Oakbrook, Ill.-based McDonald’s Corp. has rolled out mobile, to-go ordering beta testing at 51 restaurants across the Inland Northwest.

Mark Ray Jr., owner of North Idaho Food Services Inc., which operates five McDonald’s restaurants in Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene, says, “We were approached by McDonald’s leadership at about the end of last year. They said they like the fact a lot of the restaurants here are locally owned and have longstanding relationships with their customers.”

Ray’s father, Mark Ray Sr., owns Spokane Food Services Inc., which operates 14 McDonald’s restaurants and employs more than 450 people in the Spokane area.

The 51 franchised restaurants selected for beta testing here by McDonald’s corporate office have 13 different owners and operators, McDonald’s Corp. says.

McDonald’s also has set up mobile to-go ordering and pay in Monterey, Calif., and Salinas, Calif., the company says in a press release.

“McDonald’s wants to bond with customers who are tech savvy,” says Kari Rose, the community relations representative for Spokane Food Services. 

After downloading the app, users are taken to a screen and asked if they want to place an order. The restaurant’s complete menu hasn’t been placed online as the service is still early in testing, Rose says.

Customers are also being asked to leave feedback through the app, as McDonald’s is preparing to launch the service across the country in the fourth quarter of this year, the company says.

Ray says he expects the new service to create more jobs at area restaurants.

“We think mobile ordering will lead to even more overall customer traffic than we have now,” he says. “Not everyone will order using a phone. Some people will always like the face-to-face interaction, or maybe not feel comfortable using a smartphone to place an order.”

“But we think a lot of people will want this kind of convenience,” he says. “You may see a transfer of workers, and tasks may change from the front counter to food prep because I really think this will lead to more orders for our stores.”

Stephanie McManus, a spokeswoman for the Olympia-based Washington Hospitality Association, says in general, the organization believes restaurants are driven more by customer demand when it comes to using technology in the process of ordering food.

“We’ve seen many restaurant businesses and hotels embracing more and more technology. Our society is plugged in, and everything is reachable from our smartphones, especially millennials and younger,” McManus says.

“A reduction in costs—or an uptake in customers—is often a result of instituting this technology,” she says. “Connecting with customers through technology is critical to businesses success.”

As an example, Ray points to the fact the McDonald’s app enables customers to place a food order far in advance of when it may be eaten. Equipped with what’s called geo-fencing technology, not until the customer’s smartphone enters the restaurant’s parking lot will the food begin to be prepared, he says.

A notification and order number is assigned, and customers can retrieve their order from inside the store, the drive-thru, or at curbside pickup, Ray says.

“This is something that is exciting for us and for the customers,” he says. “People are busy, and this effort is certainly going to help them save time and improve their ordering experience.”

What hasn’t been determined, however, is whether or not recent shakeups at McDonald’s corporate office will have an effect on its mobile effort.

The Chicago Tribune reported in its April 5 edition that three key figures in the company’s two-year-old attempt to transform itself have been replaced, an indication, the paper says, that the world’s largest burger chain has grown impatient with the speed of its menu and technological innovations.

The Chicago newspaper also reported the three are the first division leaders to be replaced since the hiring of the company’s new U.S.-based president at the beginning of the year, ex-Kraft executive Chris Kempczinski.

“On the digital side, McDonald’s has made strides through the introduction of its app and other initiatives to connect with customers online, but has lagged behind competitors in the introduction of increasingly important offers like mobile order and pay,” the Chicago Tribune said in the article.

Lindsay Kirshenblatt, the company’s Seattle-based field brand reputation manager for the Pacific Northwest, says McDonald’s is still committed to unveiling its mobile to-go service by the end of the year.

Adds Ray, “Everything that has been indicated to me is that the plan is to complete this digital effort by the end of ’17.”