JAPAN – Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is rolling out contactless pick-up lockers in four restaurants in Japan: Minamiurawa store, Mizonokuchi store, Shinjuku west exit store, and Nakano store.
Customers at four KFC outlets in Japan can now order and pay for their meals online, set a time for collection, staff cook the order and put it into one of the lockers, then the customer pick up their order from a contactless locker installed on the store’s counter.
Customers then enter their order code on a small pin pad to open the locker doors and collect their food, as shown in the video below. The lockers can be used for both food and drink, suggesting they are not heated.
The customer’s selection on collection time, which reduces the number of customers waiting in restaurants. Food delivery drivers can also use the lockers to collect orders.
The customer’s selection on collection time, which reduces the number of customers waiting in restaurants. Food delivery drivers can also use the lockers to collect orders.
With the customer’s bill already settled through the KFC app’s cashless payment system, the fried chicken lockers allow them to get their to-go order with zero waiting time.
The app is even synched to allow the customer to forward their code to Uber Eats or other food delivery services if they’re not going to be making the trip to KFC themselves.
KFC added in its press release depending on the time of day, staff may also hand customers orders over the counter. The fast-food giant said it plans to roll out the lockers on a larger scale in Japan in the future.
This isn’t the first time KFC has implemented contactless takeaway as its Singapore offices created a lower-tech alternative back in April where customers order on their app and collect their food from a designated table.
KFC uses similar lockers at an outlet in Moscow that it has dubbed a “restaurant of the future.”
The automated store, which has minimum human contact, uses conveyor belts and robots to put food orders in lockers at the front of the store. Customers retrieve their food using a code and can pay either by card or using a biometric facial recognition system.
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