McDonald's case overview

Situation
Mired in a price war and escalating domestic competition in 1993, McDonald's sought to
create new customer value by re-inventing its core restaurant systems -- service at the
front counter and drive-thru, and the basic kitchen processes involved in producing its
menu. The objective was to create a competitive advantage via delivering better
experiences, including better food.
What we did
From extensive video research into customer and crew behaviors, we helped McDonald's
develop a simple but powerful model of customers' expectations and frustrations as they
visited McDonald's. We used this model to create design principles that drove scores of
infrastructure and process innovations both at the counter and in the drive-thru process.
Then, having established customer requirements for product and service quality, we
analyzed kitchen processes, revealing an underlying structure that McDonald's Restaurant
Systems Group used to fundamentally re-invent their approach to food production.
Results
Our work on counter and drive-thru service experiences has led to new restaurant
interiors and processes throughout their U.S. stores, but most vividly implemented in a
Colorado Springs test market.