McDonald’s restaurants in some of the world’s biggest markets, including Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, suffered a system failure on Friday, with many stores temporarily accepting cash only or closing permanently. was forced to.
McDonald’s did not disclose the extent of the power outage, but as of Friday afternoon, 12 hours after the power outage was first reported, its San Antonio, Texas, franchise was no longer accepting orders through its app or accepting cash.
McDonald’s said in a statement that the outage was caused by an anonymous third-party provider during a “configuration change.” Asked for comment, McDonald’s referred to that statement. McDonald’s Japan said on Saturday that all restaurants and delivery services are operating as usual and apologized for the inconvenience.
The burger giant warned, at least Wall Street, that something like this could happen.
“We are increasingly reliant on technology systems,” the company’s lawyers said in an annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 22. “Failures or disruptions to these systems could materially impact our or our franchisees’ operations or our customers’ experience and perception.”
The filing also warns about AI, stating that “the artificial intelligence tools we incorporate into certain aspects of restaurant operations may not create the intended efficiencies and may impact our results of operations. There is.”
But Friday’s massive power outage is unlikely to deviate from McDonald’s long-term strategy of relying more on technology.
McDonald’s wants more customers to order through digital means such as apps and kiosks, which already account for a third of sales in top markets in 2022.
In December, McDonald’s announced a partnership with Google to move its restaurant computer systems to the cloud. In the cloud, global data allows McDonald’s generative AI systems to “better understand the widest range of patterns and nuances,” as McDonald’s said at the time. That would be “warmer, fresher food.”
Generative AI is already powering much of restaurant operations and personalized sales pitches created from customers’ internal profiles.
It’s not just McDonald’s. Technology is the immediate strategy of almost all major fast food chains.
In 2019, Starbucks announced its own in-house AI platform called Deep Brew, which CEO Kevin Johnson said at the time would further improve personalized offers, store staffing and inventory management. He said he was deaf.
“In the next 10 years, we want to be as good at AI as the big tech companies,” Johnson reportedly said at a 2020 retail conference. retail dive, industry publications. Starbucks hired a former McDonald’s executive in 2022 to oversee its use of technology.
The risks posed by this new technology do not only arise from system outages.
Wendy’s faced a public backlash after its CEO said during a mid-February earnings call that the company would soon use “dynamic pricing” on its digital signage, which also predates the information age. is a technology that was impossible.
The chain later clarified that it did not intend to use digital billboards to implement “surge pricing,” which would allow it to charge higher prices during busy times. Wendy’s said the CEO’s comments were more in reference to plans to offer discounts to customers during busier times of the day.
Reuters