First, McDonald’s discontinued its McCafé Bakery. Now, the fast-food giant is putting an end to self-serve drinks.

Over the next 10 years, McDonald’s will remove the self-serve beverage stations that have been a staple of their dining rooms since 2004. Customers will have to get their refills from servers at the counter.

“This change is intended to create a consistent experience for both customers and crew across all ordering points, whether that’s McDelivery, the app, kiosk, drive-thru or in-restaurant,” the company told FOX Business in a statement. 

McDonald’s did not comment further when asked about the reasons for the change.

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The company said self-serve soda fountains will be removed from all McDonald’s restaurant locations in the U.S. by 2032. 

Several restaurants local in Illinois have already made the change, according to the State Journal-Register. 

“It’s an evolution towards convenience and (the result of) the growth of digital service,” franchise owner Mikel Petro told the newspaper. Petro and his family own and operate 15 McDonald’s restaurants in central Illinois. 

Local franchise operators pointed to several factors that may have influenced McDonald’s decision. 

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The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many restaurants to reinvent their operations to minimize human contact, and the new crew-pour system adopted at Illinois restaurants will use automated beverage systems to mechanically fill drink orders, the Journal-Register reported.

Ditching self-serve also limits opportunities for theft, removes clutter from the dining room and allows McDonald’s to place a bigger emphasis on having customers served at the table when dining in.

The move comes as fast-food companies embrace new technology to automate tasks and speed up production. Customers demand faster and more convenient service — and restaurants are adapting.

For instance, Chick-fil-A is testing out two new concepts in Atlanta and New York that are geared toward mobile ordering. One concept is a pick-up-only service where customers order and pay online before picking up their food. The other concept uses an elevated kitchen that sends orders to a four-lane mobile order drive-thru underneath. 

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Taco Bell began experimenting with a similar format that also involved a four-lane drive-thru and elevated kitchen. 

Last summer, Panera tested out its first “Panera To Go” restaurant format, a digital-only bakery-cafe, as it continues to invest in “the digital guest experience” from in-cafe kiosks, rapid pick-up as well as drive-thru pick-up. 

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Meanwhile, Wendy’s is automating its drive-thru ordering with generative artificial intelligence and also piloting robot delivery. CKE Restaurant Holdings, owner and operator of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, partnered with OpenCity’s AI proprietary voice-ordering platform at select restaurants in the U.S.

Fox Business’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.

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It’s official – the iPhone 15 will soon become available with a starting price of $799.

Apple gave consumers the official introduction to the device on Tuesday while holding its “Wonderlust” event. It came after rumors and speculation about what new features and tech the latest versions of iPhone would have had circulated for months in anticipation.

With the new iPhone 15, users will receive Dynamic Island, a 48 megapixel primary camera and other features.

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The company also gave details about its newest Apple Watch models – the Series 9 and Ultra 2. The former marks the company’s “first-ever carbon neutral” product, Apple said. 

Apple has seen its products and services bring in a total of $293.79 billion in net sales in the first three quarters of its fiscal 2023 year. In the same time frame last year, it generated $304.18 billion.

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This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.

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Endeavor Group Holdings, mixed martial arts promotion UFC’s parent company, has officially joined forces with professional wrestling promotion powerhouse World Wrestling Entertainment.

As a result of the merger, a new company, called TKO Group, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange as of Tuesday.

“We’re ready to fire out of the gate,” Mark Shapiro, Endeavor’s president and COO, said in a statement. Shapiro is expected to retain his title with the newly formed single entity. Shapiro also laid out the TKO Group’s priorities saying, “But our first mission is to fully capitalize on this insatiable demand for premium content and live events.”

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The new company’s NYSE ticker symbol “TKO” is a reference to “technical knockout,” a term frequently used in combat sports.

Endeavor is expected to have a 51% controlling interest, with WWE shareholders owning the remaining 49% of the new, publicly listed company.

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Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel is set to keep his same role. Meanwhile, WWE’s Vince McMahon will serve as the new firm’s executive chair.

Dana White will be UFC’s CEO, and Nick Khan will transition from WWE’s CEO to the promotion’s president.

In 2016, Endeavor closed a deal to acquire UFC for $4 billion. Endeavor will likely follow the plan the company executed after the UFC takeover in an effort to deliver millions in cost synergies. At some point, WWE is expected to be integrated into Endeavor’s global infrastructure.

Endeavor hopes to increase the U.S. and international media rights for WWE and UFC, both of which are up for renewal. Several major media companies with popular streaming platforms are continuing to express interest in landing the rights to live sporting events. Endeavor is also pushing for a boost in the amount of content at its disposal which could increase sponsorship licensing.

“We will be wringing out cost synergies, but at the same time identifying those areas that are under-monetized or where revenue synergy significantly exists,” Shapiro told The Hollywood Reporter. 

“And that’s happening across our domestic and international media rights, our sponsorship and global partnerships, our product licensing, enhancing our live events, through ticket yield, venue fees, and premium experiences and then just overall expanding internationally, all of these businesses and doing it with a halo of the Endeavor flywheel which cannot be underestimated the influence and impact that will bring.”

McMahon announced his return to WWE earlier this year after stepping away from the organization In 2022 amid a misconduct investigation by the company’s board. The investigation concluded in November 2022, WWE said.

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Shapiro said discussions about WWE “Raw” and “Smackdown” rights are already underway.

“We’re having very encouraging conversations with several players and platforms at the moment on WWE ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown,’” Shapiro noted. “We’re cautiously optimistic, we’re, in many ways, being valued as a unicorn because we’re a year-round. WWE is a full-calendar, sports and entertainment platform with significant engagement, strong reach and attractive demos. And that bodes well for these conversations and I believe that we’ll have results that are in line with market expectations.”

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Landlords in certain areas of the U.S. are offering discounts to attract tenants while keeping asking rents near record highs.

The median U.S. asking rent in August rose to $2,052, up 0.7% from the month prior and only $2 below the record high set a year earlier, according to recent data from real estate brokerage Redfin. 

Meanwhile, the national rental vacancy rate reached 6.3% in the second quarter, which is the latest data available. That figure is just shy of the 6.4% vacancy rate reached during the first quarter, the highest seen in two years, according to Redfin.

With surging prices and vacancies on the rise, some landlords are offering anywhere between one and three months free to attract renters without lowering their asking rents, according to Rent. CEO Jon Ziglar. 

MANHATTAN RENTS REACH ANOTHER RECORD HIGH

It’s similar to what landlords, especially in major metropolitan areas, were forced to do during the pandemic when renters were fleeing cities. However, a year ago, when demand was surging, concessions were less common. 

As a result of these new concessions, rents are coming down in certain areas even though the declines don’t show up in asking-rent data. 

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“Higher-end properties are beginning to see pressure in certain markets as a significant portion of new units coming online are in the higher-end and luxury segment,” Ziglar said. 

At the same time, there is still “a lot of competition for more affordable units due to less new supply, as well as increased pressure on consumer wallets limiting the ability to stretch for that higher level experience,” he added. 

The good news is that while rents are still sitting near record highs, rent growth is cooling due to slowing household formation, economic uncertainty, affordability challenges and an increase in rental supply, Redfin said. 

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Over the past two years, rents have been posting large year-over-year gains because of surging demand. For instance, in August 2022, the median asking rent was up 12.3% from the prior year.

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During his “My Take,” Tuesday, “Varney & Co.” host Stuart Varney discussed why Biden seems to cite climate change for every natural disaster, arguing the president needs to keep the focus on climate to appease the environment crowd and think tanks who have no room for the slightest hint of skepticism.

STUART VARNEY: Wildfires. Climate change. Floods. Climate change.

The mass migration of Central America to North America. Climate change.

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At least according to Vice President Harris, who was looking for the root causes of the migrant crisis.

The president, in his rambling news conference in Vietnam, said, “There’s a lot of lying dog-faced pony soldiers out there about global warming.”

You get the point. Climate change is invoked for everything, and if you’re not on board, well, you’re a “lying dog-faced pony soldier.”

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All right, now this. 

The leader of a climate think tank published a study in a prestigious magazine, showing that warming temperatures increased the likelihood of wildfires in California. 

There’s the link. Climate change and wildfires.

But a few days later, the researcher turned around and said his study failed to take account of other factors, that could encourage wildfires. 

He had focused on climate, to the exclusion of, say, forest management.

Uproar in the climate industry and you know why. 

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If other factors aggravate natural disasters, climate loses its clout. 

Why turn the whole world upside down if climate change is not entirely to blame?

The climate crowd has to keep the anxiety going. They can’t allow the scare to recede. 

University climate departments and think tanks have no room for the slightest hint of skepticism. 

Climate is their religion. They are zealots. 

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Surely it’s time for balanced research. Disasters are complex events. 

If they are always studied in terms of climate, climate, climate, credibility is lost, and voters turn off. 

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