McDonald’s will remove general-use beverage machines from all of its restaurants in the United States

McDonald’s fast food chain It began phasing out soft drink vending machines for customer use in its restaurants across the United States.

The company explained in a statement that the purpose of this measure is “to create a consistent experience for both customers and employees at all points of order, whether McDelivery, the app, the kiosk, or Drive-thru Or in the dining room.”

For decades, McDonald’s has allowed customers dining in its dining rooms to fill and refill their drinks for free at stations.

But the pandemic has changed the behavior of consumers who… More and more for eating out, use Drive-thru and home delivery, and they are using the dining rooms less and lesswhich reduces the need to operate and maintain machines.

Report for State journal record Illinois, the chain’s home state where the change has already been implemented, notes that this measure does not mean the end of free drink refills. A local franchise owner told the outlet that refills will remain free because “it’s a big draw for the public.”

According to the interviewees State journal record The elimination of soft drink vending machines also responds to factors including food safety and theft prevention.

The statement came from the company, which is said to have already begun implementing the change in some restaurants not only in Illinois but also in California, a state that accounts for about 9% of all the chain’s restaurants in the United States.

McDonald’s currently has 13,520 restaurants in 4,678 cities across all states.

McDonald’s President Christopher Kempczinski revealed on a second-quarter earnings conference call in July that the company is working on… A new restaurant concept called “CosMc” (pronounced cosmic), which they will begin testing on a limited basis at the beginning of next year..

The new concept takes its name from the bug-eyed space plane character that McDonald’s used in its advertisements between 1986 and 1992.

Although Kempczinski said that “plans for development and innovations in the new format” would be announced at the company’s investor day later in the year, and did not provide any additional information about the concept, some media outlets reported that it would be high-tech, no-frills convenience stores. Dining room.