HAPPIER MEAL? MCDONALD’S BRANCH OFFERS TABLE SERVICE

The Mottram restaurant is the first in the country to trial new service where customers pay at their table

AMCDONALD’S is making meals even happier after becoming the first branch in the country to introduce table service.

The Mottram Junction branch, on Stockport Road, has self-service kiosks up and running, where diners can order their food without having to queue.

But managers at the franchise plan to go one step further and will have staff out on the restaurant floor taking orders from customers on iPads - just like attendants at the Apple Store.

Under plans at the hitech fast food joint, customers would be able to pay for their meals at the table using contactless payments.

David Kochanski, assistant manager, said the current self-service scheme has been a resounding success since its launch three months ago.

He said: “People can walk into the restaurant, pick a zone and go and sit there, and our managers will bring their order to the table.

“They bring condiments over and make sure they are okay. It’s going extremely well and getting really positive feedback.

“It makes McDonald’s more like a restaurant, 100 per cent.

“We get families in, like a mother with three young kids – before she would have had to queue, now she can sit down and relax. We’ll bring the kids balloons, colouring pads and crayons.”

Currently customers at the Tameside store are able to pick a zone to sit in and pay for their food at the machine, before sitting down to relax. Staff will then bring their food to them at their table.

The store is soon to start

McDonald’s in Mottram is the first in the country to trial table service trialling the next phase of the scheme, in which customers will be able to order from staff with tablets.

David added: “They will just be able to sit down at a table and we’ll process the order through a tablet, so it’s even easier.”

The scheme is being trialled at the Mottram branch, before bosses decide whether to take it nationwide.

Table service has already been tested in restaurants in France, Germany, Switzerland and Australia, and may help McDonald’s fend off competition from other fastfood chains and upmarket burger restaurants.

Californian tech giant Apple famously dropped the routine use of counters across its stores, with staff taking orders using their mobile devices.