Modifying strategy to “inhumane” customer complaints
Generation also prefers friendly face-to-face service
Enhance McDonald’s and Burger King employees
The U.S. fast food industry, which has accelerated “unmanned” by investing millions of dollars in kiosks and mobile orders, is again strengthening its employee’s face-to-face service. It is based on the judgment that it is difficult to hold customers only with fast and convenient digital orders, and there are not a few consumers who want direct communication with kind employees.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 10th (local time), McDonald’s will begin the largest customer service improvement in the company’s history starting next month. Tiffany Boyd, McDonald’s global chief human resources officer, explained why “food and prices are important, but customer experience has become much more important than in the past.”
McDonald’s will educate employees to actively greet customers and greet them even after they finish eating. From the end of this year, retraining will also begin for more than 2 million people, including store employees, headquarters employees, and partners around the world. The store staff will approach customers first to check if there are any inconveniences, and will also increase the proportion of customer service in the evaluation of affiliates.
This is a partial modification of the digitalization strategy that has been being pursued over the past decade. McDonald’s expanded orders for kiosks and mobile apps early in the U.S. fast food industry. Digital orders had the effect of reducing waiting times and increasing customer orders, but they also had side effects. As staff focused on delivery orders and drive-through processing, it became difficult to find staff at store counters, and some customers were unable to speak to staff until food was placed on the counter.
A recent survey conducted by a McDonald’s franchisee group found that customers rated the store experience as “hurried, inhumane and cold.”
In particular, changes have been detected among young people who are familiar with digital orders. According to market research firm Technomick, the proportion of fast food consumers in Generation Z who value friendly face-to-face services is increasing.
Competitors are moving, too. Burger King has stepped up its guidance to place staff at store counters and ensure orders have been processed as required by customers. In the new store, some of the kiosks will be moved to the side of the store to maintain the counter where employees receive orders. Wendy’s is also reviewing whether artificial intelligence (AI), which was test-introduced to drive-through, improves the actual customer experience. Starbucks is also increasing employee training and manpower, improving the store environment, and strengthening face-to-face services.
The industry is not eliminating digital orders. While maintaining the efficiency of kiosks and apps, it is trying to combine “people’s kindness” again by modifying the way it operated that relied too much on technology. “Nothing is more important than the current store experience in deciding on customers’ revisits,” said Boyd, chief human resources officer.
