[JohnBooty]

The old process was: Order at counter --> Stand there until your order was ready --> Fill your own drink --> Sit down and eat (or leave with your take out bag)

The new process is: Order via kiosk/app --> Sit down and relax --> Food delivered to your table --> Now stand up again and get your own drink

The last step is kind of awkward and inefficient. So, it kind of makes sense for them to bring your drink with everything else.

The faster you can move customers out of the restaurant the more money you make during the busy hours, so efficiency matters.

Source: I worked with McDonalds 20 years ago as a vendor. They're pretty obsessed with efficiency. They even hire "actors" to simulate customers to test out new technologies, food items, and procedures in their test kitchens so that they can objectively measure the impact of various tweaks.