McDonald's Franchise Trailblazes with a Complimentary iPad Program

A recent article in The Virginian-Pilot, by Carolyn Shapiro, reports that a new McDonald’s located in Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach has initiated a program that offers guests the use of iPads for no charge. The tablets are placed on white stands at four tables, one of which holds two screens back-to-back. Customers are free to use the iPads while they dine.
 

Hugh Fard, who opened the Lynnhaven Parkway restaurant and owns 11 other McDonald's in Virginia Beach, found the iPad idea in April while attending the annual worldwide McDonald's convention in Florida. Visiting with his colleagues from McDonald's Europe, he discovered a French company that had developed an iPad feature for about 20 locations from Paris to Budapest.
 

Fard leases the five iPads from the French company's local contractor, which maintains them and will replace them if any are stolen. And he insisted on some limitations that he thought suited the Hampton Roads market. For example, he blocked the YouTube website because some of its content verged on pornography, he said.
 

While right now McDonald's has no plans at this time to roll out the iPads to other locations or offer the option to other franchisees, the company will watch how the system works at Fard’s franchise for six to eight months.  
 

Read the complete article here.