Inside Preston's newest McDonalds

Lancashire Post

Digital reporter Aimee Seddon offers a video tour of the new McDelivery site in Preston and speaks to the staff in charge of its operation...

Transcript

00:00 Hi, I'm digital reporter Amy Seddon and today I'm visiting Preston's newest McDonald's.

00:07 Located on Chain Callway, it's not like McDonald's as you know it because this one is delivery

00:11 only. Because you guys, the hungry customers, can't take a look inside, I've been invited

00:17 down instead to show you what happens behind the scenes. It's fairly cold today so I'm

00:22 excited to go in. Let's go!

00:26 I couldn't find the McDelivery address on Google Maps so it's safe to say when I saw

00:30 the famous golden arches I felt relieved. But as you can tell straight away, the McDelivery

00:38 is not at all like a normal McDonald's store. Instead it looks like a regular warehouse

00:43 on a very industrial street and not exactly inviting to customers.

00:49 This is the McDelivery site at a closer look. Again, warehousing with a massive metal gate.

01:01 It's a different type of experience because we're encouraging our delivery couriers and

01:18 partners and making it more of an environment for them to come in and feel welcomed. Sometimes

01:23 when they visit our restaurants they feel a little bit in the way of our customers,

01:30 they feel in the way when families are trying to dine and have an experience with us. So

01:35 it gives them a great opportunity to come to this store, come and collect their deliveries

01:40 and then deliver them to our customers.

01:43 So you're getting to know delivery drivers more?

01:45 Yeah, it's about building a partnership and a relationship up with our drivers and making

01:50 sure that they feel welcome in the restaurant and not a burden really when they come to

01:54 us.

01:55 Has it had any effect yet on your scores on Just Eat and whatnot?

01:59 Yeah, so previously on the platform we were struggling to be above three stars on average

02:06 across Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber. But since we've opened this restaurant we've managed

02:11 to get our reviews above four. Our customers are telling us that the experience from the

02:16 delivery kitchen is better, more accurate and they're getting their orders quicker.

02:20 So for us it's win-win.

02:27 It's nice to be able to focus on the delivery drivers and the customers that we don't see

02:32 face to face. I know in a lot of the other stores they can be quite busy and the drivers

02:37 might feel like they get pushed to the side. But here it's nice because even the drivers

02:40 come in and say to us, "Oh, it's brilliant. The customers are getting a better experience.

02:45 They're getting a better experience." So it's just good for them really as well.

02:49 Would you say that staff in the kitchen are less hassled?

02:51 I'd say so, yeah. It's probably just a lot, not easier, but it's a different pace I suppose

03:00 than you would be if you had customers coming at you from all angles. You're inside the

03:04 restaurant, you drive through. So it's just nice, like I said, to be able to concentrate

03:08 on that one set group and improve their experience.

03:11 And we're in the staff room right now. How is this compared to other sites?

03:15 It's lovely. It's massive. It's nice to have a big window as well. It's just lovely, yeah.

03:24 If any more jobs came out at this site, would you encourage people to join your team?

03:28 Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It's a great team. There's some really good people involved.

03:33 A lot of the crew are brilliant. They've worked at different stores and they've all come together

03:36 and they've really grouped together to make it a great experience for the new people that

03:41 have joined us as well.

03:42 What's the difference between the delivery and the delivery of food?

03:46 I think when the delivery kitchen opened, because over the last two or three years,

03:52 I guess post-COVID, delivery has become a really big deal in the country actually, as

03:58 well as McDonald's. And I just think with, you know, McDonald's sort of five years ago

04:03 was eating, takeaway, drive-through. Now McDonald's is eating, takeaway, drive-through,

04:11 click and serve, app, orders and delivery. So it became as a customer and as somebody

04:19 running the business and the people, it just became more challenging to incorporate the

04:28 delivery within the business. So the restaurants around here, Riversway particularly, which

04:35 is just a couple of minutes away, we've closed the delivery off in that restaurant and opened

04:41 this kitchen. So no customers, no money changes hands. It's all in the cloud, I guess. And

04:50 it just gives a better experience for our couriers in this restaurant. And I think talking

04:57 to a couple of people who I know, it's given a better experience for the customers in our

05:02 Riversway restaurant. So it's a week. It's kind of still a test, but it's something that

05:10 I think may have legs moving forward. But like most things, I guess we'll look at it,

05:15 evaluate it and decide what we're going to do with it going forward.

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