McDonald’s customers in 15 UK counties will order food at their local restaurant differently as the fast food chain trials a new system. McDonald’s is known for making changes and going with the times. In recent years, the iconic fast food restaurant became available to order via apps like Uber Eats, so people could get it delivered to their homes. It also launched an app where customers can claim rewards for ordering from the chain regularly.
One of its most recent initiatives is being trialled across certain regions of the UK to see if it would work as part of a nationwide rollout. Customers in certain English counties who use the McDonald’s app will have the chance to order their food differently. People may have noticed a new feature in the app, which allows them to order ahead, before they visit the restaurant. This new trial system will determine if it is efficient, and if loyal McDonald’s diners actually save time when getting their food.
However, the feature isn’t available for all UK McDonald’s customers. It is being trialled in the Home Counties, the South East of England, the East of England, and Greater London. That means that the option to order ahead via the McDonald’s app is currently available in:
- Greater London
- Berskhire
- Buckinghamshire
- Essex
- East Sussex
- West Sussex
- Hertfordshire
- Kent
- Surrey
- Isle of Wight
- Norfolk
- Suffolk
- Oxfordshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Bedfordshire
There are more than 1,400 McDonald’s restaurants across the UK. The American fast food chain, which started in 1940 in California, opened its first UK restaurant in London in 1974.
To use the app feature, McDonald’s customers will have to allow the app to use their location data. You place your order on the app before leaving your home and pay for it there and then.
That means that you will simply walk into your local McDonald’s with an order number and pick it up. Staff at the restaurant are alerted when your phone enters a certain boundary, so they will know when to have your food ready.
The chain said that your food will start cooking when you are about three minutes away, to make sure it is fresh when you pick it up.