{"id":21342,"date":"2017-06-21T23:17:26","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T22:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=21342"},"modified":"2023-02-12T22:20:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T22:20:00","slug":"fast-food-baloney-at-mcdonalds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=21342","title":{"rendered":"Fast Food Baloney at McDonald’s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is an Australian story, but it reports that McDonald\u2019s over there is about to take \u201cone of the biggest risks in the company’s history\u201d by introducing fresh beef patties to its menu. Apparently, ordering one adds about a minute to your waiting time, since the fresh beef patties are prepared to order, whereas the normal type are made ahead of time and kept warm until required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to do a bit of a double-take when I read that, because in the UK it seems to be standard practice for McDonald\u2019s restaurants not to prepare anything<\/strong> ahead of time, and to cook everything<\/strong> to order. At the drive-thru, a simple order of a cheeseburger can get you a ten-minute wait in one of the bays. I have gone inside to demand my money back on more than one occasion, and I\u2019ve complained to head office at least twice. To be fair, most branches have improved, but I absolutely refuse to say anything positive about motorway branches, because late at night they have to cook everything<\/strong>. There is nothing<\/strong> ready. But I digress: a whole minute is nothing in the UK compared to what is \u201cnormal\u201d over here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They already do these fresh beef patties in America:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A customer in Dallas named Tracy Moore told Reuters that she’s going to stop patronizing the fast-food chain, which she currently visits every day, if the wait time doesn’t improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If it’s going to be that long every time, I won’t order it. I’d go elsewhere,” she said, after ordering the new fresh-beef Quarter Pounder at a McDonald’s drive thru and being told to pull into a parking spot to wait several minutes until it was ready.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She doesn\u2019t know she\u2019s born! Oh, what I wouldn’t give to only have to wait \u201cseveral minutes\u201d. Sorry, digressing again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article adds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Improving service has been a primary goal of McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook over the last couple years. He has cut dozens of items from the fast-food chain’s menu to try and simplify and speed up kitchen operations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I think he\u2019s barking up the wrong tree, though he may be doing it deliberately, and attacking a secondary issue to protect the primary one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UK, absolutely the only reason there is a delay to service is that there is nothing ready and they have to prepare it. They might have a few bits ready, but the days when the rack behind the counter would be stacked with carton after carton of Big Macs and other burgers are long gone. If it\u2019s busy, they run out and you have to wait, and if it\u2019s quiet there\u2019s nothing ready anyway and you have to wait. The franchise holder \u2013 McDonald’s restaurants are all franchised \u2013 does it to reduce waste. No wait, let me rephrase that \u2013 he does it to save money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three key words in McDonald\u2019s business are: SERVICE, WASTE, COST.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time, service was far and away the most important aspect at McDonalds. As time has gone by it has passed through waste, and now sits firmly entrenched in cost. But what Steve Easterbrook seems to have forgotten (I know he hasn\u2019t, really, even  if it looks like he has) is that fast food is low margin. You make money by shifting tonnes of the stuff, not by glamming it up, and you can\u2019t shift any<\/strong> of it if there isn\u2019t any to shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s funny when you consider that for each Big Mac costing \u00a32.99, about \u00a30.75 of that is gross profit to the restaurant, about \u00a30.80 covers the materials, and the rest is down to labour costs. It\u2019s even funnier when you consider that if a McDonald\u2019s branch pisses me off, I won\u2019t go in again for months (in the case of Clifton, years) just on principle. The manager\u2019s decision not to risk<\/strong> having to throw away just over \u00a32 guarantees he will lose<\/strong> \u00a32.99 from me, and that woman in Dallas suggests I may not be the only one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a slightly different topic, a couple of the Facebook posts below the article made me smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This character is a vegan and he makes the assertion that eating meat and dairy gives you cancer. Someone challenges him, and he then goes on to declare that vegans do not need to take supplements as a result of not eating meat and dairy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, Mr Phillips, most vegan-friendly nutritionists and doctors \u2013 many of whom are vegans themselves \u2013 point out that Vitamin B12 supplements are pretty much essential for vegans, since this cannot be obtained reliably outside meat and dairy. He might want to take a look on the label on his oat milk or other favourite processed vegan foods – virtually all of them are fortified with the very vitamins that only occur naturally in meat and dairy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organisations like The Vegan Society don\u2019t make such a big deal out of things<\/a> if they\u2019re not important or significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dietitian at Vegan R.D. goes further<\/a> and suggests that as well as B12 supplements being important for all vegans, most should also take Vitamin D and Iodine supplements, and some should also consider Calcium and Iron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n