If they completely eliminate cashiers, that will be a loss for the customer too - no one to answer questions or take a custom order that’s reasonable yet outside the parameters the computer system is aware of.
If they are really smart about it, they'll tie it into an app so you can order ahead or save your favorite orders and just use NFC to load the entire order and tweak anything if necessary. This would not only be nice for the consumer but would provide them with a treasure trove of data on individual customers.
The more annoying thing is that they've moved to a JIT production system at the same time, which means if you just wanted to pick up a cheeseburger in a rush, you end up waiting much longer than you used to.
The people on the JIT production line also tend to completely ignore the customers and tend to just stand around chatting right in front of them waiting for things to arrive, the customers all mill around awkwardly near the serving counter, and all this reinforces the impression you're waiting a lonnnggggggggg time.
It really feels less a fast food restaurant and more like an awkward food restaurant.
Perhaps it's just because I'm British ;)
On the plus, I'm sure it's reduced food waste.
They've done this here in the US with several of the product lines, preparing it once you order it instead of keeping it in a heating unit. It's pretty annoying in the drive-thru unless they are really busy. If there is only a car or two in front of you, guess what... once you pay they're going to have you park and wait a couple of minutes, if there are several cars in front of you though it will usually be ready by the time you get to the second window.
I'm not getting fast food because I want made-from-scratch freshness, I'm getting fast food because I am in a hurry and want something inherently portable.
Macdonalds wants to disassociate itself from the image of fast food and heat lamps for much the same reason that KFC no longer calls itself "Kentucky Fried Chicken."
Since people pick it, I have still had order mistakes but hey, it usually means ordering quickly instead of waiting behind the person who wants to reconfigure the entire menu during their order.
For the most part it's actually a better experience, it's certainly faster. The touch screen kiosks could be more intuitive.
I do hope (assume?) they clean those things several times a day, hygiene rules and such.
It's actually one of the more interesting challenges of beacon (and QR) adoption; most of the obvious/easy to implement use cases are already well supported by GPS
Unnormal orders are much easier and normal orders are quicker.
There's still a cashier if you need one but there's hardly anyone at them, even if there's a queue to use the kiosks.
Ordering form the machine lets me choose English, and while most Finnish people understand English I feel bad when I have to use it.
(I'll be taking another round of language classes in a few months.)