I don't understand how McDonalds is still relevant outside of food deserts. The food quality is trash, and the prices are so high that you can and should just go elsewhere and buy real food.
McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
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Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#22Edge 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…
I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit. It's going to go 100% failure within 72 hours.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#23I 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.
But Subways, at least here in Australia, are usually empty or almost empty. McDonald's are almost always packed.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#24This is starting to feel like Manna, the Marshall Brain novel: https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
> Depending on how you want to think about it, it was funny or inevitable or symbolic that the robotic takeover did not start at MIT, NASA, Microsoft or Ford. It started at a Burger-G restaurant in Cary, NC on May 17. It seemed like such a simple thing at the time, but May 17 marked a pivotal moment in human history.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#25I don't understand how McDonalds is still relevant outside of food deserts. The food quality is trash, and the prices are so high that you can and should just go elsewhere and buy real food.
Not my experience in the UK. I hate macdonalds and have eaten there three times in 30 years. But it's a cheap place to take a family to eat compared to most other options. I say this as someone whose wife is a keen cook and I know what decent food is... Definitely not defending the food but the price is often right, particularly if you have multiple kids or their friends with them.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#26I don't understand how McDonalds is still relevant outside of food deserts. The food quality is trash, and the prices are so high that you can and should just go elsewhere and buy real food.
Known quantity, especially when I'm travelling I go there because I know that I get kinda consistent quality without having to think.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#27This is starting to feel like Manna, the Marshall Brain novel: https://marshallbrain.com/manna1 > Depending on how you want to think about it, it was funny or inevitable or symbolic that the robotic takeover did not start at MIT, NASA, Microsoft or Ford. It started at a Burger-G restaurant in Cary, NC on May 17. It seemed like such a simple thing at the time, but May 17 marked a pivotal moment in human history.
FYI it's a free novel and worth a quick read.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#28In my area, I can pay about five dollars more and get an equivalent meal from Five Guys. Why would I ever go to McDonald's when I can get a meal that I actually taste good. Especially something that should not be eaten that often.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#29I don't understand how McDonalds is still relevant outside of food deserts. The food quality is trash, and the prices are so high that you can and should just go elsewhere and buy real food.
The fries can be amazing when fresh and hot. One of the most satisfying things in the world is eating a pound of salty fried potatoes after a big day of hiking.
Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
#30I don't understand how McDonalds is still relevant outside of food deserts. The food quality is trash, and the prices are so high that you can and should just go elsewhere and buy real food.
> and the prices are so high that you can and should just go elsewhere and buy real food.
Not sure what you’re implying here, but McDonald’s is still contending for the bottom for price on fast food. Groceries are of course cheaper if that’s what you mean by “real food”, but there aren’t restaurants that really compete with that value meal outside of Taco Bell/Time and maybe Burger King.