McDonald’s Built a 515-Page Dossier on Me. It Says I’ll Never Stop Eating There
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By Newsdesk
·1 min read·Updated 23 hours ago
Aug 12, 2026 6:15 AM
I requested a copy of my data from McDonald’s loyalty program and received an extensive, personalized report that algorithmically predicts my next purchase.
Photo-Illustration: Wired Staff; Getty Images
When I first downloaded the McDonald’s app years ago, I signed up for its loyalty program hoping to get better deals. Why not get some cheap french fries? While I understood that this would entail some type of data tracking, I didn’t grasp how the information would be used to algorithmically predict my next purchase.
| What McDonald’s Calls It | What My Data Says | What That Means |
| Estimated Number of Visits During the Next 6 Weeks | 2.16 | How many times McDonald’s expects me to return before mid-September. |
| Estimated Average Order Spend During the Next 6 Weeks | $13.49 | What McDonald’s expects me to spend per order. |
| Estimated Total Spend During the Next 6 Weeks | $29.15 | My total predicted value to McDonald's, over those six weeks. |
| Customer Attrition Likelihood | 0 | Potential odds I'll stop being a customer. Ouch! |
| Customer Group Based on Historical Transactions | CV2 | McDonald’s doesn’t provide details about what this internal value tier means. |
| Most Transacted Occasion Type | Food-Led Afternoon Snack; On the Go Lunch in a Rush | My two behavioral archetypes based on past orders. |
| Most Visited Geographic Location | San Francisco, Santa Barbara (61 visits) | The main market where I eat McDonald’s and how often. |
| Recency, Frequency, Monetary Derived Top Product | Large Diet Coke | The item McDonald’s recommendation math ranks as my number one. |
| Recency, Frequency, Monetary Derived Top Product Category | Wraps–Chicken | The menu section McDonald's expects me to order from. |
| Rank | 10 Products McDonald’s Ranks as Most Relevant to Me |
| 1 | Large Diet Coke |
| 2 | Spicy Snack Wrap |
| 3 | The Grinch McShaker Fry Large |
| 4 | Double Cheeseburger |
| 5 | Ramyeon McShaker Fries Large |
| 6 | Buffalo Ranch Snack Wrap |
| 7 | Hot Honey Snack Wrap |
| 8 | Quarter Pounder With Cheese |
| 9 | L French Fries |
| 10 | 20-Piece McNuggets |
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Reporting from WIRED contributed to this story.
