McDonald's gives its restaurants an AI makeover
wsj.com
wsj.com
> [..]
> AI will be able to help McDonald’s tailor its promotions and offers by using customer data such as prior purchasing history, and even linking it with weather data, Rice said. “A customer who we know loves our sweet treats could get an offer through the app for a McFlurry on a hot summer day,” he said.
So the pitch is that McDonald's franchises will use AI-driven deals to entice families who can no longer afford the 40% higher prices.
That link shows both how widespread the idea was, and how shaky the evidence was.
I'm surprised I don't see this mentioned more often. The tech industry feels like a "more obvious than usual" case of déjà vu these past few years.
So maybe a daily coffee at off peak hours if it's within your commute idk
Let me know when AI fixes THAT problem...
The first thing I thought of was the ai minimizing mcflurry machine downtime.
Once it detects who you are, it'll check to see how much money you have and jack up all their prices if they think you can afford it. Get a new job that comes with a 10% raise? Your prices at McD's will all go up by 10%.
It'll algorithmically determine how much money you're willing/able to spend to ensure that you're always forced to hand over the most money they can possibly get from you.
(they will just have high prices, and lower them until less wealthy can buy)
Even if you aren't earning more money the algorithm will constantly be testing you by jacking up prices to see what you'll endure under which circumstances. Screaming kids in the car with you? You'll probably put up with an extra 38.33 cents for those happy meals. Looking tired? A recent death in your family? Do your resent social media posts indicate that under more stress? Enjoy higher and higher prices to stress-eat your comfort foods peasant.
I don't see any of the backlash Wendy's got for this kind of bullshit either.
But the reverse of raising prices beyond menu price depending on who you are will get pitchforks.
https://kioskindustry.org/mcdonalds-kiosk-counterless/
Not sure how much of a trend this is though.
There are also already restaurants that have different prices when you use their app which helps condition you to accept that prices will differ from person to person or even day to day.
You're right that people don't care for discriminatory pricing though. People's objection to the practice is the only thing that's been keeping it from being more widely used already (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41272-019-00224-3)
They stand to make money hand over fist from it though so we're going to see company after company testing it, pushing the boundaries of what we'll accept and normalizing the practice. Without regulations making discriminatory pricing illegal in certain settings, it's basically inevitable that we'll see it more often.
Grocery stores have operated like that since the 1950's. They have higher prices in-store, but if you can't afford those then you clip coupons to save, yes, often 40% or more.
And CVS and other stores already print coupons attached to my receipt that are customized just for me.
Why wouldn't McDonald's do the same thing with coupons/offers in their app?
It's just: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination
It is not hard to know if a machine is broken. There is an entire map dedicated to this, which shows state-wide broken rate as high as 40% for some states.
If you know these machines are broken and they are not being fixed, what use will be to know what machines will break in the future? This is not a technology problem, this is a business and people problem. Another case of companies using AI to garner positive marketing, instead of improving their service and customer's experience.
Sensors on the equipment seems reasonable to me. Predicting failure in advance can avoid downtime or more costly damage. Machines with degrading performance and some underlying issue can also be a food safety issue, if it isn't addressed until they entirely fail.
Was that the story, or was the story that McDonald's was using copyright/DMCA in order to prevent their franchisees from repairing the ice cream machines?
That's a red herring. The actual thing preventing them is the franchise contracts that require all ice cream machine maintenance be performed by a specific company, because McD's corporate knows that otherwise franchisees will cut corners and leave the brand associated with listeria outbreaks.
I am guessing the systems will be used for something like this: https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/25/y-combinator-deletes-posts...
Surveilling employees is a potential use case for AI. It’s not one I’m particularly fond of, and I wouldn’t want to build it, but I know how it could be done at a technical level.
You really think you had some novel map mcdonalds didn't have access to lol
Maybe.
I imagine those EAs will be watching this with interest.
> Depending on how you want to think about it, it was funny or inevitable or symbolic that the robotic takeover did not start at MIT, NASA, Microsoft or Ford. It started at a Burger-G restaurant in Cary, NC on May 17. It seemed like such a simple thing at the time, but May 17 marked a pivotal moment in human history.
> Without vision, robots could not move around or manipulate objects. All of the other hardware was there. Legs and balance systems to allow bipedal motion had been in place for decades. Robotic fingers and hands with very fine motor control were easy to create. AI software to set goals and make decisions was getting more powerful every day. Everything was there but the vision system.
It turns out that dexterity has been much harder than vision.
That has already happened with uber.
By number of locations, the top 5 are: Mixue, McDonalds, Starbucks, Subway, KFC. By revenue (note sorting in that table seems to be sorting strings), the top 5 are: Starbucks, KFC, Burger King, McDonalds, Chick-Fil-A. I'm surprised to see Burger King ahead of McDonalds.
That is not the experience in other countries though, even in the US it is a pretty consistently shitty experience...
But half of relevancy is branding, the other half is delivering. McD has advertising dollars still (also they own other successful franchises such as Chipotle), and in some places in the world it's not crap. It's just another over-priced food chain with some weird marketing attached.
[0] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mcdonalds-once-owned-90-chipo...
For me the tell is their soda. My guilty McDonald's pleasure is their Coke mix. Something about it tastes much better than other restaurants or bottles. Except at some McDonald's where they seem to have the CO2 cranked up too much. I can't even get a consistent soft drink from McDonald's anymore. When I get unsalted fries though... those are basically inedible.
Not sure what you’re implying here, but McDonald’s is still contending for the bottom for price on fast food. Groceries are of course cheaper if that’s what you mean by “real food”, but there aren’t restaurants that really compete with that value meal outside of Taco Bell/Time and maybe Burger King.
No, that's exactly my point. McDonalds isn't all that cheap anymore. There are high-quality fast-casual restaurants and local shops that deliver much better quality food at roughly the same price point. E.g.: it looks like $12 is the current price for a Big Mac meal in my area. But I can think of several places I regularly go for lunch that would offer a handmade sandwich and proper side dish, made with organic ingredients no less, for the same price.
Taco Bell is a staple post gym meal for my son and his friends who are trying to bulk as cheap and easily as possible.
The franchise has to pay fees and offer specific menu items. Small restaurants can outcompete in both price and quality.
The flip side is those places don't normally get enough foot traffic to offer their stuff "near cost", so they bundle it up into serving sizes in the $$ range that can last you a couple days. And they don't have brand marketing on their side... Joe's Diner can equally be a gem in the rough or in dire need of a new cook and a safety inspection...
IKEA does, at least here in Europe. Of course you're not going to find an IKEA on every third block but it you happen to have one around and want some average food a for fairly low (and sometimes very low) price they're a good option. They are also a reliable quality, Swedish meatballs are Swedish meatballs everywhere. A bit like McD, really...
The cost of the Big Mac is certainly approaching sit down places, but that’s the “premium” burger. They have $5 meals now and you can always piecemeal from the value menu for $5-$6 a person.
i’ve also noticed locations in Japan tend to taste a bit better. could be supply chain or something being different. not sure.
> The food quality is trash, and the prices are so high
If these assumptions are true, it makes sense why you wouldn't understand why McDonalds is relevant / successful.
I do not think these assumptions are true. The food quality is fine - it's somewhere between palatable and mildly tasty for most people. If you use their app, the prices are lower than most other places you could get the same number of calories + protein content.
The food is also very consistent. I've surely gone to at least 20 different McDonalds locations in my life all over the USA, and it tastes pretty much the same every time. I can't say the same for most of their competitors.
> If you use their app, the prices are lower
Now, that's an interesting data point. I am very app-resistant. It's definitely possible that regulars aren't paying the prices I am seeing.
> The food is also very consistent.
This is so surprising to read! In my experience, this was true 1-2 decades ago, but no longer. I actually do crave "good McDonalds" on occasion, but it's so hard to come by that I rarely bother. Even in the EU, where McD's has always tried harder, I now see the same deterioration and neglect.
Kids love mcdonalds. Parents like seeing that, and get some relief.
also, as an adult, unhealthy food is sometimes tasty.
My opinion that nobody else has is that Japanese McDonald's is bad and worse than Silicon Valley McDonald's. Too much bread.
What fresh hell is this?
It sounds like McDonald's going back to the way it used to operate.
I knew a guy who used to repair the PDP-11's under the counters that ran each restaurant. He said the #1 failure mode was soda spilled in the machines.
No, they'll just let franchisees fire staff and keep the remainder at the same stress level.
At least snake oil was just placebo.
Crap tier fast food has gotten outrageously expensive. McDonald’s fry prices are up over 40% in 3 years
I just checked the prices at a location in the downtown of one of the five largest American cities:
Quarter pounder with cheese: $4.79
Large fries: $2.39
Total: $7.18Quarter pounder with Cheese: $5.09 Large Fry: $4.29
Total+Tax $10.34
But who actually wants the hassle of having an app for McD, BK, Subway, and other garbage where you're trading your data away, and giving everyday advertising space on your phone, for food that doesn't even taste good for a slight discount.
McDonald's (UK) has a hamburger for £1.19, or even a bacon double cheeseburger for £2.89. A happy meal is £3.89. You could reasonably feed the whole family for £20.
Five Guys (UK) charge £9.95 for their cheapest burger, and £12.25 for the bacon one. It's £4.35 for the cheapest fries and £4.45 for a soda. £20 covers one person's meal.
It's more for people who need or want the convenience.
The "slight discount" usually gets me get a pretty full meal for less than $10 and, on occasion, significantly less than that. Really depends on what specials they're promoting and how frisky I'm feeling.
And just turn off notifications to not get unwanted advertising. Don't really care if they know my food preference data since they would have it anyway if I pay with anything other than cash.
At least on android devices you don't even have the option to disable a ton of access to things like sensors.
That data they collect isn't just about ads either. They'll throw you a deal every once in a while to keep you handing over that data, but they're figuring out how much money you have, when you're most vulnerable to suggestion and least likely to resist, all so that they can adjust their prices just for you in order to make sure you're paying as much as possible.
Plus what the other poster said with the massive data dump you're actually giving them.
But in my experience the only people that dislike Five Guys are just complaining about price or are weirdly into In N Out or some other regional chain rivalry. Neither is actually complaining about the taste of the burger.
I mean, McDs mostly tastes like salt, but I find if you add lots of vegetables via the app options it feels okay.
I checked up on it and it was closed - not even replaced with a shoebox.
Wait...