QUICK SERVE ACCELERATION FOR INTERNATIONAL FOOD & BEVERAGE
Spending time working and traveling in Europe, it’s invariable that there would be new insights that might be still unseen in stateside venues. As the food experience in quick serve restaurants becomes increasingly accelerated — McDonald’s, for example, setting the pace in cutting seconds off the service timing and the link to digital organization of offerings — the idea of integrating procession and the sequence of how a person experiences the movement from entry to purchasing becomes a continuing evolution of the choreography of purchase. Speed counts. But can that experience be built in a manner that supports the brand? Earlier in 2011, there was an announcement about a Europe wide implementation of a digital menu and purchasing system.
There might be concerns about the idea further speeding the pace of how people get food. Faster, please: 50 seconds or less? But McDonald’s is specific to speed, as well as any restaurant that’s designed to focus on the quick serve conception. McDonald’s lies at the foundation and is the top provider of that premise. Fast food isn’t new, indeed the concept of American faster food is an old premise — June 9, 1912, the Automat.
But the question might be, is there a point to the idea that quick serve could utilize digital presentations to enhance the brand story, rather than only serving the notion of acceleration of content? In exploring the proposition in Europe, here — Barcelona, there’s an attractive mix between the smooth and sophisticated designs of a new interiors premise and the digital ordering and gathering of foods. Here, the design of the actual ordering UX tools are synced to the bigger picture. Studying users, watching the impressions and movements, examining traffic — the guest gets it and moves either to in-store or out of house.
The entry impressions to the food line:
Interior design graphical storytelling:
The ordering stations:
The movement to counter:
The “Easy Order “Pick Up Line
The McCafé Egress to the street
Girvin’s been exposed to the innovation labs of brands at Yum!nternational and McDonald’s design strategists in earlier branding sessions, discussion forums and conferences. The idea of evolving content, shifting to new ways of connecting to resources will rely on the following alignments. Resonance, relevance, relationships.
Resonance — the brand is “sounding right” to guests, the interior shifts uplift the experience but still hold to the fundamental premises of the nature of the brand. If the foundation is speed, then the core tenets have to be held — materiality suggests “fast” — but that doesn’t discount, for example, upgrades in overall temperament. See, for example, McDonald’s new prototyping — sociality, materiality, functionality are moved to the next tier in brand storytelling.
Photograph Courtesy of McDonald’s NDG Australia
Relevance — the brand is founded on the core principles of its promise; it’s a story that’s relatable; it can be carried from one consumer to another. It’s not a push, alone; there is consumer pulling power — guests have been listened to; and the movement makes holistic sense. Propositions that deeply thought through and tested will resound with consumers and deliver results. One story will become another — shared by many.
Relationships — to the idea of digital menu development, motion-based menu-boards and holistic experience alignments, one strong potential lies in data gathering; community can be engaged and studied, messaging can be explored from UX at the ordering station to receipting and packaging message containments.
Core strategy is integration — seamless sensate experience management. If you’re saying one thing, the most important distinction to TIM | BARCELONA
…..
GIRVIN | IMAGINATION +
EXPERIENCE = PLACE
DESIGNING ENVIRONMENTS:
PLACES | RETAIL | RESTAURANTS
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