How much would you pay for a free McNugget?

Starbucks became the first fast food chain to launch a mobile app in 2009, letting customers see how many calories their caramel frappucino had from the privacy of their own homes.

Now, every restaurant worth its salt has an app.

Big Macs and big apps

Chick-fil-A has the best app, according to TastingTable, based on its tiered loyalty program (earn enough points to tour the company’s headquarters!) — but gimmicks might be overkill.

For others, according to Eater, it’s all about ease of use. Customers want apps to remember their favorite items — and they don’t want to have to talk to any humans.

• McDonald’s spent $5m on a 9.9% stake in app company Plexure in 2019, gaining exclusive access to its tech.
• Wendy’s and Burger King are also spending “hundreds of millions of dollars” on apps.

Would you sell your soul for a doughnut?

In addition to tours of the Chick-fil-A corporate office, these apps offer exclusive items and deep discounts.

But those come with a cost that should be obvious to anyone who has ever used an app: They’re collecting your data.

• Some apps track your location when not in use or scan your social media profile.
• It’s all about collecting customer data to make advertising more effective.
• That can be invaluable to chains that want to know the demographics at individual franchises.

Eater figures that most consumers are aware of the practice, but don’t care — the benefits of a free large fry outweigh the cost of McDonald’s knowing everything about you.

In the end, a company as big as McDonald’s probably knows everything about you anyway. You might as well see some benefit.