The Maze: McDonald’s is testing a second sale after the meal order: the customer’s attention. At selected company-owned US restaurants, digital menu screens show ads from other brands while customers wait for their food. The limited pilot turns an existing restaurant surface into potential advertising inventory. It is an early test, with no disclosed ad revenue or national rollout. The interesting question is whether the pause between payment and pickup can earn money without making the visit worse.
The order comes first. Ads appear after customers have chosen their food, including on drive-thru boards and in-store self-service kiosks. That timing changes the proposition: a brand is buying a moment in an existing visit, rather than a place in the meal-selection process. For McDonald’s, the opportunity is to earn from attention already passing through its restaurants. For the advertiser, the challenge is to make a short exposure useful. A waiting customer is available to see a screen; that alone does not establish attention, recall or a later purchase.
Restaurant scale is potential, not a booked audience. McDonald’s has more than 13,700 US restaurants, but the company confirmation limits this test to selected company-owned locations. Most US restaurants are independently operated. Moving beyond the pilot would therefore raise practical questions about participation, control of content and how advertising income is shared. Those arrangements have not been disclosed. An estate-wide restaurant count should not be sold to readers as the size of a live advertising network. The difference matters when estimating reach or commercial value.
The screen has to earn its place. Retail media is advertising sold through a retailer’s own customer touchpoints. A restaurant board adds a different buying moment from a grocery search result or a product page: the meal transaction is already complete. Advertisers would need evidence that the placement changes behavior beyond that order. Useful tests would compare exposed customers or locations with a credible control, rather than simply count ads displayed. McDonald’s has not disclosed pilot pricing, campaign results or a measurement product, so these remain evaluation questions, not promised capabilities.
Extra revenue would meet a real operating pressure. Official second-quarter results show US comparable sales rose 0.8%, against 1.3% globally, in the quarter ended June 30. Selling screen space could add income without asking diners to buy another item. But selling, serving and measuring ads would create work, and the restaurant still has to make the visit fast and easy. The pilot’s economics depend on what remains after those costs and any effect on customer experience. A useful extra income stream must support the food business rather than distract from it.
Why it matters: McDonald’s is testing whether a restaurant visit can support two customers: the diner buying a meal and the brand buying attention. That is a concrete extension of retail media into the waiting period. The next evidence to watch is expansion beyond company-owned stores, disclosed advertiser results and a workable operator model. Until then, the asset is a promising placement with an unproven business case. A big restaurant estate supplies potential reach; it does not supply proof that the ads work.
Sources: Inside Retail | Bloomberg / The Star | McDonald’s
