IT Services29.10.2024

McDonald’s new online ordering tested in South Africa

McDonald’s new online ordering features make a good case for using the fast food giant’s own app instead of third-party platforms like Mr D Food or Uber Eats.

McDonald’s South Africa recently started rolling out its mobile ordering for pickup feature to select branches.

Previously, customers could only order food for delivery directly from the company through its McDelivery service, which adds an extra R15 to the cost.

Customers who preferred to pick up their food had to use Mr D or Uber Eats.

Both these platforms charge restaurants commissions on each order, requiring the restaurants to add extra cost to their menu items to maintain their margins.

Customers can avoid these extra costs by ordering directly through a particular restaurant’s app.

The four pickup options available on the updated McDonald’s app are as follows:

  • Counter — Place and pay for your order on the app and pick it up at the counter using your digital order number or receipt when it is ready.
  • Table service — Select a table number, place and pay for your order, and get served by McDonald’s employee at your table.
  • Drive-thru — Place and pay for your order on the app and pick it up in the drive-thru using your digital order number or receipt.
  • Curbside pickup — Stop in one of the dedicated numbered curbside parking bays, place your order, and a McDonald’s store employee will bring it to your car window.

At some branches without dedicated parking spaces and drive-thru windows — like those in shopping malls — only counter and table service is available.

MyBroadband tested the curbside pickup option at the McDonald’s Atterbury branch in Pretoria.

After arriving at the store and parking in one of the marked parking bays for curbside pickup, we ordered a Big Mac medium meal and a 6-piece Chicken McNuggets on the app.

The app ordering process was straightforward and allowed for customising our order and selecting add-ons, which we found to be helpful rather than intrusive.

We paid for our order with a regular bank card, which we had added to the app. Payment required that we enter our rotating virtual card CVV and approve via our associated banking app.

The order was placed and paid for at 14:04, less than five minutes after beginning the process.

It had an estimated completion time of three to five minutes, and a friendly McDonald’s employee arrived at our car’s window at 14:07 to hand over the food.

The images below provide an overview of our McDonald’s app curbside pickup experience.

Screenshots from the McDonald’s mobile ordering feature

Significantly cheaper than Mr D and Uber Eats

Many may question the purpose of using the curbside pickup over the drive-thru or ordering at the counter.

The only reason we opted for this particular method of collection was because it was completely new.

There may be rare instances where staying in a parked vehicle is preferred, like if the drive-thru queue is backed up or the store has lots of customers inside.

In our experience, it was not necessarily the convenience of the option that proved the most valuable.

The biggest benefit was significant savings over using a third-party platform.

The total cost of our order would have been R113.30 had we not received the 6-piece McNuggets for free because it was our first order on the McDonald’s app.

If we ordered the same items for collection through Mr D or Uber Eats, the total price would have been R150.70 and R147.30 — over 30% more expensive.

Those options would also have required that we get out of the car to pick up our food at the counter.

Even if we had used the McDonald’s app’s delivery option, we would have paid just R15 more for our order, which is about the same as the delivery charges on Uber Eats and Mr D.

However, we would not be paying extra for the food itself, meaning our total cost would still be over R30 cheaper than when using the third-party options.

Aside from being significantly more affordable, McDonald’s app users earn McLoyalty points that can be redeemed on food purchases.

On our discounted spend of R70.40, we earned 704 points. A further 500 points were added because it was our first order.

The 1,200 points were not enough to get any additional free items with our next order.

However, if we spend another R80, we will be able to get one of the following items for free with 2,000 points:

  • Regular fries — R25.50
  • Small McFizz Watermelon — R27.00
  • Short Hazelnut Iced Latte — R27.90
  • Tall Cappuccino — R29.90

That means you get rewards worth about 12.75% to 14.95% of the amount spent — or R12.75 to R14.95 per R100.

The table below compares the costs of ordering our items from McDonald’s via the company’s own mobile app versus Mr D and Uber Eats.

McDonald’s app Mr D Uber Eats
Big Mac Regular Meal with Coca-ColaR70.40R93.80R91.50
6-piece Chicken McNuggets with Sweet and Sour sauceR42.90R56.90R55.80
Total price for pickup/collectionR113.30R150.70R147.30
Delivery feeR15.00R15.00R14.37
Total price with deliveryR128.30R165.70R161.67
Difference versus McDonald’s app+29.15%+26.01%
McLoyalty points1,130 (not including first-time order bonus)n/an/a
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