News

McDonald's France testing mobile payments with PayPal

August 20, 2012

McDonald's is currently testing a mobile payments option in France through a partnership with PayPal.

According to Reuters, the pilot is taking place at 30 units throughout France.

The test allows customers to order food on their smartphones through a McDonald's app, or online, and pay with their PayPal account. Customers who choose to pay with this option are directed to a separate line to pick up their meals.

Gil Luria, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told Reuters that this payment method could potentially cut 10 seconds off of wait times for customers, a big achievement in the quick-service space.

McDonald's also held demonstrations of a PayPal mobile payments service at its franchisee conference in Orlando, Fla., in April. The demonstrations were part of a booth that featured technology "coming within the next 24 months or so." According to the story, these demonstrations allowed customers to order and pay using PayPal's digital wallet and mobile app.

PayPal has mobile payments agreements in place with more than 15 other retailers, including Home Depot and Office Depot.

Mobile payment options are making their way into the restaurant space at a fairly consistent pace. At the beginning of this month, Starbucks announced an agreement with Square to utilize Square's Pay with Square service in Starbucks' 7,000 stores and route credit and debit transactions through Square for processing.

Dunkin' Donuts announced its new mobile payment app last week, which lets customers add a Dunkin' Donuts card in any amount between $2 and $100. Once that amount is set, guests tap on the virtual card to pay, show their phone to a crew member to scan the QR code and tap "done."

Other brands, including Subway, have been testing mobile payments in select markets as well.

Read more about mobile initiatives.