McDonald’s to launch AI into its restaurants to help boost order accuracy: McDonald’s is launching AI in its restaurants to help boost order accuracy, identify equipment failures and more. The company expects the technology will help it detect when McFlurry ice cream machines or fryers are about to stop functioning, as well as order errors. “If we can proactively address those issues before they occur, that’s going to mean smoother operations in the future,” McDonald’s spokesman Brian Rice told The Wall Street Journal. In 2023, the company connected with Google Cloud to set up edge computing to allow restaurants to process data on-site instead of sending it to the cloud, which could come with connectivity problems. McDonald’s started incorporating edge computing (a computing model that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data) at some of its US locations last year and is continuing the process. Sensors are being added to kitchen equipment to send data in real-time to edge computing systems that can examine operations and flag maintenance issues early. The company is counting on AI to “alleviate the stress”. Rice said: “Our restaurants, frankly, can be very stressful. We have customers at the counter, we have customers at our drive-thru, couriers coming in for delivery, delivery at curbside. That’s a lot to deal with for our crew.” McDonald’s did not disclose how many restaurants already have edge computing and when all will be outfitted with it. Edge computing will be used to try out voice AI at restaurant drive thrus. AI will also be used to analyse customers’ purchasing history and send them promotional offers based on factors including the weather. “A customer who we know loves our sweet treats could get an offer through the app for a McFlurry on a hot summer day,” Rice said. With AI, McDonald’s aims to expand its loyalty programme from 175 million users to 250 million by 2027. Last month, Chris Kempczinski, chief executive of McDonald’s, said that the brand has work to do in the UK after it reported global like-for-likes were up 0.4% year-on-year in its fourth quarter ending 31 December 2024, but that the UK saw a sales drop. Kempczinski told analysts that the two international markets that the company is “spending the most time thinking about right now” are the UK and Australia, saying both are “challenged markets” where “frankly, we’re not performing to our full potential”. On the UK, he said: “It’s one that historically has performed quite well for us, been one of our strongest performers. We’re not seeing the UK business perform certainly at a level that we’re used to historically. That said, we understand what needs to go in place, and there’s been a lot of work with our local franchisees there to do that. It goes to making sure that we have a strong savers platform.”

City & County Hotels makes a loss but London properties seeing good growth and increased occupancy: City & County Hotels made a loss in the year ending 31 March 2024 but said its London properties are seeing good growth and increased occupancy. In the capital, the company operates the four-star Ten Manchester Street Hotel in Marylebone and the five-star The Wellesey in Knightsbridge. Outside of London, it operates The Royal Hotel in Cardiff and The Langley in Buckinghamshire. The company saw a pre-tax profit of £712,361 in 2023 turn into a loss of £621,578, as turnover dipped from £18,364,067 to £18,066,881 and administrative expenses rose by more than £1m. Director Khalid Affara said: “Both of our London hotels continue to show good growth year on year. After the post covid boom, London rates have softened slightly, but this has been offset with increases in occupancy. Our London hotels, having a large international business pool, continue to trade well, with revenues consistently up year on year. Marriott delivers good levels of business into our five-star hotels from outside the UK.” Referring to The Langley, which opened in the summer of 2019, he said: “Opening a luxury five-star hotel in the countryside has been quite challenging, especially as we had lockdown shortly after opening. All of our pre-opening sales and marketing activities had little impact once we were allowed to open post-covid. The Langley is partway through a five-year growth cycle and is on track to make a profit in 2025-26. The hotel continues to receive investment to secure its place as a luxury destination for weddings and corporate events, along with domestic and international leisure business. Its proximity to London and to Heathrow airport serves the hotel well. 2025-26 should also see investment into both Ten Manchester Street and The Royal, including public area and bedroom refurbishments.” No dividend was paid (2023: nil).