GO TO JUST ABOUT ANY fast-food restaurant in the late morning, and you'll see older adults enjoying a cup of coffee with friends. Head there in the late afternoon, and you'll encounter teens getting into (just a little) mischief after school. These scenes exist because our fast-food restaurants are more than a place to grab an inexpensive bite. They're social necessities.
But that's not the case in Fort Worth, Texas, where a high-tech new McDonald's will take your order via an app and deliver your fries via a conveyor belt. What it won't do? Provide you with a chair, a table, or even access to a bathroom. The café includes only a kitchen, a counter and kiosks for ordering, and two drivethrough lanes. The McDonald's store is a prototype of what may be a future format for the company.
The “Golden Arches” is hardly the only restaurant chain that
