What happened to fast food?

This is a little off topic for my blog but reflects the current level of customer service in the US. I went to one of the world famous fast food places today. I am not going to mention any names but it is the one with the yellow M looking logo.

It all started this morning when I ran out of the house to a board meeting forgot my work keys and my healthy choice lunch. So in true American fashion I ran out and grabbed the next best replacement meal which is a fast food double burger, fries and a soda.

Well if you have been to one of these fast food places lately they have become anything but fast. Stopping at 1:30 PM I figured the lunch wave was just about over. Wrong, I think people were still there from the 12:00 rush. There was a line at the drive-thru so I went in and there was a line at the counter.

Immediately I knew this was going to be a problem. Standing there waiting to place my order I was watching the production line, or should I say bottle neck behind the counter. There were plenty of people standing around waiting to distribute food. Two people taking orders and ringing two people waiting to distribute food and one person grabbing drinks. In addition there were the regular people who were there in employee outfits but doing nothing more than walking back and forth. Back behind line of waiting people there was one person assembling sandwiches to order. Hmmm, could that be the issue?

I am no mathematician but if you have one person filling orders for two lines of customers and everything is made to order it stands to reason there may be a delay built in somewhere in that process. As I watch my order being prepared, a milk shake, I ordered for a business associate, was already sitting on the counter melting because the person getting drinks for the front had plenty of time to prepare. My fries which were already placed in the bag were getting cold and the entire process was at a stand still waiting for the one poor sole in the process with the biggest job.

During this whole process there was a win for the company, the gentlemen behind me only ordered a small coffee so he was able to get served and be on his way because the drink person had literally nothing to do anyway with both lines halted.

During this ordeal I was trying to come up with a reason why this company who built its reputation on delivering fast hot food moved away from that model to now deliver slow cold food.

I thought it could be because they were making your food to order and could be more flexible and fresher, but that made no sense because they precook everything and place the food in steam trays so it isn’t fresher and their menu really does not provide for flexibility when you order number 1 through 6. It would make more sense to let the odd person who wanted to vary the burger wait for a few minutes and get everyone else out fast with hot food.

Then I thought it could reduce waste, but when you have lines of people waiting to purchase, at lunch and dinner time how much could be sitting around and need to be thrown away. Again 1 – 6, not a wide range of choices here.

My last thought was to save money – cutting back on preparation staff is a cost savings, but then I saw that mass of people in front of the counter holding food that was either getting cold or melting waiting for the only person in the place actually working hard and I was thinking there goes quality and with it customer so that doesn’t make sense.

I finally figured it out – Corporate thinking. Then it all made sense. There were a bunch of leaders all running around trying to find things to keep the worker-bee busy which creates a bottle neck. So then the leaders have to come up with different ways to resolve the bottle neck. This in turn keeps all of the leader’s busy and employed running in circles trying to make the one worker more productive. After a while they decide that they need to outsource the job and get it done for less because their one worker can’t keep up with demand.

So watch for the next improvement where by your finished meal is shipped in from a country where the pay is significantly less and the employees do not speak our language. Your #1 may end up being #2 and your containers may be painted with lead because it is cheaper and shinier. But hay that is progress…