Restaurants

McDonald's delivers AI at the drive-thru

McDonald's is well known for its technology upgrades. From kiosks to drive-thru menus, the fast food giant has always looked for ways to boost the overall customer experience. Now, some McDonald's chains in Sweden are trying out artificial intelligence with its drive-thru digital signage.

Photo: provided

January 22, 2021 by Bradley Cooper — Editor, ATM Marketplace & Food Truck Operator

McDonald's partnered with Visual Art, a digital signage provider and Binary Brains, a software company to craft a solution that both analyze drive-thru data and delivered locally adapted menus based on the customer flow.

Digital Signage Today spoke with Anders Apelgren, CEO at Visual Art and Rickard Berthold, nordic digital commerce lead at McDonald's to learn more about this AI-powered digital signage

Apelgren

Q. Can you explain a little bit about this AI driven solution? What are its main components?

A. Together with McDonald's and Binary Brains we have created a data-driven digital Drive Thru solution with an AI/machine learning algorithm with hypothesis to:

Drive average check — both off-peak and peak hours
Increase add-ons (without adding operational time in the kitchen)
Activate the local data-driven customer meeting with locally adapted menus.

We started the project with creating templates and prepare our digital signage software and CMS Signage Player.

The algorithm was first trained for two months to show the best suitable and relevant offer throughout the day adapted to the local restaurant and its customer flows.

Q. How many McDonald's is this deployed to?

A. Nine restaurants in Sweden attended in the POC which was evaluated with POS-data analysis and Latin square-methodology (an experimental design that removes two blocks at a time during experiments.)

At the moment 15 restaurants are live in Sweden as of today and a total of approx. 40 screens.

Q.How does it boost sales?

A. The algorithm gathers data and trains at the same time and optimizes the content on the menu boards based on the learnings. The mutations with a positive effect on the average check stays and mutates further. Both tests showed an increase on average check and add-ons.

Q. How does it improve the overall drive-thru experience?

A. By analyzing and understanding buying patterns based on local conditions (needs and behaviors) the guests will be shown relevant food & drink suggestions for that specific restaurant, that specific minute/hour/day.

Q. What do you see as the future of AI in drive thru experiences?

A.We believe that a bigger percentage of the menu will be controlled by algorithms and that third party data such as weather and calendar (payday, weekends, feasts etc.) will be added.

This will not only drive average check but also create an overall better guest experience in McDonald's restaurants.

Berthold

Q. Why did you decide to work with Visual Art?

A. Visual Art is a great partner that can identify our guest's needs and creative innovative and business-driven solutions thereafter.

Q. How has it impacted your business?

A. The data-driven digital drive-thru is a way where innovation and technology enables better experiences for our guests on the roads.

About Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace and Food Truck Operator. He was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today. His background is in information technology, advertising, and writing.

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