McDonald’s launches new digital initiative to cut down wait times

The brand will use geofencing tech to accurately predict when to prepare an order.

McDonald’s has announced its new digital initiative, Digitizing the Arches, that focuses on enhancing the brand’s operational efficiency.

In a statement, Brian Rice, executive vice president & global chief information officer of McDonald’s, said that central to this is the rollout of Ready on Arrival in key markets. Using geofencing, the system alerts crew when a customer is approaching, allowing orders to be prepared in advance and cutting wait times by up to 50%.

McDonald’s is also expanding Edge, its computing platform developed with Google, to include cloud capabilities. The result will be increased uptime, better food quality, and a smoother experience for both customers and crew.

In addition, McDonald’s is also deploying AI-powered tech through Accuracy Scales. These scales compare the target versus the actual weight of outgoing orders and flag to the crew if anything is missing before the order reaches the customer.

Rice said this has been deployed across thousands of restaurants in their drive thru and delivery channels in a dozen markets, with more markets to follow.

“As a result, Accuracy Scales help ensure meals reach customers exactly as ordered—boosting trust, satisfaction, and operational precision,” Rice said.

Additionally, McDonald’s will also be replacing hundreds of its outdated tools with more modern, scalable platforms. This includes roll-outs of new systems across multiple markets to help teams move faster, make smarter decisions, and focus more time on business insights and operations.

“Across Finance and HR systems alone, we’re retiring hundreds of legacy systems and consolidating into one cloud-based enterprise solution.  This will drive efficiency in our ways of working and drive better integration,” Rice said.