McDonald's New Concept Could Make Fast Food Even Faster
McDonald's has stayed a fast food giant by innovating, adopting, and adapting. From its very beginnings in the 1940s when it helped make California the unofficial birthplace of fast food, speed was a big part of how it got where it is. It all began in 1948 when brothers Dick and Mac McDonald came up with their Speedee Service System that streamlined their business. McDonald's looks to be doing it again with a new concept in Los Angeles — the first of its kind in the U.S. — that opened in December 2024.
It's called an "On the Go" location that's focused on digital and drive-thru orders. It's smaller in size than traditional locations and features a drive-thru open 24 hours. It also has lockers for delivery pickups and a separate mobile pick-up window. But what it doesn't have may be as telling: There's no lobby and no indoor seating. With the fast food business always changing, this may be the burger behemoth's next ploy to stay ahead of the competition.
McDonald's is 'On the Go'
McDonald's was slow to embrace the drive-thru window, which was spurred on by the proximity of a U.S. Army base in the 1970s, but since then it's been all-in. The Covid-19 pandemic supercharged the company's adoption of contactless ordering. Since 2020, it has focused on drive-thrus and deliveries via apps such as DoorDash and UberEats. The first "On the Go" McDonald's, owned and operated by Patricia Yoon, is located on Artesia Boulevard in Bellflower, California. "We're the only McDonald's in the U.S. that has digital lockers," Yoon said in an Instagram post. The fast food company has already been using the delivery lockers, which require a digital code to open, in various international markets.
McDonald's isn't the fastest when it comes to drive-thru orders. Taco Bell has been the champ in this category for four years running. With the burger giant dropping from the number one spot as the biggest fast food chain in the world — Chinese bubble tea brand Mixue Bingcheng just ousted them — a new concept might help get them back on top.