While you may have seen a number of McDonald's locations implementing table service over the last few months, the company announced today that it plans to roll out table service to all U.S. restaurants next year, CNBC reports.
The company began testing this model about a year ago, having customers place their orders but rather than queuing up to the side of the registers, taking a seat and having an employee serve the orders. However, it was only tested in roughly 500 locations in cities including New York and Florida.
McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook announced the move today, at an event in New York, according to CNBC. "For the best part of our 60 year we've asked customers to fit around our business model. Now customers are more demanding and we are looking to adapt our business model," he said.
The shift comes at a time when a number of fast food chains are making major changes to win over more customers, from revamping their interiors a-la KFC and Arby's, to updating the brand logo and image completely like Taco Bell. It's also another step to helping the fast-food chain McDonald's compete with fast-casual food chains like Shake Shack, Panera Bread and Sweetgreen.
In the new year, more locations will also install self-serve kiosks where customers can personalize their orders without interacting with a McDonald's employee. McDonald's will also introduce mobile ordering and mobile payment in 2017.