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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Chipotle Finally Launches Its Own Take on the Ghost Kitchen Concept

QSR brand Chipotle is a known leader in the restaurant industry’s current transition from dining room to off-premises formats, but the company has for the most part been quiet in the conversation around ghost kitchens. Up to now, that is. The company today revealed its Chipotle Digital Kitchen a pickup- and delivery-only restaurant that is essentially its own homegrown take on the ghost kitchen concept.

The new restaurant, located in Highland Falls, New York, will open this coming Saturday (Nov. 14). Chipotle said in today’s press release that the Digital Kitchen is meant to drive business in “non-traditional locations” such as dense urban centers that can’t hold a full-service restaurant.

While the restaurant does feature a small lobby with a few seats, there is no assembly line from which to order food and no cashier to ring orders up. Instead, customers must place orders digitally via the Chipotle app or website, or through a third-party delivery platform. Guests retrieve their orders from the aforementioned lobby that is “designed to include all of the sounds, smells and kitchen views of a traditional Chipotle restaurant.” The location can also fulfill larger catering orders.  

Chipotle’s news comes the same week McDonald’s unveiled plans for its own to-go-centric store format that will consist of a kitchen surrounded by drive-thru lanes and parking spaces for curbside pickup. Since Chipotle’s Digital Kitchen is, initially, at least, focused on urban settings with space limitations, it does not accommodate a drive-thru lane. That said, the company has been very public about its intentions to incorporate that format into its stores, and today’s release notes that the new store format “allows for flexibility with future locations.” Drive-thru may not be part of this first location, but it’s undoubtedly on the way as the company opens more of these new store concepts.

With the future of the dining room still very much unknown, there’s something of a mass exodus from that format happening among well-known quick-service brands. Burger King, Wendy’s, Dunkin’, Popeye’s, and Tim Horton’s are just a few names on the growing list of restaurants changing up their store formats.

Chipotle has been trekking towards this shift for some time. In December of 2019, the company announced a few different store format designs for to-go, drive-thru, and delivery orders. 

Make sure to join The Spoon’s Ghost Kitchen Deep Dive event on December 9th. Register here!

Dunkin Donuts

Cashierless Tech Could Move Dunkin’ Ahead in the Race to Reinvent the QSR Format

QSR chain Dunkin’ will launch its cashierless checkout pilot program in October at a store in California, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. And in doing so, it may set new standards for restaurant chains when it comes to how they deploy contactless tech.

News of Dunkin’s foray into the world of Amazon Go-style checkout first surfaced at the end of August, when Mastercard announced several partnerships to deploy its newly launched Shop Anywhere platform, which is powered by Accel Robotics. Shop Anywhere uses the computer vision and AI technology of Accel robotics provide checkout-free restaurant and retail experiences. 

At the California Dunkin’ location, that means customers will opt into the Shop Anywhere platform via the Dunkin’ mobile app, then receive a QR code to enter the store. From there, customers can grab their coffee and donuts and simply walk out of the store. Accel’s system uses computer vision to keep track of items and sends a digital receipt to the customer once they leave the store.

Companies are already testing this “grab-and-go” format in several grocery and convenience store formats, but Dunkin’ is one of the first to make such an announcement in the QSR realm. 

And cashierless tech may well set the chain apart at a time when more and more QSRs are making public their high-tech visions of future store formats. At the end of last week, Burger King unveiled its plans for a physically smaller space that emphasizes to-go formats and contactless ordering and payments. Taco Bell brought news of its “Go Mobile” format in August. Shake Shack and Chipotle have also made announcements of their own around new formats driven by more technology and fewer interactions between customers and restaurant staff.

All of those examples still rely on customers placing orders, manually paying, then waiting for their food. Being able to simply grab an item and leave the store without having to do any of those things would definitely provide a faster, more efficient, and truly contactless restaurant experience.

Dunkin’s menu, which is primarily coffee and donuts, rather than customized orders, lends itself to such a model. But there are plenty of QSRs out there at which the cashierless format would make sense, Starbucks being the prime example. Cashierless checkout could even make sense at other chains for certain items that can be pre-prepped — for example, if someone just wanted to grab some chips and queso from Chipotle. White Castle, too, plans to experiment with cashierless checkout, and is another Mastercard partner planning too deploy Shop Anywhere later this fall.

None of this is quite a reality yet, but Dunkin’ for the last couple years has proven itself an early adopter of restaurant tech. It was one of the first to offer drive-thru lanes dedicated to mobile orders, and has since opened several of its next-generation stores that feature self-service kiosks, geofence-enabled delivery, and other to-go-friendly tools and technologies. Seen in that light, cashierless checkout seems the next logical step, and one others will inevitably take as well in the near future. 

Week in Restaurants: McDelivery and Dunkin’ Expand, Starbucks Suspends Reusable Cups

We’d all be forgiven for feeling a little nervous going into the weekend, given the ongoing concerns around rising coronavirus cases. As you’ll read below, restaurants, too, are now responding with new measures meant to keep customers safe(er). And while there’s always a little news from the delivery sector each week, I suspect we’ll see a lot more bytes in the coming weeks about restaurant chains adding more services as more customers opt to stay in.

McDonald’s Adds Postmates for Delivery

Mickey D’s further widened its pool of delivery partners this week when it announced a partnership with Postmates for more than 300 restaurants in Dallas and Los Angeles. The move isn’t surprising. McDonald’s has been steadily adding partners ever since it ended its longstanding exclusive contract with Uber Eats in 2019. Since then, it’s added Grubhub, DoorDash, Just Eat (in the UK), and others. The Postmates deal means the chain now has partnerships with all of the major food delivery services in the U.S., which is a strategy some experts recommend for restaurant chains in this off-premises-obsessed era.

Dunkin’ Expands Delivery

Dunkin’ announced this week it is expanding its delivery reach with Grubhub to include more of the Metro New York area. The original Grubhub-Dunkin’ deal launched in June of 2019, and this expansion will make more than 800 Dunkin’ locations delivery friendly across NYC, Westchester, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Long Island. The delivery option also applies to customer of Grubhub-owned delivery service Seamless.  

Starbucks Suspends Reusable Cup Policy 

Amid coronavirus concerns in the U.S., Starbucks has put a hold on its practice of filling reusable cups customers bring in. “We are pausing the use of personal cups and ‘for here’ ware in our stores,” Starbucks executive vice president Rossann Williams said in a letter to stakeholders this week. However, Starbucks will still honor your efforts should you choose to bring your own cup by continuing the 10-cent discount Starbucks customers using refillable cups normally receive.  

Panda Express May Be Testing Pickup Cubbies

Meanwhile, in the world of pickup orders, another restaurant chain has adopted the cubby system. In its own roundup from earlier this week, Nation’s Restaurant News pointed out that Panda Express has “a locker system for kiosk and online orders” at one of its Irvine, California locations. Apparently the company didn’t return NRN’s request for a comment, so it’s not clear if this is a one-off, test, or some other initiative. But pickup lockers and cubbies are becoming all the rage for takeout these days, so it wouldn’t be surprising if, as they can keep food hotter (or colder) for longer and ensure customers actually take the right order when they come to collect their food.

Swag Alert: McDonald’s Opens First E-Commerce Shop

McDonald’s has gone to great lengths in the last few years to get us consumers stuff we don’t need, like branded scrunchies and massage chairs. And just in time for the holiday season, the company has opened its first-ever e-commerce shop in which to sell more of said stuff we don’t need.

According to a McDonald’s press release, the online shop, dubbed “Golden Arches Unlimited,” features McDonald’s-branded “fun and functional” merchandise not available anywhere else. The lineup of items will rotate seasonally, and starts with a winter collection that includes a beanie, holiday sweaters, and tree ornaments. It’s also a different roundup of merchandise than what you’ll find during the company’s McDelivery Night, which it does in partnership with Uber Eats each year.

Prices at the new online store cover a wide range, from about $15–$65 for apparel and $10–$25 for accessories. Items are branded with the famous golden arches and feature the brand’s signature yellow, red, and white color scheme.  

As the press release notes:

“Since the 1980s we’ve partnered with multiple fashion brands and retailers, and beginning in 2017 we launched our own limited-time-only line of merchandise through the McDelivery Collection. Now, we’re making it easier than ever for you to show off your brand love with direct access to branded items at GoldenArchesUnlimited.com.”

Which brings up an important point that goes beyond McBranded beanies. Thanks to delivery, more customers nowadays choose to order their fast food from the comfort of their own homes, which means they’re less likely to actually set foot inside a McDonald’s brick-and-mortar location. QSRs are as a result are having to meet those customers where they are rather than the other way around. Increasingly, that place is online. 

In fact, a number of QSRs now offer ridiculous-yet-enticing swag for sale via e-commerce shops. Dunkin’ opened its own e-commerce shop last month that sells wares like branded pajamas and dog accessories. KFC is selling fried-chicken-scented firelogs exclusively via Walmart.com. If it all sounds too dumb to be true, consider that last year, the latter’s Colonel Sanders Funko Pop sold out in 11 minutes. When it comes to enticing digital customers through physical goods, apparently swag works.

As Restaurants Move Online, Is Weird E-commerce Merch the New Way to Customers’ Hearts?

Dunkin’-branded pajamas. Gravy-scented candles from KFC. McDonald’s playing cards. If silly merchandise bearing a QSR logo is your thing, you’re living in the right century, as a growing number of restaurant chains serve up branded swag via digital e-commerce channels.

Dunkin’ emphasized the point again recently when it announced its first-ever online pop-up holiday shop that will offer, according to a press release, “a selection of Dunkin’-ized holiday gifts that fans can’t find anywhere else.” Dunkin’ customers can purchase things like wrapping paper, pint glasses, and dog accessories at the limited-time shop.

While the holidays always bring their fair share of branded merch, the Dunkin’ news points to a larger trend happening among QSRs. More and more, restaurants seem to be using e-commerce stores and events to not just sell merchandise online but also create yet-another digital experience for customers that will potentially boost their loyalty to the brand.

KFC is another notable example. The chain has released, among other items, the aforementioned gravy-scented candle, a fire log that smells like fried chicken, and a Funko Pop figure of Colonel Sanders. Sound too dumb to work? Think again: the Funko Pop sold out in 11 minutes.

Meanwhile, McDonald’s takes its e-commerce efforts to the delivery realm each year with its McDelivery Night done in partnership with Uber Eats. The online event, the latest of which just happened in September, lets McDonald’s customers who order via Uber Eats add a free piece of swag to their cart on that night. This year, limited-edition merch included earbuds, scrunchies, and a snuggie-like garment I want someone to mail me right now.

White elephant gift ideas aside, obtaining these items means going into the QSR’s ecosystem, which presents chains with a potentially bigger audience — and much more customer data. Generation Z, in particular, is 20 percent more likely to order food from a fast-food restaurant and at the same time very willing to fork over personal data in exchange for food, experiences, and snuggies alike. 

Will we see more of this in 2020 and beyond? Yes. With more QSRs doubling down on digital ordering and loyalty programs, and with many of them now exploring off-premises models like ghost kitchens, the restaurant experience now has one foot firmly planted in the virtual realm. Tangible goods bought through e-commerce pop-up shops and delivery events will become a standard method for roping in more digital-only customers.

As QSRs Double Down on Off-Premises Ordering, What Happens to the POS?

Whatever your food plans for the weekend, I’m betting there’s a good chance they’ll involve some kind of off-premises ordering. Delivery? Drive-thru? Drone? All of the above and more are becoming de rigueur for foodies and restaurants alike. With that in mind, here are a few more pieces of restaurant industry buzz from the week, all of which hint at what the next 12 months could look like when it comes to when, where, and how we get our food.

Grubhub and Shake Shack Expand Delivery Partnership Nationwide
Expanding on a deal struck back in August, Shake Shack is now available for exclusive delivery with Grubhub across the U.S. According to a press release sent to The Spoon, more than 140 Shake Shack restaurants now offer delivery through that third-party service and no other. While that’s great for customers who want Shack Burgers delivered to their couch, the partnership has also hurt Shake Shack’s sales, according to the chain’s third-quarter results. Part of that may have been due to the exclusive nature of the deal, exclusivity being a strategy increasingly discouraged in the restaurant industry when it comes to effective delivery services.

KFC’s Drive-Thru of the Future Is Open for Business
July brought the initial news that KFC had a drive-thru-only concept in the works down under, in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Said location is now open for business. The new store features five drive-thru lanes that let customers order and pay via the KFC mobile app. While there is a designated lane for customers who want the traditional drive-thru experience (ordering on a crackly speaker, paying an actual person), there is no dining room at this location. If this pilot location proves successful, we’ll see more such KFC locations in the future.

Dunkin Donuts

Houston, We Have a Dunkin’
Dunkin’ (née Donuts), an institution here in the Northeast, is continuing its expansion across the U.S., and it’s bringing its next-generation store with it. The chain announced it is developing 18 new locations around Houston, TX that will emphasize to-go orders, self-service kiosks, and dedicated drive-thru lanes for customers who order via the Dunkin’ mobile app. The first of these new stores is slated to open in summer 2020.

Image via Unsplash.

RIP POS?
But is the POS about to become an endangered species? Not this week, and not probably in the next year. But the growth of ghost kitchens, which exist to fulfill off-premises orders and have no dining room, suggests that pieces of the front-of-house restaurant tech stack could be eliminated in the future. That’s the scenario posed by the folks at Reforming Retail this week. An excellent article from a few days ago points out that with no front of house or cashiers, and with customers ordering directly from their mobile devices, 99 percent of the tech in restaurants could disappear: “And instead of a restaurant needing multiple [sales] terminals they need, well, none.”

Agree? Disagree? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

KFC Hints at AI, License Plate Recognition for Drive-thrus

KFC is exploring technology that would automate the process of ordering and upselling items in the drive-thru, according to an interview the chain’s U.S. Chief Technology Officer Christopher Caldwell did with Nation’s Restaurant News this week. KFC’s strategy looks to be focused on AI technology similar to that of McDonald’s, whose digital menu boards speed up ordering and automatically recommend items to customers.

The news comes on the heels of KFC’s little-publicized launch of an in-house online ordering platform, which happened earlier in October and is clearly part of a larger push from the Louisville, KY chain to increase efforts around the digital restaurant experience.

While Caldwell said the new native online ordering platform is “exceeding expectations” in terms of customer response, improving and innovating on the drive-thru is crucial for KFC.

That’s hardly surprising. Speed of service at the drive-thru in general has steadily gone down over the last decade, with the average time in 2019 a good 20 seconds longer than the previous year. But drive-thrus still account for a huge percentage of sales at QSR chains. For KFC, they account for about 65 percent of sales, according to Caldwell. Using automation in the drive through could potentially minimize both mistakes that happen during the order-taking process in the drive-thru as well as the length of time a customer spends waiting.

Caldwell also said drive-thru technology could bump up check averages thanks to better personalization and suggestive selling — one of the key benefits McDonald’s has been touting with the Dynamic Yield AI technology it’s rolled out to thousands of drive-thrus of late. He also hinted at license-plate recognition in the future, where the system can scan a customer’s plate and immediately suggest that person’s favorite meal.

A number of other QSRs are now testing new technologies and methods to speed up service in the drive-thru. Chains like Dunkin’, Krispy Kreme, and Chipotle are adding lanes for mobile-only orders. Sonic piloted AI-powered menu boards earlier this year. Meanwhile, companies like 5thru and Valyant AI are partnering with QSRs to automate more of the process through AI.

KFC hasn’t actually deployed any of this technology to actual stores yet, though Caldwell told NRN that “there’s going to be no shortage of [KFC] franchisees that want to adopt and be a test partner” when that finally happens.

Future Food: I Tried the Dunkin’ Beyond Sausage Breakfast Sandwich

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. Subscribe to get the most important news about alternate and plant-based foods directly in your inbox!

I’m visiting New York this week, and as I was walking through the Financial District yesterday trying to get my bearings without head butting people walking upstream, I saw it. A sign from Dunkin Donuts for The Beyond Breakfast Sandwich. Great taste, plant-based and made with 10 grams of protein.

I had just had lunch mere minutes ago, but I had to try it. So I ducked in and ordered.

The first thing I noticed was how hard Dunkin’ is pushing the sandwich. It’s one of the most prominently featured menu items, and all of the employees were sporting t-shirts featuring the sandwich.

I paid my $4.78 (including tax) and unwrapped the sandwich. It looked kind of unremarkable — but no more so than a typical fast food sausage-egg-and-cheese breakfast muffin. However, the sausage patty was noticeably thicker than a typical meat one. The texture was spongy, similar to the Beyond burger, with a bit more chew. It was a grey color that resembled sausage more than the bright pink interior of a cooked Beyond burger resembles that of a medium-rare beef burger.

As far as taste goes, however, it was spot on. The patty was lightly spiced, salty, and fatty. True, this is coming from a vegetarian. So in the pursuit of journalistic excellence, I shared the sandwich with a carnivorous friend who said that if she didn’t know, she probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t made of meat. “I think it’s better than the burger,” she said. “More similar to the product it’s imitating.”

Despite how hard Dunkin’ was pushing the sandwich, I didn’t see anyone else order it while I was there. Fair — it was 12 PM, and the sandwich is definitely more breakfast fare. I asked my cashier if people liked the Beyond Sausage Sandwich, and she said it was slowly getting more popular and that orders had really picked up over the past few weeks.

Dunkin’ is clearly counting on its popularity to keep rising. This week the chain announced it was rolling out the sandwich to all of its locations across the country starting next month. Though that’s no guarantee that they won’t pull them off menus at any time, like Tim Horton’s did in Canada.

Selfishly, I hope that doesn’t happen. I really enjoyed the Beyond Sausage sandwich and think it’s an important step for Beyond — and plant-based meat in general — to break into the fast-food breakfast space. Next up, maybe they’ll swap out the egg for a JUST Egg patty. Now that would definitely make it impossible for me to walk by a Dunkin’ without stopping in for a snack.

Gene editing our way to more protein

In this newsletter we talk a lot about alternative proteins meant to imitate (or replicate) meat, dairy, or eggs. It can be easy to forget about all of the other protein sources that might be sitting right under our noses.

Literally — look down at your shirt. This month the FDA approved a new gene-edited cotton plant whose seeds, which are protein-rich but typically contain a dangerous toxin, are safe to eat.

I know, lots of folks out there are GMO haters. But let’s put that can of worms aside for a moment and just think about the potential of gene-editing technologies — like the oft-mentioned CRISPR — to open up brand new protein sources. Or perhaps just make ones we already love more plentiful and better for the planet.

What other overlooked proteins are right under our noses?

Photo: Pizza Hut

Protein ’round the web

    • One Pizza Hut location in Arizona will be testing out a new pizza topped with plant-based meat from Morningstar Farms’ Incogmeato line.
    • Hawaiian gas station and convenience chain Minit Stop will swap in Impossible Foods’ “beef” for all of its traditional beef products (h/t VegNews).
    • Swiss startup Planted, which makes plant-based chicken, has raised 7 million Swiss francs (~$7 million USD), according to Crunchbase.
    • The Good Food Institute has awarded $4.5 million to accelerate research in plant-based and cultured meat in 2019.

That’s it from me this week! I’m off to get another Beyond Sausage Sandwich because… research?

Eat well,
Catherine

Dunkin’ Accelerates Timeline for Nationwide Release of Beyond Meat Breakfast Sandwich

Dunkin’ is speeding up the nationwide rollout of its plant-based Beyond Sausage sandwich, which was developed especially for the breakfast chain by Beyond Meat.

Dunkin’ first launched the Beyond Breakfast sandwich in 164 Manhattan locations back in July. According to CNBC, the chain was planning to roll out the new offering throughout the U.S. sometime in January. However, today news broke that the nationwide release will happen a lot sooner — November 6, to be exact.

It may only be three months earlier than expected, but moving up the release timeline indicates that Dunkin’s Beyond Breakfast sandwich is selling well — or at least better than expected. In fact, Dunkin’ told CNBC that the plant-based sausage offering was their number two selling sandwich in the test Manhattan locations and that sales were more than double Dunkin’s original forecast.

We don’t know what the initial forecast was for the Beyond Breakfast sandwich, but its popularity is no surprise. Plant-based meat sales are booming across the country, especially in quick-service restaurants, where new faux meat items are leading to upticks in sales, media attention and long, long lines. It’s no wonder that Dunkin’ wants to capitalize on this trend and establish itself as a purveyor of Beyond breakfast sausage before other QSR’s roll out their own breakfasty plant-based offerings.

However, just because the Beyond Breakfast sandwich is heading out across the country doesn’t mean it’ll stay there. Last month Canadian fast-food chain Tim Horton’s abruptly stopped serving Beyond Meat items in all but two provinces, just a few months after it rolled out the plant-based meat in roughly 4,000 of its 4,800 locations. The chain did not disclose why it decided to dramatically cut back on its alt-meat offerings.

Dunkin’s nationwide effort with Beyond Meat might have brighter prospects. At present, it’s the only QSR with Beyond breakfast sausage on the menu, which could help it differentiate itself from other fast-food companies peddling alt-meat offerings — especially in the morning.

Maybe next we’ll see Dunkin’ lean into the plant-based trend even more with a JUST Egg patty.

Krispy Kreme Gets a Digital Makeover With Newly Redesigned Store

Krispy Kreme debuted its first store redesign in over a decade this week, and it’s all about digital enhancements to speed up ordering, payments, pickup, and delivery for the doughnut-centric business.

According to a press release, the first of these locations opened on Tuesday in Concord, N.C., appropriately just a stone’s throw away from the company’s Global Product & Innovation Center.

Besides an expanded menu and something called “an enhanced doughnut theater experience,” where you can watch the goods being made step by step, the new store design features a number of tech-forward initiatives. Online ordering is integrated into the overall format, as is delivery. In terms of physical layout, the store has a dedicated area for self-service mobile order pickup for customers and/or delivery drivers. Krispy Kreme has also expanded the store’s drive-thru to two lanes — much like Dunkin’ did in 2018 when it opened its next-generation concept store.

The similarities between Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ shouldn’t be taken as a doughnut to donut comparison, though. Rather, Krispy Kreme is merely following the direction most QSRs are traveling these days, which is all about becoming digital-first restaurants that can accommodate the growing number of sales channels (in-store, delivery, mobile app, drive-thru) customers want as options for ordering, as well as growing demand for better personalization. The news comes just days after KFC announced its digitally focused drive-thru of the future, Starbucks opened an express store concept in China, and, here in the U.S., Brightloom (formerly Eatsa) upped the ante on restaurant-tech in general by partnering with Starbucks to license the latter’s tech. Among many other developments.

According to the press release, the Concord, N.C. store is the first of 45 planned Krispy Kreme locations, new and existing, that will get the digital makeover throughout 2020.

Smart Move: Dunkin’ Now Offers Beyond Meat Breakfast Sandwiches in NYC

Now you can eat Beyond Meat products morning, noon, and night — as long as you live in Manhattan, that is.

Today Dunkin’ announced that it has teamed up with Beyond Meat to launch the Beyond Sausage Breakfast Sandwich in 164 Manhattan locations, with plans for a national rollout. Served on an English muffin with egg and American cheese, the press release notes that the Beyond breakfast sausage patty has a particular mix of spices created especially for Dunkin. It will cost $4.29 and is available starting today.

This is the first time Beyond has served its breakfast sausage in the U.S. It’s currently available at almost 4,000 locations of coffee and donuts chain Tim Hortons in Canada. However, this new patty seems to have been created especially for Dunkin, so it’s likely not exactly the same product.

My colleague Chris got to try a Beyond breakfast patty (maybe even the one being developed for Dunkin’?) when he toured the El Segundo, California-based company almost a year ago. He loved the taste and texture, noting that it was a “game changer in the alterna-meat category.” He also correctly pointed out that introducing a plant-based sausage patty is a smart play on Beyond’s part to enter the breakfast category. Updated: Bolstering their breakfast play, Beyond is also reportedly developing plant-based bacon. 

Today’s partnership is also a clever move on Dunkin’s part. By adding a Beyond Meat product they can surf the wave of plant-based meat popularity and potentially lure consumers away from competitors like Starbuck’s or McDonald’s who have yet to add meatless meat to their menus.

If you’re in Manhattan and get your hands on a Beyond Sausage Breakfast Sandwich, drop us a line and let us know how it is!

Dunkin’ Hints at Its Future With Self-Service Kiosk Expansion

Dunkin’s westward expansion of its next-generation concept stores continues, with news that the Quincey, MA-based chain is testing out self-service kiosks at full-service locations in California.

The company highlighted this at the end of last week when it opened its 100th next-gen store in the state of California. Like the other Dunkin’ concept stores, this one features faster drive-thru service for mobile orders and a sizable roundup of cold-brew coffees on tap, and self-service kiosks, which are fast becoming less “concept” in QSRs and more the expected norm.

The new store, in Santa Ana, is the ninth such Dunkin’ location to test these touchscreen kiosks, which resemble those of McDonald’s in look and feel. Dunkin’s entire menu is available on these kiosks, which are placed inside the store and process ordering and payments, including payment via the Dunkin’ loyalty program. Also like McDonald’s system, a digital board by the pickup counter displays each order number and whether it’s in progress or ready to be collected by the customer.

While the kiosk itself is noteworthy, it’s what Dunkin’ will do with the device that matters more. Nation’s Restaurant News, who has some nice photos of the kiosks, noted that the kiosks allow guests to customize their drinks and food. NRN didn’t go into exhaustive detail about the level of customization, but Dunkin’s system will definitely have to go deeper than simply asking whether a guest wants a shot of vanilla flavoring in their latte (a common question if you order a latte at a QSR). As more restaurant chains adopt these kiosks and as more customers order and pay through rewards programs that store profile information and preferences, kiosks will have to get smarter about what they’re enabling in terms of making an order more personal and doing so faster.

McDonald’s set the bar high earlier this year when it acquired Dynamic Yield, whose “decision technology” uses AI to recommend items based on time of day, weather, a customer’s order history, and trending menu items, among other things.

Dunkin’ hasn’t yet made any acquisition announcements of its own, though around the time it launched its first next-gen store and dropped the “donuts” out of its name, Wired pointed out that the via the company’s Innovation Lab, “facial- and voice-recognition are on Dunkin’s radar,” and that the chain was also looking at AI. So it would be in no way surprising if we soon get news that Dunkin’ is making bigger moves towards AI-powered recommendations and personalization.