They warned us. And the social media went nuts with complaints. But those push-backs apparently fell on deaf ears at ‘corporate’. Head office has announced McDonald’s going to start phasing out self-service fountain drinks later this year…
Life in the Soda Fountain lane is getting complicated for Fast Food servers. McDonald’s is following through on its long-feared campaign to phase out self-serve fountain drinks. The chain says the new ‘Crew Pour System’ is an automated approach that fills drink orders with ‘minimal human contact’. That also means it’s going to make pouring drinks faster and easier for McCrew members. But at the same time, McD’s is adding new cold beverages to its menu that require ‘staff intervention’…
Other benefits
There are other benefits to the new system. Over- and under-pours will (allegedly) be a thing of the past. And customers will get the exact amount of ice they’re supposed to. That means McManagers and franchise operators will be able to keep closer track of their costs to provide fizzy beverages – and their daily sales figures. And frontline staff will tell you – off the record – that there are always customers who’ll abuse the free-refills privilege.
Overall, fountain drinks and coffee constitute the most profitable McMenu items. But McDonald’s operators are probably thinking the new system will allow them to squeeze even more profit out of the ‘beverages’ niche.
Customer drawbacks
At the same time, there are some drawbacks customers see coming which impact them to varying degrees. First and foremost, there’s the question of free refills. The good news it, you’ll still be able to get them. But you’ll have to ask a counter service person to pour them for you.
And that leads into an ever more-vexing issue for some. Lots of McGuests have gotten into the habit of pouting their own ‘custom blends’ at the fountain machine. They love to mix-and-match the var-ious bevs. But they’ll have to say goodbye to that privilege under the new Crew Pour regime. Even if amenable crew members were amenable to mixing, they would probably never get your particular ‘cocktail’ just right.
Broader concerns
I’m sure McDonald’s has broader concerns than the relatively simple dynamics of pouring fountain drinks. We’re into the age of refreshers and ‘dirty sodas’. Not to mention other more complex drinks that are probably already in the pipeline. McDo9nalds recently opened the valve on a selection of new summer refreshers which they claim came out of their short-lived CosMc’s experiment. Those take extra effort and attention from the counter staff. And just I can’t see McDonald’s letting cust-omers mix their own!
So centralize…
Centralizing beverage fountain functions, under the control of the counter staff, makes a lot of sense, especially going forward.
If we disregard the plaints of some customers who, up to now, have been privileged to serve their own sodas, the move to Crew Pour seems like a great, forward-looking idea.
My take
It’s going to happen, whether the custom-blend minority like it or not. And I predict that the move to Crew Pour soda service will not materially affect beverage McSales. There’s that mitigating factor in the mix: Free refills will still be available…
In spite of the social media outcry, I think the change will be better for both McStaff and ‘guests’ in the long run…
~ Maggie J.