Jonathan Maze

Editor-in-Chief at Restaurant Business Magazine. Egghead. Married up to @HailaMaze. Serving up hand-crafted tweets with a laser-like focus.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

@TomsEngagingHR Apparently not 100% because McZee has yet to respond!

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

The question to me with McDonald's, and any other restaurant chain that uses drive-thru AI: If your goal is to improve hospitality, why are you using a robot to interact with customers?

[McFranchisee @McFranchisee]

Meet Archy IQ - no, we are not new to AOT. In fact, we have been in this AI field for about 8 years. We sold our in-house model to IBM and moved on as it wasn’t good enough for our needs.

As mentioned below, I wanted to hire Google (who uses NVIDIA) to service our AOT 3 years ago and found out today that Google is behind this project.

We are currently in 5 test stores, having processed over 1M transactions with about 90% of orders completed without human escalations. Impressive for a new test

Every McDonald’s in the US is getting their Google Edge Cloud blades installed in anticipation of this rollout.

Archy will not only assist drive-thru orders but act as a master brain to help managers run a better restaurant. It’s like a personal assistant that alerts you to potential bottlenecks or issues. #McDWW26

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

But my favorite of LongRange Capital's holdings is Batesville, which makes caskets, so make your own jokes here.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

Meanwhile, I looked at Pizza Hut and LongRange Capital, which is reportedly in talks with Yum to buy the chain. If LongRange does what it says it does, that's a positive for PH. But it's a tough fix.

More here: https://t.co/DHVjphLS1N

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

@RealJacobPerry So does a robot.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

But when technology fails as it often does the result is super frustrating and ultimately requires a person anyway.

[Rocket Man @BlueRocketParty]

@jonathanmaze Interactions w a McDonald’s drive thru worker don’t tend to be great experiences and they get your order wrong

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

I wouldn’t know because I’m too much journalist and not enough influencer to warrant an invite to the convention.

[Blackhat Casper @JBPVFM]

@jonathanmaze Tell me the CEO destroyed a double big mac on stage.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

@JSucher But hospitality is one of their big priorities. And they can do hospitality at scale.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

@McFranchisee You'll be able to afford it now with all those fancy beverages on the menu.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

@McFranchisee @TheSJResistance @McDonalds @America250 @CocaCola If it was a real adult Happy Meal it'd have liquor. Or at least beer.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

Breaking: Chain that sells sugary baked goods starts selling a sugary drink.

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

This is literally insane

Crumble Cookie just launched a drink that has 186 grams of sugar

- That's almost half a pound of sugar
- Equivalent to 5 cans of Coke
- That’s roughly 19 Krispy Kreme donuts

IN ONE DRINK

This should be illegal. This is more than 5x the American Heart Association’s daily recommended max for added sugar

We need to Make America Healthy Again

I looked into this and if you drink this regularly you can cause extreme harm to yourself

- Rapid weight gain
- Fatty liver disease
- Huge Increased diabetes risk
- Tooth decay and gum disease
- Mood swings

This has to stop

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

Here’s our report on said lowered guidance: https://t.co/hK5DzPy0Ew

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

Tough morning for Shake Shack, which lowered its guidance for 2Q same-store sales, revenue and store-level profitability. The company cited "macroeconomic uncertainty" and competition. Its stock is down 8% premarket. $SHAK

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

@davidhenkes @mhenderson33 @RonRuggless Afraid that work carried me to NYC otherwise I’d be home on my sofa saying no way.

[Restaurant News @NRNonline]

Due to an incredible influx of nominations, we’re extending the deadline for the 2026 GRLC Globie Awards!

You now have until June 15, 2026 to submit your nominations and honor the visionaries, innovators, and changemakers shaping the global restaurant and foodservice industry. 🏆

Don’t wait—time is running out! Submit your nomination today and be part of this prestigious celebration.

👉 Nominate now: https://t.co/I1clzUESut

#GRLCGlobies #RestaurantLeadership #FoodserviceInnovation #DiningExcellence #Cannes2026 #RestaurantAwards #FoodserviceLeaders

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

@DaveHolmesTV I have not! But I should try it.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

As a side note, journalists were not invited to this. But the company did bring in social media influencers, just in case you want to know where we stand these days.

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

McDonald's just revealed a sweeping new strategy at its Worldwide Convention, called McDonald's Next, that will include menu upgrades, more technology including AI, more influencer marketing and better service. $MCD

https://t.co/0wAj7rP5LR

[Jonathan Maze @jonathanmaze]

@Aerocles Always another day for ribs!