McDonald's Management

On November 28, 2007 I walked into my nearest McDonald’s restaurant to place a special order with very specific requirements in order to assess their management process. I ordered a small hamburger with FOUR pickles on it and small French Fries with NO salt. I was really expecting the lady taking my order to look at me as if I had lost my mind. I didn’t even think they had fries without salt. But the lady calmly turned to the guy putting the burgers together and said “hey make sure it’s four pickles, not three” which I guess is what they normally put in them.

Then she proceeded to tell another guy dressed as a manager that she needed “fries with no salt”. The order was ready in about three minutes. The process of putting the burger together included two people standing next to each other on the other side of the juices and sandwiches. The first took the buns from the pan and laid them on the table he added the meat and the ketchup that came from an interesting container that you squeeze from the top handle and the ketchup flows out of a four wholes. Then he passed it on to the other guy the one who got the instructions about adding the extra pickle. He put the four pickles and some onions on top of those. He then placed the other bun on top of it all and wrapped the whole thing up with the McDonald’s logo paper. He put it in through the small metal “shaft” and the lady that took my order, whose name I picked up from her name tag was Martha, picked it up and placed it in a paper bag along with my fries which she had gotten herself. Martha told me the total and handed me the bag after I paid her $2.16.

I was treated the same way that I’m always treated in a fast food restaurant, in a fast paced manner with no real attention to detail or care while placing the ketchup into the bag with without taking any real notice if it’s actually landing in there or not. In total 5 people were involved in preparing my order but if you really think of it the number might be different if you take into account the people who set up all the things like the bags and ketchup. When I finally got home I checked out my order and noticed that they had added the correct number of pickles in the burger but unfortunately after tasting the fries I realized they were salted.

I thought that the staff’s manufacturing process was clear, everyone had a specific task and it was clearly simple. In fact it is very repetitive process which left little room for error due to its nature. It looked like a little factory behind the counter everyone busy with their own task. They communication was efficient considering it is so loud in those places with all the people coming in an out and children running around. It is interesting to watch them yell things at each other and understand what they are trying to communicate to one another. I would say that the staff is well coordinated in the way they prepare everything in collaboration with each other. The customer service process could use so work in general it would be nice of you as a customer did not feel so rushed when placing the order. Making contact with the client maybe asking how there day is going or small talk if possible should be encouraged. If I were brought in as a consultant to any McDonalds to help them improve their efficiency I think that I would assess specifically their customer service skills paying attention to how they interact with each customer. I would also suggest rechecking the special orders before handing them to the client because something as simple as French fries that accidentally had salt when they were not supposed to make a difference in whether that particular client is going to choose to make that location their preferred McDonald’s.