Having it your way will become even more personalized. Future visits to the drive-thru at Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons—all owned by Restaurant Brands International (RBI)—will feature an upgraded ordering video board.
A predictive buying system will use past orders, weather, and seasonal specials to suggest a customer’s menu choices. Contactless payment options will be available as well. This upgrade to RBI’s drive-thru lanes follows McDonalds’ purchase last year of Dynamic Yield, a machine learning tech firm that aims to improve the drive-thru customer interface and boost sales.
Quick service restaurants (QSRs) are seeing most sales coming via the drive-thru during the pandemic, and that’s why they are investing heavily in this technology. Digital ordering and drive-thru pickup will continue to grow as part of consumer’s buying behavior well after Covid-19.
The following excerpt from a Radio.com article reports more on the topic:
The future has arrived at Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Horton. Restaurant Brands International, which owns all three chains, has announced plans to upgrade drive-thrus at over 10,000 restaurants across the United States and Canada that will make your experience faster, and in some cases, may even predict what you want, reported CNN.
The modernized system involves installing over 40,000 digital drive-thru screens with “predictive selling” technology that can suggest items based on previous orders, trending promotions, time of day and local weather. Forecast calls for a Double Whopper with cheese!
“Our guests have sought out our drive-thru lanes for our iconic food and beverages throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — even in the face of mandated dining room closures around the world,” Jose Cil, CEO of RBI, said in a statement, according to the NY Daily News.
Overview by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group
