SPEEDIN' UP FAST FOOD
Area McDonald’s launch mobile order app
Customers at eastern New England McDonald’s restaurants can now use the fast food chain’s mobile application for advance ordering and payment.
The “mobile order and pay” tech is available at McDonald’s east of Worcester in Massachusetts, and in Rhode Island and New Hampshire, a local spokeswoman said.
In the hope of speeding up customer wait times, easing restaurant congestion during peak periods and reducing order errors, McDonald’s started testing the new service in California in March.
Customers use the app to place an order, which is transmitted to the chosen McDonald’s location. When the customer uses the app to “check in” at the restaurant, they must choose whether they want to have a McDonald’s employee bring out their order curbside to a designated parking space, pick up the order inside the restaurant or have it handed to them in the drive-thru line. At that point, the restaurant will start preparing the order and charge the customer’s payment card, spokeswoman Liz Iannotti said.
Customers also can save favorite orders, menu items and restaurant locations on the mobile app for future purchases.
More New England McDonald’s locations will roll out mobile order and pay in the coming weeks, Iannotti said.
“With digital, we see a clear opportunity to provide an even higher level of convenience and personalization for customers on their terms,” McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook said during the company’s most recent earnings call. “To do that, our current priority is mobile order and pay.”
McDonald’s is on track to make mobile order and pay available in 20,000 restaurants worldwide by the end of this year, including its 14,000 U.S. restaurants, according to Easterbrook.
“Whilst we’re in early days, we’re seeing higher average checks, and the curbside pickup is a convenience that customers value and thus, enabling us to grow capacity at peak times,” he said.
The chain will also eventually let customers route their McDonald’s delivery orders through its mobile app to the platforms of UberEATS and other third-party delivery services, according to Easterbrook, who said the option will “further strengthen the experience for the customers.”