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McDonald's hasn't been doing so hot lately. This year more burger locations are closing than opening for the first time in decades, the company's sales haven't performed on par with previous quarters, and even customer satisfaction has dropped below that of its competitors. Nevertheless, the fast-food chain is forging ahead with new, outlandish menu items like wood-fired pizza in Florida and gourmet breakfasts in Australia. Now the Golden Arches are putting touch-screen kiosks into U.S. locations for the first time ever—to make the "Create Your Taste" burger program a high-tech, simplified, and, uh, interactive burger experience. But is it worth the hype?
Until today, Create Your Taste kiosks were only available in Australia. When we heard one had debuted in New York, we decided to put it to the test. The first stateside location to offer the machines is on Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, where there are four kiosks that are very tall and very bright. After a McDonald's staffer walked us through the ordering process, we were off, adding toppings and sauces and sides like glorified digital chefs.
In New York, custom burgers start at $5.99. If you want to add fries and a medium drink you'll have to cough up an additional $4. But the upside is that every single topping is free—with the exception of bacon, which will set you back an extra buck—including the standard lettuce, tomato, and pickles. But there's also white cheddar and pepper-jack cheeses, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, jalapeños, tortilla strips, and guacamole. (That's right, the guac isn't extra!)
When we were done, we grabbed a numbered buzzer—as if we were waiting for a table at a sit-down restaurant (good joke, Mickey D's). We were told that these specialty burgers can take up to ten minutes to prepare, so we were surprised when our buzzer went off in about half that. And, for a sizable comparison, we ordered both a customized quarter-pound burger and the Deluxe Quarter Pounder. In New York, medium-size meals went for $10.88 and $10.11, respectively. Here's how they stacked up against one another.
THE BAG
The Create Your Taste burger arrives in a durable brown paper bag with handles, like ones you'd find at Trader Joe's. Like all other menu items, the Deluxe Quarter Pounder arrived in a standard grab-and-go fast-food bag. At least this one had a cute little minion on it.
THE BOX
The minimalist box for the custom burger is labeled with just one monochromatic logo—but it puts on a show, offering two pocket-size windows that give you a sneak peek at your creation and two fold-out flaps that reveal one half of the open-face burger at a time.
The Quarter Pounder gets the typical square box marked with cheesy graphics and an unrealistic image of the burger that's inside.
THE BURGER
We have to hand it to ourselves: The DIY patty we made, layered with jalapeños, cheddar cheese, mushrooms, red onion, and Mac sauce was pretty darn tasty. Our favorite part was the buttery brioche "artisanal" bun. It was definitely a step-up from the dry, sesame-seeded number that's always used. And it surprisingly looked like someone took the time to put this sandwich together; the Big Mac sauce spread equally across the top bun and the sliced peppers neatly arranged. The Quarter Pounder, however, was a mish mosh of piled-up white onion and pickles and too much mayo and ketchup. But it was basically exactly what we were expecting from McDonald's.
In the end, it comes down to what you want. The prices are virtually the same and the burgers are made from the same beef chuck. The only difference is that you have more topping choices. And a little time is involved. For our money (and mouths), if you're going to go for a McDonald's burger, the fancy burger is worth it.
UPDATE: August 7th, 5:32
In conjunction with the touch screen kiosks, certain locations will also be offering table-service. It's already a thing in Australia, France, and Germany where the kiosks also saw a healthy test run, and after a successful expansion to the U.K., where the amenity was just recently installed at over 1,250 locations, they've decided to make it available in America. Right now it's just in the test phase, so only time will tell if customers are loving it, or not
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