McDonald's managers head to major restaurant show for new tools, tech

More than 53,000 foodservice professionals, 2,000 vendors and 700,000 square feet of exhibits turned McCormick Place into the industry’s biggest proving ground, and McDonald’s managers had a simple task: separate the tools that can help a lunch rush from the booth filler that will never leave the convention floor.

The 2026 National Restaurant Association Show opened in Chicago for its 105th year and runs through Tuesday, May 19, with show-floor hours of 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday through Monday and 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday. About 70% of the companies on the floor are returning from prior years, up from 64% in 2025, and more than 500 international exhibitors from over 45 countries are taking part. That mix matters because the show is where operators compare suppliers, see what competitors are buying and decide which equipment is worth the capital outlay.

For McDonald’s, the stakes are sharper than a normal trade show. The company has more than 45,000 locations in over 100 countries, and about 95% of those restaurants are franchised. That means the equipment and software that get attention in Chicago are likely to land first with franchise owners and the managers who have to train crews, hit throughput targets and keep labor in line. The products most likely to matter are the ones that reduce steps at the counter, in the drive-thru and on the back line, not the ones that only photograph well on an expo floor.

The clearest signals are in the 2026 Kitchen Innovations awards, which recognize 20 equipment solutions built around smarter automation, sustainability and operational resilience. The awards are judged by an independent panel of operators, consultants and industry experts for practical application, ease of implementation and long-term value, which is the right standard for a brand where a bad piece of equipment can slow every order that touches a store. In a climate of inflation and labor pressure, the real question is whether a new system saves time for crews or just adds another screen to stare at.

McDonald’s has already put its own bet on that answer. Its Restaurant Platform Edge, developed with Google, is live in hundreds of U.S. restaurants and expanding globally, while its AI-powered Accuracy Scales are deployed across thousands of restaurants in drive-thru and delivery channels in a dozen markets. The company’s Speedee Labs in Chicago’s West Loop, a 21,000-square-foot test site with more than 300 pieces of equipment, is built for the same purpose, and it hosts 20 to 30 markets from around the world each year to test layout, menu and process changes. That is the bridge from expo floor to store floor, where the next round of staffing, training and kitchen workflow changes will either speed service or complicate it.