions.
I noticed it mentioned that in the article. Did those get discontinued in the US? They're definitely still a thing in the UK, along with the McPlant (which I'm not sure was ever successful stateside). It's interesting how the menu differs geographically.