> "Technology solutions will alleviate the stress."
No, they'll just let franchisees fire staff and keep the remainder at the same stress level.
McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
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Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#12Edge computing will enable applications like predicting when kitchen equipment—such as fryers and its notorious McFlurry ice cream machines—is likely to break down, Rice said. It is not hard to know if a machine is broken. There is an entire map dedicated to this, which shows state-wide broken rate as high as 40% for some states. https://mcbroken.com/ If you know these machines are broken and they are not being fixed…
To be fair, up until recently copyright/DMCA prevented them from repairing the ice cream machines - I'd give it some time to see if things start to improve. Other kitchen equipment does seem to generally be fixed/replaced promptly enough to not typically cause major impact. Sensors on the equipment seems reasonable to me. Predicting failure in advance can avoid downtime or more costly damage. Machines with degrading…
> To be fair, up until recently copyright/DMCA prevented them from repairing the ice cream machines
Was that the story, or was the story that McDonald's was using copyright/DMCA in order to prevent their franchisees from repairing the ice cream machines?
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#13Edge computing will enable applications like predicting when kitchen equipment—such as fryers and its notorious McFlurry ice cream machines—is likely to break down, Rice said. It is not hard to know if a machine is broken. There is an entire map dedicated to this, which shows state-wide broken rate as high as 40% for some states. https://mcbroken.com/ If you know these machines are broken and they are not being fixed…
To be fair, up until recently copyright/DMCA prevented them from repairing the ice cream machines - I'd give it some time to see if things start to improve. Other kitchen equipment does seem to generally be fixed/replaced promptly enough to not typically cause major impact. Sensors on the equipment seems reasonable to me. Predicting failure in advance can avoid downtime or more costly damage. Machines with degrading…
> up until recently copyright/DMCA prevented them from repairing the ice cream machines
That's a red herring. The actual thing preventing them is the franchise contracts that require all ice cream machine maintenance be performed by a specific company, because McD's corporate knows that otherwise franchisees will cut corners and leave the brand associated with listeria outbreaks.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#14> McDonald’s consumers remain pressured, particularly low-income diners and families. The restaurant is hoping that a better tech-enabled experience will help it deliver on its goal of growing its loyalty patrons from 175 million to 250 million by 2027 > [..] > AI will be able to help McDonald’s tailor its promotions and offers by using customer data such as prior purchasing history, and even linking it with weather…
I’m also trying to figure out how AI is revolutionizing the business by selling cold treats on a hot day when people did that in the analog era. That seems like it would be a lot more compelling if it found some non-obvious connections.
I mean we've been doing large scale business data analytics and micro targeting for a very long time. But this is just ... Boring.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#15I thought the recent news that McDonald's is no longer the largest fast food chain on the planet by number of locations was more interesting. Dethroned by a China's Mixue bubble tea franchise.
They haven’t been for a long time. Subway has a lot more locations than McDonald’s does.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#16I thought the recent news that McDonald's is no longer the largest fast food chain on the planet by number of locations was more interesting. Dethroned by a China's Mixue bubble tea franchise.
Most Mixue locations are tiny takeaway kiosks though.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#17Ai will detect the shake machine breaking a full 20 minutes before it comes to pass. Civilization saved.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m also trying to figure out how AI is revolutionizing the business by selling cold treats on a hot day when people did that in the analog era. That seems like it would be a lot more compelling if it found some non-obvious connections.
I mean we've been doing large scale business data analytics and micro targeting for a very long time. But this is just ... Boring.
Exactly - the exact same pitch would have been used with “big data” in the 2010s, and probably something about OLAP a decade before that. It was weird seeing that example without even attempting to explain what makes it AI other than, presumably, giving Gartner a lot more money.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#19> "Technology solutions will alleviate the stress." No, they'll just let franchisees fire staff and keep the remainder at the same stress level.
Isn't that an improvement? Normally firing staff would raise stress levels of the survivors, but in this case, the surviving staff remains at the same stress despite the decrease in headcount. Inevitably, it could just be two people at a location.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#20> McDonald’s consumers remain pressured, particularly low-income diners and families. The restaurant is hoping that a better tech-enabled experience will help it deliver on its goal of growing its loyalty patrons from 175 million to 250 million by 2027 > [..] > AI will be able to help McDonald’s tailor its promotions and offers by using customer data such as prior purchasing history, and even linking it with weather…
I’m also trying to figure out how AI is revolutionizing the business by selling cold treats on a hot day when people did that in the analog era. That seems like it would be a lot more compelling if it found some non-obvious connections.
As if... they can even keep the softserve icecream machines running reliably!