McDonald’s is nominated for Digital Initiative of the Year at this year’s RG Excellence Awards. The fast food giant’s head of technology deployment and testing Courtney Barnett explains how its Ready on Arrival offering is cutting wait times; easing pressure on restaurants; and turning app data into a better customer experience.

Quick-serve restaurants and food-to-good brands are facing a loyalty battle that is increasingly being fought in the minutes before a customer even reaches the counter. At McDonald’s, that means using geofencing technology to spot when an app customer is approaching and alert the kitchen at the right moment.

The system, known as Ready on Arrival, is designed to take friction out of Mobile Order & Pay by ensuring orders are neither started too late or left waiting too long. Barnett explains: “If we’re asking customers to order through our app, it has to be genuinely easier and faster than the alternatives.”

That matters because mobile ordering is no longer a bolt-on channel. It is becoming central to how major foodservice and retail brands think about convenience, loyalty and operational capacity.

McDonald’s has said Ready on Arrival can reduce mobile pickup wait times, while industry reports have highlighted its role in supporting higher customer satisfaction and loyalty engagement.

Measuring the customer experience pay-back

Rather than looking at return on investment through a single commercial lens, McDonald’s has tracked a blend of operational and customer measures, including wait times, customer satisfaction, repeat usage of Mobile Order & Pay and engagement with its digital channels.

“Historically, we knew some customers experienced friction in the mobile ordering journey, and that could impact whether they came back and used it again,” reveals Barnett.

“Ready on Arrival was designed to tackle exactly that.”

Pilot results showed not only a reduction in wait times, but also higher customer satisfaction scores. Barnett argues that the real value comes when a smoother order journey changes behaviour: “When you remove those pain points and make the experience feel effortless, customers notice. The real win is that customers are more likely to come back, engage with the app and continue building loyalty with the brand.”

Changing the rhythm inside restaurants

Although the proposition is powered by technology, Barnett says the biggest deployment challenge was not the software. “I’d love to say the technology was the hardest part, but honestly, it was the people and process side that required the most attention.”

Ready on Arrival alters the way restaurants think about mobile orders. Previously, an order became visible when the customer arrived and confirmed they were there. Now, the system gives teams advance signals from the customer journey, allowing them to prepare food just in time.

That shift required training, communication and restaurant readiness across thousands of crew members. “The challenge was making sure teams felt confident with the new process while maintaining the food quality and service standards customers expect,” Barnett notes. “Once teams experienced it in action, they quickly saw the benefits for both customers and crew.”

Taking pressure out of peak

For restaurants, the most important impact may be during the busiest trading periods. By giving teams a better view of incoming demand, Ready on Arrival helps them sequence orders more effectively across fulfilment channels.

“It’s helped us move from being reactive to being much more proactive,” Barnett explains.

“Before Ready on Arrival, a mobile order only became visible to the restaurant when the customer arrived. Now we have a much better understanding of demand before the customer walks through the door.”

The result, she says, is a smoother flow for crew and a more predictable experience for customers. “At the end of the day, customers get hotter food, faster service and less waiting around, which is exactly what we’re aiming for.”

Scaling a repeatable model

As McDonald’s expands the technology across markets, consistency becomes as important as innovation. Barnett says the business has built Ready on Arrival around global standards, shared learnings and structured deployment, supported by playbooks, training materials and operational insight from earlier launches.

“One thing McDonald’s does exceptionally well is take a great idea and create a repeatable model around it,” she says. “There are always local nuances, but the core customer experience remains the same.”

For Barnett, scaling successfully depends on more than turning on new functionality. “We spend a lot of time making sure the technology, restaurant operations and crew readiness all come together before launch, because scaling successfully is about much more than just switching on new technology.”

Data only matters when it solves a problem

Ready on Arrival relies on signals such as location data and order intent, but Barnett is clear that customers judge the outcome, not the infrastructure behind it. “Data doesn’t create value on its own. What creates value is knowing how to use that data to solve a real customer problem.”

That lesson has wider relevance for retail and hospitality businesses investing in digital tools. Small improvements in convenience can reshape how customers feel about a brand, provided they remove genuine friction.

Barnett stresses: “Ready on Arrival isn’t really a technology story. It’s a customer experience story. The technology just happens to be the thing working behind the scenes to make those moments feel effortless.”

McDonald’s joins Ann Summers, B&Q, Currys, The Very Group and many more in the Digital Initiative of the Year category at this year’s RG Excellence Awards. See the full shortlist, and all categories here. This year’s RG Excellence Awards will be hosted at the Underglobe on 14 October 2026. 

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