McDonald’s is introducing artificial intelligence to its 43,000 restaurants to help identify equipment failures, boost order accuracy and more.
The popular American fast food chain expects that the technology will help it detect when McFlurry ice cream machines or fryers are about to stop functioning, as well as order errors.
‘If we can proactively address those issues before they occur, that’s going to mean smoother operations in the future,’ McDonald’s spokesman Brian Rice told The Wall Street Journal.
The chain in late 2023 connected with Google Cloud to set up edge computing to allow restaurants to process data on-site instead of sending it to the cloud, which could come with connectivity problems.
McDonald’s started incorporating edge computing at some of its US locations last year and is continuing the process. Sensors are being added to kitchen equipment to send data in real-time to edge computing systems that can examine operations and flag maintenance issues early.
The chain is counting on AI to ‘alleviate the stress’.
‘Our restaurants, frankly, can be very stressful,’ said Rice.
‘We have customers at the counter, we have customers at our drive-through, couriers coming in for delivery, delivery at curbside. That’s a lot to deal with for our crew.’
McDonald’s did not disclose how many restaurants already have edge computing and when all will be outfitted with it.
Edge computing will be used to try out voice AI at restaurant drive thrus.
AI will also be used to analyze customers’ purchasing history and send them promotional offers based on factors including the weather.
‘A customer who we know loves our sweet treats could get an offer through the app for a McFlurry on a hot summer day,’ Rice said.
With AI, McDonald’s aims to expand its loyalty program from 175million users to 250million by 2027.
McDonald appears to be the first fast food giant to embrace AI. The move comes as its fourth-quarter sales in restaurants open for at least a year in the US fell 1.4%. In January, McDonald’s announced it was closing more of its spin-off CosMc’s restaurants, while plans were underway to open a couple more elsewhere.
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