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CNN Live At Daybreak
Faster Food: McDonald's Considers More Automated Kitchens
Aired August 04, 2003 - 06:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little business buzz right now. Word is that McDonald's is hoping to put some truth to the saying fast food.
Let's get the scoop from Carrie Lee live in New York.
I thought it was a fast food restaurant. Now I'm confused.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well I think the idea here, Carol, is faster and more efficient for the company. Really getting high tech in some ways. Let me give you some examples behind the counter.
McDonald's is looking into a machine that takes French fries in an automated way and cooks them and bags them. A machine that takes hamburger patties from the freezer and then grills them so you don't need a person actually flipping burgers or scooping those fries, so very automated in that sense.
And then at the counter, some things could likely change as well. Customers can join quicker moving lines or they are going to try self- service kiosks where people can punch in their orders into a touch- tone screen, touch-tone type of screen, insert your money into a machine and then opt to have the food delivered toward you.
So that you get the idea here, more innovative and fast also a priority, all of these things part of McDonald's big turnaround strategy. They have been trying to implement everything from different food lines, salad lines, really revamp the company because the stock price, among other things, has really been in a slump over the past year or so.
Now if you look at McDonald's stock over the past six months, looks like some of these plans are starting to pay off because shares are up 60 percent. During that time, Carol, the average Dow stock is up less than 20. McDonald's is one of the Dow 30. So certainly looks like it is paying off from an investing point of view so far.
We're not exactly sure when this new system is going to go into effect, but very well could go in at the 13,000 McDonald's restaurants around the country. So we'll keep an eye on this and see when they start to roll it out.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: We appreciate it. Carrie Lee reporting live from New York. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 4, 2003 - 06:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little business buzz right now. Word is that McDonald's is hoping to put some truth to the saying fast food.
Let's get the scoop from Carrie Lee live in New York.
I thought it was a fast food restaurant. Now I'm confused.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well I think the idea here, Carol, is faster and more efficient for the company. Really getting high tech in some ways. Let me give you some examples behind the counter.
McDonald's is looking into a machine that takes French fries in an automated way and cooks them and bags them. A machine that takes hamburger patties from the freezer and then grills them so you don't need a person actually flipping burgers or scooping those fries, so very automated in that sense.
And then at the counter, some things could likely change as well. Customers can join quicker moving lines or they are going to try self- service kiosks where people can punch in their orders into a touch- tone screen, touch-tone type of screen, insert your money into a machine and then opt to have the food delivered toward you.
So that you get the idea here, more innovative and fast also a priority, all of these things part of McDonald's big turnaround strategy. They have been trying to implement everything from different food lines, salad lines, really revamp the company because the stock price, among other things, has really been in a slump over the past year or so.
Now if you look at McDonald's stock over the past six months, looks like some of these plans are starting to pay off because shares are up 60 percent. During that time, Carol, the average Dow stock is up less than 20. McDonald's is one of the Dow 30. So certainly looks like it is paying off from an investing point of view so far.
We're not exactly sure when this new system is going to go into effect, but very well could go in at the 13,000 McDonald's restaurants around the country. So we'll keep an eye on this and see when they start to roll it out.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: We appreciate it. Carrie Lee reporting live from New York. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
