McDonald's has been a leader in the foodservice industry for half a century. They appear to be taking the lead during the pandemic too. Their Iphone app and ordering system is superb. You have several options to use their app. Many people pay with cash at McDonalds. It is really hard for McDonalds to get user demographics. With their new app, I bet they know absolutely everything about you. Even if that is the case, I am still willing to use it because it is pretty awesome.
You start by going to the app when you are at home or at least not at the restaurant. You can go through the dollar menu section and there are also special online deals that you can take advantage of. They had free medium fries the other day with a dollar purchase.
After you place your order, you chose your payment method but it doesn't actually charge you. It won't charge you until you arrive at the store. Once you are at the restaurant you have three options. You can take you code to the cashier and they will have your food ready shortly. You can go through the driver through and give your code and they will give you your discounts and have your food ready at the second window.
Then there is my favorite. You can also tell the restaurant that you have arrived using the app and then tell the store what parking space you are at. In about 5 minutes one of the employees will bring the food out to your car. This is a really great option when the drive through line is long and you don't want to go inside the store because of Covid or just because its cold outside.
Times are changing and restaurants are going to need to adapt to the changing food culture. The restaurants that master pickup and delivery will be well prepared to handle anything that hits the industry in the future.
As manufacturers of restaurant furniture and restaurant enthusiasts, it is very important that restaurants are able to serve indoors. Until they can, I think a lot of places can learn a valuable lesson from companies like McDonalds and Dominos Pizza.