After a hiatus of 20 years, fast food giant McDonalds has returned to deal-making with back to back investments in technology.
In a recent announcement, the company confirmed its acquisition of personalized data start up Dynamic Yield followed by a minority stake in mobile app vendor Plexure, which powers its mobile app in 48 countries outside of the U.S.
Both deals are fairly small relative to McDonald's overall size, with its total market value of $143.73 billion.
But both deals are in-line with the company’s strategy to acquire capabilities through third parties and avoiding costs of building them internally. Also, the company has a poor reputation in terms of its order accuracy and pace of delivery.
This current investment might be considered McDonald’s initiation into the tech world. It already has self-serve kiosks, digital menu boards and other tech-focused upgrades meant to improve convenience for the customer and speed-up how fast their food gets made.
While Dynamic Yield’s personalization technology could also be a part of its self-serve kiosks or its mobile app, its deal with Plexure will give more customer engagement through its mobile app as well restrict Plexure’s exposure to other companies in the food industry like Yum Brands’ (YUM) Taco Bell and Restaurant Brands’ (QSR) Burger King.