But profits were pressured by increased spending in technology and research and development. McDonald's has invested heavily in home-delivery and mobile pay initiatives in recent years and in 2019 has unveiled a number of acquisitions to boost its drive-through operation. In September, McDonald's announced the purchase of Apprente, a Silicon-Valley startup focused that builds voice-based systems for multi-accent and multi-item conversational ordering.

The technology is expected to speed McDonald's Drive Thru ordering process. The acquisition follows the April purchase of Dynamic Yield, a New York- and Tel Aviv-based company that has developed technology that varies menu displays based on time of day, weather and trending menu items.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019