A Tim Horton’s customer railed against what she dubbed “PowerPoint presentations” on digital fast food menus at the store.
“Can we bring back static menus aka just the menu?” asked creator B (@douceydouce1), based in Surrey, B.C., getting more than 123,400 views as of Sunday. “I am tired of going up to the thing and it’s like a PowerPoint presentation with ads.”
She goes on to say, “I don’t need the ads. I’m already here at your store to buy food.”
She also observes that it has the potential to slow drive-thru times. “They want you to hurry up because obviously, you’re in a drive-thru, so they want you to be fast and you want to be fast, but the menu keeps changing because you don’t have the whole menu memorized.”
“I’m panicking because I feel under pressure to be fast but I don’t know what I want,” she adds. “And I’m trying to decide, trying to read the menu, but it keeps changing.”
She concludes by noting that it’s not just Tim Hortons, but other fast-food places employing this technique as well.
@douceydouce1 Bring back normal menus!! 😭 @Tim Hortons #timhortons #fastfood ♬ original sound – B🐝
Wendy’s drew considerable attention earlier this year for rumors that it would use its digital menu boards to enable “surge pricing” to upcharge food during certain times—something that fast food franchise denied.
A CBS News article noted, quoting a Wendy’s spokesperson, “As early as 2025, we plan to test a number of features such as AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling based on factors, such as weather, that we think will provide great value and an improved customer and crew experience.”
That person added, “As we continue to show the benefit of this technology in our company-operated restaurants, franchisee interest in digital menu boards should increase, further supporting sales and profit growth across the system.”
But commenters seemed to side with the creator.
“I love to tell them, ‘I need a minute for the menu to come around again’ and purposely take as long as I want,” one quipped.
Another observed, “Tim’s is the worst. Their menus don’t reflect what they even have! Some places don’t offer certain items but they’re on the board!!!”
Someone else remarked, “I need time to process the board, can’t handle it changing. I never try new things because I don’t have time to read them all and make my internal assessment.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message and to Tim Horton’s via email.
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