Would you like fries with that? McDonald’s drive-throughs will start making personalised suggestions
- McDonald’s buys Israeli AI company and will roll out new menu technology to drive-throughs across the US this year, then in international markets
McDonald’s digital drive-through menus will soon recommend items to customers based on the weather, time of day and how busy the store is at the moment, part of a big investment in artificial intelligence (AI) that the fast food giant hopes will create a more personalised experience.
Chicago-based McDonald’s announced Monday that it plans to acquire Dynamic Yield, a company based in New York and Tel Aviv that specialises in decision logic technology. The US$300 million acquisition is McDonald’s largest since the fast food giant bought most of Chipotle 20 years ago, sources close to the company said.
McDonald’s tested Dynamic Yield’s technology in several of its restaurants last year and will roll it out to drive-throughs across the country this year, then in international markets. It also plans to integrate the technology into its mobile ordering app and the self-service kiosks inside stores.
According to Wired magazine, the Dynamic Yield acquisition should not be viewed as the start of a digital transformation at the fast-food giant, but as a catalyst that evolves it.
The algorithms will crunch data as diverse as the weather, time of day, local traffic, nearby events, and historical sales data, both at that specific McDonald’s franchise and around the world.