McDonald’s Ecuador: “Orquest is innovative, easy-to-use, and cost-effective”

McDonald’s Ecuador (Arcos Dorados) x Orquest

McDonald’s Ecuador is part of the largest McDonald’s franchisee in the world and a leader in the restaurant industry in Latin America, Arcos Dorados. With 34 restaurants and an average of 45-50 employees per location, they faced the common challenge of optimizing shift planning, complying with labor regulations, visualizing operations by area, and reducing labor costs.

Orquest emerged as a strategic solution to address these issues. Its AI-based technology offers intelligent team planning, generating significant savings in time and resources.

We interviewed Luis Elizalde, training leader at McDonald’s Ecuador, who has been with the Arcos Dorados family for 13 years. Luis told us how the implementation of Orquest has helped the franchise’s Ecuadorian restaurants optimize their schedules, streamline daily operations, and maximize resources to always offer the best experience to their customers.

Q: Given McDonald’s continued expansion in Ecuador, with more than 100 contact points including restaurants, Automac, dessert centers, and McCafé, what do you consider the key to the brand’s success in the country?

A: We generate a lot of empathy with people, and that’s why, whenever a customer comes to any of our restaurants, we make them feel different from the rest. We make you feel at home, and I believe that is the key to our success.

Q: McDonald’s Ecuador employs over 1,900 people, making it one of the country’s largest employers. With 90% of your employees aged between 18 and 25, what strategies do you use to attract and retain this talent?

A: We are a company that constantly certifies, verifies, and trains people. That is what sets us apart from the rest. When I joined McDonald’s, I was the kind of person who spoke a lot with my closest friends, but I found it hard to connect with people I didn’t know. What I developed here is the ability to talk to anyone, to engage in conversation, to discuss topics I may not know much about, but I get involved in them anyway. That is what McDonald’s allows you to do.

Q: In your opinion, how does optimized schedule planning influence the improvement of the customer experience?

A: In every time slot, whether it’s a high-sales period or a low-sales one, you need to have the necessary staff to operate. And what happens when you have the right people, and especially well-trained staff, which is the most important thing for us? You generate more sales, create experiences with customers, and ensure they feel satisfied.

In the operational part, for example, it’s important that there’s a table available for the customer to sit at, that they can find what they’re looking for because you have more points of sale open. Plus, you have staff ready to guide them, whether through our digital experience or another type of purchase. You also have the necessary staff to prepare the food we sell and to organize and deliver orders efficiently.

Q: How did you manage employee schedules before implementing Orquest, and what challenges did you face?

A: Before Orquest, we faced several challenges. I, myself, had to make schedules at one point. Back then, you had to manually project sales, entering the data two weeks or days in advance. It was a process where you had to create a manual historical record.

With Orquest, the historical data is already available because the software pulls information from your own restaurant. In other words, the trends are specific to your location. You don’t have to compare yourself with others because the restaurant now has an accurate projection. Everyone, from managers to staff, knows the day’s projection and each time slot, allowing them to be ready for the workload. Or, when the volume is low, they can assign additional tasks based on needs. I love that aspect.

Q: How has the implementation of Orquest contributed to improving schedule planning?

A: If you take full advantage of this tool, and the manager making the schedules knows their business well, we improve the restaurant experience, increase sales, control labor costs, and staff are positioned exactly where they’re needed, which results in a better productivity margin.

Q: And how has Orquest helped your teams?

A: It has helped reduce the time spent creating schedules. Before, it could take six or seven hours to do them, even in the best-case scenario. Now, all the information is intuitive and visual. You see alerts, which are red, so everything is very visual, and the manager learns to use it more efficiently. The manual helps, too.

Q: How would you define Orquest in three words?

A: Innovative, easy (because it’s easy to understand and use), and cost-effective. It saves us a lot of time, resources, and, above all, money.