McDonald's Opens Up Mid-Market San Francisco Office To Lure Tech-Savvy Talent
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- McDonald's is opening up a new location along San Francisco's Market Street, but not to take your order.
Instead, the fast food chain will use the space to recruit the best talent to boost its digital presence.
The effort is "a way for us to be more plugged into the flow of ideas," McDonald's Chief Digital Officer Atif Rafiq said in an interview with Ad Age.
The Golden Arches is expecting to hire 15-20 staff for its San Francisco location and has already scooped up people from tech giants like PayPal, Facebook and AOL.
In its job postings, McDonald's said it's seeking"digital marketers, digital media execs and designers, among other tech-savvy employees."
One job listing for a user-experience designer read, "McDonald's has bold plans to evolve the customer experience for the digital era, and the Global Digital team is at the center of this aggressive change."
Rafiq, previously general manager of Kindle Direct Publishing at Amazon.com, said that the chain is also looking for ways to partner with start-ups.
Among the technologies the company is reportedly testing out is mobile payments, including mobile ordering that would allow customers able to pick up food in stores, curbside or at the drive-thru.
McDonald's, which recently launched an augmented reality app for the World Cup, is the latest national brand to land in the Bay Area looking for the best engineering and digital talent.
Wal-Mart, Target and other brick-and-mortar stores have already established research and strategy offices in Silicon Valley to help them catch up with the likes of Amazon.com and other online retailers as consumers' digital habits continue to rapidly evolve.
