First, McDonald's discontinued its McCafé Bakery. Now, the fast-food giant is putting an end to self-serve drinks.
Over the next 10 years, McDonald's will remove the self-serve beverage stations that have been a staple of their dining rooms since 2004. Customers will have to get their refills from servers at the counter.
"This change is intended to create a consistent experience for both customers and crew across all ordering points, whether that’s McDelivery, the app, kiosk, drive-thru or in-restaurant," the company told FOX Business in a statement.
McDonald's did not comment further when asked about the reasons for the change.
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The company said self-serve soda fountains will be removed from all McDonald's restaurant locations in the U.S. by 2032.
Several restaurants local in Illinois have already made the change, according to the State Journal-Register.
"It’s an evolution towards convenience and (the result of) the growth of digital service," franchise owner Mikel Petro told the newspaper. Petro and his family own and operate 15 McDonald's restaurants in central Illinois.
Local franchise operators pointed to several factors that may have influenced McDonald's decision.
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The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many restaurants to reinvent their operations to minimize human contact, and the new crew-pour system adopted at Illinois restaurants will use automated beverage systems to mechanically fill drink orders, the Journal-Register reported.
Ditching self-serve also limits opportunities for theft, removes clutter from the dining room and allows McDonald's to place a bigger emphasis on having customers served at the table when dining in.
The move comes as fast-food companies embrace new technology to automate tasks and speed up production. Customers demand faster and more convenient service — and restaurants are adapting.
For instance, Chick-fil-A is testing out two new concepts in Atlanta and New York that are geared toward mobile ordering. One concept is a pick-up-only service where customers order and pay online before picking up their food. The other concept uses an elevated kitchen that sends orders to a four-lane mobile order drive-thru underneath.
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Taco Bell began experimenting with a similar format that also involved a four-lane drive-thru and elevated kitchen.
Last summer, Panera tested out its first "Panera To Go" restaurant format, a digital-only bakery-cafe, as it continues to invest in "the digital guest experience" from in-cafe kiosks, rapid pick-up as well as drive-thru pick-up.
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Meanwhile, Wendy's is automating its drive-thru ordering with generative artificial intelligence and also piloting robot delivery. CKE Restaurant Holdings, owner and operator of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, partnered with OpenCity's AI proprietary voice-ordering platform at select restaurants in the U.S.
Fox Business' Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.
