McDonald's unveils first automated location, social media worried it will cut 'millions' of jobs

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Customers can fully avoid interacting with any humans during their order and pickup

McDonald’s opened its first automated restaurant, with machines handling everything from taking orders to delivering the food – and dividing opinions everywhere. 

"When you step inside the test restaurant concept, you'll notice it's considerably smaller than a traditional McDonald's restaurant in the U.S.," McDonald’s said in a statement. "Why? The features—inside and outside—are geared toward customers who are planning to dine at home or on the go."

The Fort Worth, Texas, location uses technology to minimize human interaction when ordering and picking up food. The restaurant features an "Order Ahead Lane" where customers can receive orders by conveyor belt, Newsweek reported. 

The initiative is part of McDonald’s "Accelerating the Arches" plan, which works to grow and innovate the customer experience, but not everyone is pleased with the direction the restaurant chain has chosen. 

TikTok user @foodiemunster shared a video of their experience, which showed the user going into a small but empty McDonald’s with one kiosk to order food and a conveyor belt that delivers it when ready. 

"Inside the restaurant, there's a delivery pick-up room for couriers to retrieve orders quickly and conveniently," McDonald’s explained in its statement. "There are also kiosks, where customers can place their orders to go, and a pick-up shelf for orders."

"Outside the restaurant, there are several parking spaces dedicated to curbside order pick-up, as well as designated parking spaces for delivery drivers." 

 

 

McDonald's stressed that a restaurant crew will remain to help prepare the orders, and the removal of tasks such as handling the register and delivering food to the front or drive-thru lanes will help improve the team's ability to assemble orders. 

"The technology in this restaurant not only allows us to serve our customers in new, innovative ways, it gives our restaurant team the ability to concentrate more on order speed and accuracy, which makes the experience more enjoyable for everyone," explains Keith Vanecek, the franchisee operating the test restaurant. 

 

"I am immensely proud to have this new restaurant concept serving our customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex."

Social media response indicated people did not universally agree whether this was a positive or negative change: Some people celebrated the innovation as a move towards faster and more accurate orders, but others took a more cynical position and predicted that it would lead to a loss of "millions of jobs." 

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"Honestly, if they go through with this I'll just boycott McDonald's. Their food's mid at best anyway," one user said.  

McDonald’s did not respond to a FOX Business request for comment by time of publication. 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/mcdonalds-unveils-first-automated-location-social-media-worried-will-cut-millions-jobs

 

Maybe they'll get my order right if you take the 15 and 16 year old kids out of the loop and put a robot in charge ... 

So who is the 300 pound customer going to scream at when they leave off the catsup?

I’m all for automation. Someone has to maintain the robots.

9 minutes ago, Tnt4philly said:

I’m all for automation. Someone has to maintain the robots.

Already in the works...

1 minute ago, greenskeeper said:

Already in the works...

That’s still awhile off but will come someday. 

48 minutes ago, Mlodj said:

So who is the customer going to scream at when they leave off the catsup?

 

Who's cooking the food? If it's a human, then the phrase "fully automated" isn't accurate. If there really isn't a human, this is a massive step forward in automation and should be making way bigger headlines. 

10 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

Who's cooking the food? If it's a human, then the phrase "fully automated" isn't accurate. If there really isn't a human, this is a massive step forward in automation and should be making way bigger headlines. 

Looks like the headline is changed, and I see this line in the article:

 

1 hour ago, VaBeach_Eagle said:

McDonald's stressed that a restaurant crew will remain to help prepare the orders, and the removal of tasks such as handling the register and delivering food to the front or drive-thru lanes will help improve the team's ability to assemble orders. 

2 minutes ago, VaBeach_Eagle said:

Looks like the headline is changed, and I see this line in the article:

 

Got it. Yea, makes sense. So not much different from how I order and pick up food at Jimmy John's or Panera. I use the mobile app and then just pick up the bag from the shelf.

Just now, we_gotta_believe said:

Jimmy John's

I've only had that once (around 2016ish), don't really remember much about it. My thought is that they use hard rolls? I could be mistaken on that though. 

7 minutes ago, VaBeach_Eagle said:

I've only had that once (around 2016ish), don't really remember much about it. My thought is that they use hard rolls? I could be mistaken on that though. 

No, they're soft. Sandwiches aren't that great, a notch above subway, but I only get it because they are close and my kids like them. Much prefer Jersey Mike's personally, but it's farther away.

4 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

No, they're soft. Sandwiches aren't that great, a notch above subway, but I only get it because they are close and my kids like them. Much prefer Jersey Mike's personally, but it's farther away.

I like WaWa's Italian, but I'm not a big fan of the hard rolls. 

A robot making me a plant-based burger to eat while my self-driving car takes me through the drive-thru while I’m watching the Eagles play on Mars

5 hours ago, VaBeach_Eagle said:

I like WaWa's Italian, but I'm not a big fan of the hard rolls. 

They used to use Amaroso rolls, the absolute best. 

people still eat that sheet?

58 minutes ago, DEagle7 said:

 

4 hours ago, NCTANK said:

people still eat that sheet?

McDonald’s quarter pounders and chicken sandwiches are great for the price 

6 hours ago, Joe Shades 73 said:

McDonald’s quarter pounders and chicken sandwiches are great for the price 

Wealth challenged status reconfirmed. 

On 12/24/2022 at 2:48 PM, Mlodj said:

So who is the 300 pound customer going to scream at when they leave off the catsup?

And what will they do about people drunk and stoned and cant figure out how to order

On 12/24/2022 at 9:21 PM, Tnt4philly said:

They used to use Amaroso rolls, the absolute best. 

they still do, but they bake them on premises now. 

personally, i like liscio's much better. 

On 12/24/2022 at 2:48 PM, Mlodj said:

So who is the 300 pound customer going to scream at when they leave off the catsup?

It is near the edge, that is why they don't allow workers there.

The ones worried about the job losses are probably the same ones who work those jobs and constantly call off and have nobody to blame but themselves anyway... Besides this was going to be inevitable regardless... I rarely get fast food anymore anyway... I don't miss being asked to pull ahead and wait by the door someone will bring your food out to you...

Kind of the opposite of what they've done here, I'd like to see them open 'special' locations here and there that goes back to how they did things in the 1970's. 

I remember, as a kid, going into McDonald's and seeing 15 or 20 or more employees (I have no idea how many) behind the counter, all busy working. You could see the grill where all the burgers were freshly fried, and the fry drop and all of that. 

I really believe that the food was a lot better back then, than it is now.