Coates Group has been appointed the provider for McDonald’s single global digital menu board CMS, and one of two approved hardware providers alongside Acrelec Group.

The five-year agreement will enable the fast-food restaurant chain to offer its first globally standardised digital menu board solution. McDonald’s markets will be provided with Coates Group’s dynamic Switchboard CMS to power their content and marketing strategies.

Coates Group will manage the overall partnership and be the sole CMS provider, McDonald’s markets will be offered a choice of hardware, as well as installation and support services, from Coates or Acrelec. This global solution accommodates an individual market’s unique requirements for customisation, while offering significant cost efficiencies.

Hashim Amin, vice-president of global product and engineering at McDonald’s, said: “After a thorough review of best-in-class CMS providers, it was clear that Coates Group was the best-positioned technology partner for this critical phase of our digital evolution. Our goal was to find one global provider that could deliver our digital CMS vision, which is to enable a consistent ordering experience to all our customers around the world through a single, cohesive hardware and software solution.”

Coates Group first formed a partnership with McDonald’s in Australia in the 1970s, as a traditional signage and merchandising provider. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the partnership grew into Asian and European markets with the introduction of new signage technology. Following Coates’ move into the digital merchandising space in the 2010s, the partnership expanded across the globe.

In 2017, Coates Group was awarded the outdoor digital menu board hardware rollout for McDonald’s US, which was the largest fast-food restaurant menu board rollout ever. Today, Coates supports 50 McDonald’s markets – including the US, Canada, Australia, France and the UK – with digital merchandising solutions such as CMS, digital menu boards and self-order kiosks.

Acrelec was founded in early 2000 by two former McDonald’s employees, Jacques Mangeot and Jalel Souissi, who aimed to reimagine the customer experience through innovative self-order kiosks and drive-thru technology and solutions. Acrelec counts over 80,000 installations in 80 countries.