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- McDonald’s recently launched its first "McDonald’s to Go" restaurant in London — a restaurant that has no seating areas and only serves takeout.
- It’s the first new format for a McDonald’s restaurant since the drive-thru.
- The new restaurant replaces cashiers with electronic touchscreens and is completely stripped of decor and furniture.
- I visited the new McDonald’s to see what it was like firsthand.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
As technology becomes more integrated into our everyday lives, businesses are having to rapidly adapt to consumer demand for speed and efficiency.
McDonald’s is no exception.
The fast food chain is reportedly opening a fleet of new restaurants that aim to feed its customers faster by exclusively serving takeout.
The new fleet has been dubbed McDonald’s first new restaurant format since it introduced the drive-thru in the 1970s. Inside the restaurant, orders are placed on touchscreens, and there are no tables, chairs, or decor. The menu is also stripped down to the chain’s staple items like Big Macs, McNuggets, and fries.
I ventured to the first McDonald’s of its kind, located on Fleet Street in the heart of London, to see what it was like.
Here’s what the experience was like.
From the outside of the restaurant, you wouldn’t immediately guess this was a McDonald’s. Only the familiar golden "M" really gives it away. When we got a bit closer, it was clearly marked as a "to-go" version.
Courtesy of Caroline Frost
Walking inside, the first things in sight were the touchscreens along the wall. The interior was otherwise completely featureless — the walls were finished in dull gray, the floor was plain, and it reminded me a bit of walking into an oversize ATM vestibule.
Courtesy of Caroline Frost
The station with straws and napkins was the only other thing in the customers’ space. The customer space of the restaurant is much smaller than that of a regular McDonald’s – roughly the size of a small garage. After ordering at the touchscreens, customers move sideways to the collection point, with the kitchen visible behind.
Courtesy of Caroline Frost
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Caroline Frost)