McDonald's stores across Japan are hoping to cut training time in half for new part-time employees. The fast food chain has teamed up with Nintendo to develop a game designed to teach employees proper food preparation. The game, called eSmart, will become a McDonald's training tool later this year. The Nintendo and McDonald's training game is rumored to be similar to Cooking Mama games and will help employees learn the correct way to build sandwiches--bun, ketchup, onions, pickles, cheese, meat, bun, for example.
McDonald's plans to incorporate two Nintendo DS systems into each of its 3,700 Japan locations. Software development aside, McDonald's will spend 200 million yen (about $2.2 million) on the new training program.
Fast Food Training Games
Nintendo and McDonald's Team Up for Employee Training
Trend Themes
1. Gamified Training - The collaboration between Nintendo and McDonald's demonstrates the trend of using gaming technology for employee training, opening opportunities for other industries to develop gamified training programs.
2. Interactive Learning - The development of the eSmart game highlights the trend of interactive learning tools in the fast food industry, suggesting opportunities for other industries to enhance training methods through interactive digital platforms.
3. Efficiency in Training - McDonald's goal to reduce training time by half with the use of training games showcases the trend of utilizing technology to streamline training processes, providing disruptive innovation opportunities for industries looking to enhance training efficiency.
Industry Implications
1. Fast Food - The collaboration between Nintendo and McDonald's in developing a training game for employees could inspire other fast food chains to explore similar gamified training programs to improve employee onboarding and skills development.
2. Video Game - The success of the collaboration between Nintendo and McDonald's suggests opportunities for the video game industry to further enter the corporate training sector and offer tailored gaming solutions for skill-building and learning.
3. Technology - The integration of gaming technology into employee training by McDonald's and Nintendo indicates potential disruptive innovation opportunities for the technology industry in developing customized training solutions for businesses across various sectors.