I wrote a post about 5 years ago when a famous fast food chain started to change its ordering process. I copied it at the end as reference.
if you could recall, long time back, the counter staff took the order and collected the food items ordered for the same customer before he or she took the order from the next customer. Things has changed a lot since then..
one major change now is that food order kiosk replace the staff.. But that does not improve customer experience:
- kiosk – slow response, confusing menu..
- longer time between order and collection –
- staffs are dedicated to one tasks – preparing food, preparing drink, fulfill order, take order – yes, for those who could not pay at kiosk
- but it always seems that I have to wait for long time, even my order is quite simple, one set meal or just one cup of coffee…
what are the motivation for such change?
- reduce manpower cost?
- improve efficiency ?
but will these improve customer experience or address customer need?
”
A typical expectation when you walk into a fast food restaurant is to get something to feed your stomach with relatively not expensive food and within short period of time. if there is long queue of customers, probably you will blame your own luck.
however, it could be due to the fact that there something interesting happen behind the counter. Just like this morning, when I walked into a famous fast food chain, I thought I was lucky as there are just a few persons waiting in a queue. When I was queuing, I noticed that the serving procedure was quite interesting.
First, the customer was not served one by one. the staff behind the cash register took orders from roughly 3 customers in one go before he/she start to fulfil the orders. The orders were showed in the screens in the kitchen as well. the backend staffs watched screen and prepared food/drink. Looks good?
however, it was clear that the staff did not know exactly who ordered what exactly, once the food was ready and brought to counter, staff had to check the orders (at least 3) and find out who should get coffee and who should get egg burger..
And if you have ordered multiple meals, it seemed to be worse as the order was not cleared in the screen. it happened quite often that staff had no idea whether certain items had been served by his/her colleagues or not..
was this really save time and improve customer experience? I doubt. “
