McDonald’s opened the first mostly robot-run fast food restaurant in December 2022 in Fort Worth, Texas. At this McDonald’s there are no human cashiers, and everything is run by automation and robots. This McDonald’s first became popular from TikTok where one user posted a video about the restaurant. This restaurant is only being tested in the one location now and it is unclear how long the test phase will last.

The restaurant is styled to work as a grab and go place. This means that there is no seating inside and the place is overall smaller than a normal McDonald’s. Customers can either place their order digitally through kiosks or online and pick up their food from conveyor belts and pick-up shelves. Behind the scenes, humans are still making the food, and there are staff nearby to fix any malfunctions or problems that occur with the robots. 

McDonald’s states that this restaurant is a “test and learn” phase and they want to “deliver across five areas: purpose, mission, values, growth pillar and our foundation of running great restaurants.” Keith Vanecek, the franchisee operating the test restaurant, said: “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.”

There are many mixed emotions about this new restaurant. Some customers are concerned about what happens if an item is forgotten as one person said: “If they forget an item, who are you supposed to tell, the robot? It defeats the purpose of using the drive thru if you have to go inside for it.” Other customers are quite happy about this as one person said: “Awesome. No more attitude at the counter.” 

Image Source: The Daily Dot

Sources:

https://www.newsweek.com/first-ever-mcdonalds-served-robots-texas-1769116

https://nypost.com/2022/12/22/first-ever-robot-mcdonalds-delivers-heated-reaction-no-thanks/