July 20, 2004

Outsourcing a Roy-al with Cheese
Posted by dwong@bostonworks.com">Dean Wong at 8:47 AM -

Colorado Springs McDonald's franchisee, Steven T. Bigari, has a new take on the outsourcing trend. To increase customer satisfaction, reduce complaints, speed order delivery, and of course, save money, he developed a system that allows him to consolidate McDonalds customer orders to a central call center.

The way it's described hungry patrons roll up to the drive-thru and order -- but instead of talking to someone inside the restaurant they're talking to someone in the call center some several thousand miles away. A picture of the order is created and returned to a customer viewing screen for confirmation. Then the call center places the order at the local restaurant and the happy hamburger customer gets their chow as quick and accurately as any other transaction.

"I don't know about tech," said Bigari. "I know about people who like to eat hamburgers." And he knows that people who like to eat hamburgers don't like the wait or the mistakes that often occur at drive-throughs, where many restaurants make well over half of their sales. One mishandled order can stall a line of cars, irritating customers and workers alike.

Want to try it? Apparently the McDonalds in Norwood, MA, has outsourced their drive-through ordering.

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