Now, McDonald's will use AI to recommend you right meals
What's the story
In a major move, McDonald's has acquired a machine learning start-up to better recommend food items.
The fast-food giant will implement the start-up's AI technology at thousands of drive-thru windows to suggest meals according to a range of factors, including what you are ordering.
This would not just enhance your ordering experience but also boost McD's sales.
Here's more on the AI technology.
Optimization
Meals to be personalized by AI
According to multiple reports, McDonald's has agreed to pay $300 million for the acquisition of Dynamic Yield, a New York-based start-up.
The company specializes in 'personalization and decision logic technology', which McD plans to implement at drive-thru windows and other digital self-serve segments of its business.
It says the technology will optimize its menus, "creating more personalized experiences" for the customers.
Menu curation
McD's system will assess several factors to recommend meals
As the company explained, Dynamic Yield's AI technology will look at different factors, including what time of the day it is, how is the weather and traffic at the restaurant, and sales history, to pick items for your menu.
It will also look at currently trending items and what you're ordering to recommend additional items that you may like to order, Engadget reported.
Information
So, on hot days, you may get Ice Tea
This way, on hot days, you can expect Ice Tea, McFlurry, or other 'chilled items' to be on the menu. And if there's too much traffic at the restaurant, the system may customize the menu with simpler items to make the job easier for workers.
Expansion
McD will take this tech to international markets
The personalization tech has already been tested and is expected to be used at as many as 1,000 McD drive-thru windows in the next three months, Daniel Henry, the Executive VP and Global CIO of McDonald's Corp., told Wired.
From there, the tech will expand to all 14,000 McDonald's restaurants in the US and other 'top international markets' - which may include India.
Integration
Also, it will be integrated with other digital touchpoints
While McDonald's didn't delve into the details, it noted that the meal-recommending AI will also go into its other digital touchpoints.
This means you'll also get AI-backed meal suggestions through McD's mobile app, self-order kiosks in the future.
To note, Henry indicated that the tech may even be combined with license plate recognition to build purchase history-based personalized menus for your car.