A conscious investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is paying swift dividends at McDonald’s drive-thru windows.

Last month, the company reported average drive-thru wait times had dropped 20 seconds for the most recent quarter, following on from a 15 second decrease in June.

With average wait times blowing out to almost five minutes earlier this year, executives identified a more streamlined drive-thru process as an urgent priority. Predictive modelling indicates out-of-restaurant dining will continue to boom for the fast food industry, be it delivery or drive-thru.

Encouraging franchisees to simplify their menus and build additional lanes has helped to reduce wait times in the short term.

However, McDonald’s expects more fundamental change to be achieved from its investment in new menu technology based on AI.

The multi-national fast food conglomerate recently engaged two new tech start-ups to help boost its drive-thru business. The technology they supplied allows menus to adjust automatically, and issues upsell requests based on the customer’s order.

In an increasingly time poor world that’s fixated upon convenience, franchisees would be wise to investigate the cost/benefit analysis of investing in measures to hasten more vehicles through their drive-thru lanes.

Enterprise Finance has worked with McDonald’s franchisees for 40 years to deliver the best financial solutions to help grow their businesses. A member of our dedicated team would be delighted to speak with you today about these exciting technological opportunities.