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McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

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Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#91

Post by qingcharles »

Yeul wrote: post #71
lelandfe wrote: post #8

> 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…

In my country even a big mac is 5 euro. I think if you're struggling cooking pasta would be a more efficient meal.

Weirdly, when I was broke and jobless, living off the deals from McDonald's was pretty decent. I could normally get a free fries or sandwich practically every day on the app.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#92

Post by mateo411 »

qingcharles wrote: post #91
Yeul wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my country even a big mac is 5 euro. I think if you're struggling cooking pasta would be a more efficient meal.

Weirdly, when I was broke and jobless, living off the deals from McDonald's was pretty decent. I could normally get a free fries or sandwich practically every day on the app.

The app gives pretty good discounts. It's pretty easy to save about 20% using the app for an order. I think the rewards is also about 10-15%. If you are going to go to a Quick Stop Restaurant, it's generally a good idea to use the app.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#93

Post by [deleted] »

mc32 wrote: post #20
acdha wrote: post #10

Earlier 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.

As if... they can even keep the softserve icecream machines running reliably!

[deleted]

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#94

Post by tstrimple »

yk wrote: post #26
anon373839 wrote: post #21

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.

Known quantity, especially when I'm travelling I go there because I know that I get kinda consistent quality without having to think.

I wish this was still the case, but in my experience the differences between individual fast food joints is enormous. We've got one Taco Bell in town for example which is known to take 10+ minutes per car and they constantly screw up orders. This usually shows up as a 1 star fast food restaurant rather than the more common 2-3 stars on review sites.

For me the tell is their soda. My guilty McDonald's pleasure is their Coke mix. Something about it tastes much better than other restaurants or bottles. Except at some McDonald's where they seem to have the CO2 cranked up too much. I can't even get a consistent soft drink from McDonald's anymore. When I get unsalted fries though... those are basically inedible.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#95

Post by tstrimple »

anon373839 wrote: post #47
kortilla wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> Not sure what you’re implying here, but McDonald’s is still contending for the bottom for price on fast food. No, that's exactly my point. McDonalds isn't all that cheap anymore. There are high-quality fast-casual restaurants and local shops that deliver much better quality food at roughly the same price point. E.g.: it looks like $12 is the current price for a Big Mac meal in my area. But I can think of several pl…

I think this is true of the normal menu items, but I still see the value meal as a decent deal. McChicken, small fries, 4 piece nugget and small drink for $5. Similar to Taco Bell where the normal meals aren't that cost effective anymore, but if you pick and choose the value items you can get a ton of food for little money.

Taco Bell is a staple post gym meal for my son and his friends who are trying to bulk as cheap and easily as possible.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#96

Post by crooked-v »

ccnjfkggkkcj wrote: post #87
crooked-v wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Isn't that Apple's argument for not allowing you to get your battery replaced by a 3rd party, because customers might buy a cheap off brand battery and it could cause their phone to catch fire?

Yes. The difference is that, unlike possible phone fires, we know franchises will cause listeria outbreaks if left to their own devices because they have done so. It was a whole thing in the 90s and the obvious reason why McD's implemented the current policy in the first place.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#97

Post by k12sosse »

nedrylandJP wrote: post #22
Ukv wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is how the F-35 works.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#98

Post by crazygringo »

lelandfe wrote: post #8

> 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…

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Grocery stores have operated like that since the 1950's. They have higher prices in-store, but if you can't afford those then you clip coupons to save, yes, often 40% or more.

And CVS and other stores already print coupons attached to my receipt that are customized just for me.

Why wouldn't McDonald's do the same thing with coupons/offers in their app?

It's just: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#99

Post by AngryData »

Larrikin wrote: post #28

In 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.

That is great, assuming you have that extra $5 to spare for a meal you are already paying extra for over cooking it yourself.

Re: McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover

#100

Post by m463 »

autoexec wrote: post #83
lelandfe wrote: post #8

> 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…

This isn't really about giving anyone a deal Once it detects who you are, it'll check to see how much money you have and jack up all their prices if they think you can afford it. Get a new job that comes with a 10% raise? Your prices at McD's will all go up by 10%. It'll algorithmically determine how much money you're willing/able to spend to ensure that you're always forced to hand over the most money they can possi…

Come on, they won't raise prices if you have more money.

(they will just have high prices, and lower them until less wealthy can buy)

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