At a Sheetz gas-n-sub shop in Streetsboro, Ohio: You walk up to the counter, and a touch screen takes your order. You punch in your sandwich configuration like you're ordering a PC configuration from Dell. And then, a number gets spit out of a printer next to the machine, and you wait for a human to come with your sandwich.

This is the way McDonalds' is hoping to get you to order your Big Mac soon. It takes the chokepoint from behind the register and puts it in front of it, between your ears.