Ryan McFarland

While out of town last week i only had fast food twice. Both times were at Burger King and both times my order was a hassle. At the first place one of the items on my order was a chicken chicken sandwich with only mustard, cheese, and bacon. When i unwrapped it there was mayo and lettuce (the most disgusting lettuce i have ever seen) on the sandwich. It was printed correctly on my receipt but the kitchen had messed it up. I returned it and ended up with what i wanted. The second time i asked for the same item and the lady at the register spent forever trying to find the buttons and get my order right.

While shoveling the driveway the other day i was thinking about “have it your way” as the slogan for Burger King. With today’s technology i was thinking that people could set up a profile online that lists exactly the way people like their food. In my case it would be the chicken sandwich with mustard, bacon and cheese along with a double BK Stacker meal without the sauce on the sandwich. Once my preferences have been set then they mail me a key fob with a passive RFID embedded with my personal ID number. I could then walk up to a special register, wave my tag at the register and it would ring me up - perhaps even billing my credit card or deducting money from my checking account. There would then be one less human making errors on my order. The cooks can still mess things up but the cashier just has to pass me my change if i pay with cash and ask if i’m eating in the restaurant or having take out.

We have this system in place for travelers of toll roads with the Easy Pass system. Why not for fast food or even vending machines?