The Nintendo DS is the best selling games machine in the world, reigning high on the charts in almost every territory, and particularly in its homeland of Japan. So ubiquitous is the dual-screen handheld that the Japanese arm of fast food moguls McDonald’s have reportedly introduced a new training screen that sees burger flippers earning their certifications with a little help from everyone’s favourite console.
McDonald’s is famed for its traditional checklist-based training programs, which when implemented fastidiously, can prove difficult for stressed new employees to master. Rather than memorising written materials from fact sheets in order to pass their assessments, would-be fry boys and girls will access the new eSmart training program from the familiar touch-screen interface of a DS.
The fast food industry suffers globally from high employee turnover, and profit margins drop in the face of ever-increasing training costs.