Woodsville
The McDonald’s on Route 302 in Woodsville has become the first Golden Arches in the Upper Valley to offer sit-down table service and kiosk ordering for customers.
“It’s what customers want. You change with the times or you die,” Woodsville McDonald’s franchise owner Jim Bartley said on Friday morning at his “store” between the breakfast and lunch rush hours. “Look what happened with Howard Johnson’s. Now they’re all gone.”
McDonald’s, based in Chicago, is spending $32 million in 2018 and 2019 to modernize 40 locations in New Hampshire and $15 million to modernize 15 locations in Vermont. That’s the Twin States’ share of the fast-food giant’s $6 billion program to upgrade most U.S. locations by 2020, the company said.
The Woodsville McDonald’s, one of four in the Twin States that Bartley owns, allows customers to order on a touch-screen kiosk, pick a number card, then grab one of the 30 seats where a server will bring over their Quarter Pounders, McFlurries or McMuffins. Customers still have the option of ordering at the counter, where most, perhaps out of familiarity, nonetheless appeared to be headed on Friday morning to place their orders.
Jeff Lax, the director of operations for Bartley’s franchises, said the kiosks are not meant to eliminate jobs at McDonald’s. In fact, they will lead to a net increase in workers because table service — which is optional — requires more staff.
“Everybody thinks we are doing this to get rid of people,” he said. “But actually we are adding people on.”
Table service requires the creation of three new positions: an “assembler,” who puts the order together, a “table server” who brings the order to the table and a “guest experience lead” (called a “gel” for the initials) to work the lobby and provide “touchbacks” with customers to check if they are satisfied, Lax explained.
If customer traffic is slow, then two of the positions can be handled by a single worker, as everyone is cross-trained.
Bartley, the franchise owner, said the purpose of introducing table service is to increase “in-store” sales — 70 percent of the Woodsville McDonald’s sales are via the drive-thru window. Other franchises operators have found that the changes can boost in-store sales by as much as one-third, Bartley said.
Traditionally seen as an eat-and-run place, McDonald’s now wants customers to hang around and use the free Wi-Fi that hopefully will lead to ordering another item from the menu.
The changes are being driven by chains like Starbucks, Panera Bread and Chipotle, which are challenging McDonald’s with their “fast-casual” brand of service that combine speed with a more traditional cafe or restaurant setting.
John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews.com.
