"Welcome to
McDonald's! Can I take your order please?" On average I would repeat
this phrase at least 500 times on any given shift, and depending on
the customer's response I had another set of questions ready to go.
As the customer placed their order, I would enter it into my
computer. The order would then flash up on two screens inside the
restaurant. One screen would face towards the grill, and the other in
the drive-through booth where the customer is handed their food and
drink by yet another smiling employee. However, this description is
deceiving and does not begin to describe the complex system of
production that occurs every afternoon in your local McDonald's
store. Drawing from my own experience as a employee of McDonald's,
and my research on the McDonald's chain of production, I hope to take
you on a tour, or rather the tour your food makes around the country
before landing in your lap.
Your Order
Because production at McDonald's changes every hour, let me first set up the scene. It is a weekday afternoon around 12:30. You have just driven up to the drive-through greeted by a long line of cars. After nearly dying of heat exhaustion and carbon monoxide poisoning you finally make it to the speaker where you are greeted by me, a cheerful employee who has been at the store since six o'clock that morning. However, while we hear each other's voices we will never meet each other face to face. Due the extreme lunch rush, we are running a four man drive-through, consisting of the order- taker, money-taker, runner (person who assembles the order) and presenter (the happy employee who hands the order to the even happier customer). As I take your order: "A number two extra value meal super-sized with a coke, six piece chicken McNuggets, and a apple pie," I will prepare your drink and then move on to the next order. However, while the process seems very simple, let's follow the order through the chain of production inside the store, and see how complicated a simple meal can be.
The Cheeseburgers
In the rush of lunch hour, the production team is quite efficient as each task is broken down and one person covers each task. First, hamburger patties are cooked. The number of patties and what type of patties cooked is determined by the grill manager that is present on every shift. The cooked patties are then placed in a warmer until they are needed. Next to the grill is the hamburger bun toaster. This person is responsible for toasting the buns. Again, the toasted buns will be placed in a warmer until ready for assembly. The assembler, also taking orders from the grill manager, then assembles the burgers. This worker grabs the meat and the buns from thier respective warmer and usually assembles 12 sandwiches at one time. For the cheeseburger, the assembler places cheese, ketchup, mustard, onions, and pickles, and finally caps it off with the other half of the bun. The tray is than passed to another worker, the Q-er and wrapper. This person wraps the sandwiches in their respective wrappings and then Q's (microwaves) the sandwiches. After microwaving, the sandwiches are then placed on top of the microwave, where the grill manager will transfer the sandwiches to the warming bin, placing a number behind the fresh row, indicating when it is time to throw out any left over sandwiches.
The French Fries
Believe or not, during the rush of lunch, one person actually covers the cooking of the french fries. While this task has basically been taken over by machines, it is the duty of the french fry worker to make sure that during the lunch rush the store never runs out of fries. What this basically involves is reloading the french fry dispenser when low, and immersing the frozen fries in the oil and lifting them back out again. The dispenser automatically dispenses the right amount of fries into each frying basket and is automated so that all the worker has to do is place the empty basket on the rack and it will slide down to be filled again.
The Chicken McNuggets
The chicken McNuggets are handled by an entirely separate worker. This worker is the back line worker, which basically consists of all the fried patties, such as the chicken and fish patties, and of course the chicken McNuggets. The Nuggets are dropped in the deep fryer, cooked and then transferred to yet another warming bin. The back line assembler will have some six and nine piece boxes ready, but for the most part these are usually assembled as needed. The back line person is also responsible for the full production of the fish sandwiches, excluding the buns. The back line person will help the assembler if they ever get a slow moment.
The Apple Pie
In McDonald's food production, it is the apple pie that takes the longest to cook at 12 minutes. Usually these are cooked before the lunch begins during the changeover from breakfast to lunch. The worker responsible for the pies is also responsible for the making the store's salads for the days. This worker bakes the frozen pies, boxes them, and places them in the warmer up front. Very rarely are pies cooking during the lunch hour rush.
Now that your order is cooked, it is ready to be assembled. This is done by one of the workers on the drive-through team. After completely filling your order, it is then placed on a cart, where the presenter will double check your order and hand it to you to enjoy. After you have driven away, your order will be cleared from the screen. The ultimate goal of the drive through team is to have this whole process completed within 60 seconds. Whew, just thinking about it again makes me exhausted. But, that is just what it takes to produce your order inside the McDonald's store, where did all the products come from?
Getting Stuck in the Web Of Production.
According to Brian Corcoran, the staff director of global distribution/ logistics for McDonald's International, McDonald's is at the end of the supply chain: "We don't produce french fries, we don't book freight, we don't own a shipping line, we don't receive freight, we don't distribute to the restaurants. We only buy it when it gets there" (Burrows). The McDonald's corporation relies on distributors to procure, produce, process and move McDonald's products. According to journalist Marcia Pledger there are 40 distributorships in North America: "Each houses 575 different products and the trucks to deliver them. Everything that goes into a McDonald's, from the frozen hamburger, fish and chicken patties, to napkins and Happy Meal toys, comes from a distributorship" (Pledger). In the United States, there are 19 distribution centers (Tobenkin). While many distributorships are owned by different companies, the largest distributor is the Golden State Foods Corporation out of Irvine, California.
Golden State Foods Corporation
The relationship between this distributor and McDonald's products was founded in 1962 with McDonald's founder Ray Kroc. Since then, the Golden State Foods Corporation has dealt only with McDonald's. Today the company owns eight of the nation's distribution centers, two food processing plants, and a bakery, employing over 1,400 employees (Tobenkin). The distribution centers service stores in Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, the Carolinas, upstate New York, and Northern Pennsylvania. Also it services stores found in Hong Kong, Singapore, Guam, Taiwan, and Malaysia (ibid). However, the processing plants owned by Golden State Foods, supply many more stores throughout the region. David Tobenkin, reporting on the Golden State Foods long relationship with McDonald's writes:
"The centers [processing plants]-- in the City of Industry and Conyers, Ga., as well as a dairy plant in Pasadena, and a bakery in Greensboro, N.C.-- supply more than 960 million hamburger patties per year, 20 million buns, and 40 million gallons of syrups, sauces, and condiments. About the only items Golden State doesn't make for the chain are french fries, pies, and shortening."
Yet despite the hands off approach Corcoran suggested earlier, Tobenkin reports that McDonald's "also tells the company who it should buy its raw materials from and has access to Golden State's financial records."
For example, while the GSF corporation might produce the hamburger patties, the chicken products are produced by the Tyson corporation which has been servicing McDonald's since 1982. Until recently, the Tyson production of chicken products for McDonald's was concentrated in its Nashville, Arkansas plant. However, because of the growing demand for chicken products, a new plant is underway, in Union City, Tennessee. This $55 million dollar plant is expected to reach full production in 1998 processing 650,000 chickens a week. (Stewart). According to an article appearing in a trade journal, The Commercial Appeal, the Tyson poultry plants are typically split into two areas: . . . "with live birds brought into the first production area where they are slaughtered. The meat is then handled in the further processing area." Tyson foods then moves to the chicken to a distribution center where it is then distributed to the McDonald's stores.
Another company McDonald's has selected is the Bama Corporation. Bama, out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, supplies 1.2 million pies and 1.4 million biscuits daily for the fast food corporation (Tiernan). Like Tyson and GSF, Bama's relationship with McDonald's has a long history, dating back to the mid- 1960's when the apple pie was first produced. Again the food is prepared in the Tulsa plant and then shipped to a distribution center.
Let's Take A Look at That Order Again
As if the production process inside the store wasn't complicated enough, now we have added several more companies needed for the completion of one meal. Let's start with the cheeseburgers. Since I worked at a McDonald's in the Pacific Northwest, it would be safe to assume that the Golden State Foods Corporation would be delivering the products. Therefore, from our information on GSF we might assume the beef initially started in the processing plant in Georgia (as well as the ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onions), while the cheese was delivered from Pasadena, and the buns from North Carolina. Each of these would make the trip to a distribution center where they would meet up with chicken McNuggets from Union City, Tennessee and the apple pie from Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the distribution center, all of these products would be loaded into a single truck with three separate compartments, one for freezer storage, cold storage, and dry storage. The products will arrive at the store once a week (or more or less depending on store's volume) where they will be stocked in various freezers, refrigerators and stock rooms. Yet, there is one key element missing in the line of production, the french fries.
What Happened to the French Fries?
McDonald's french fries have continually won over the taste buds of millions Americans as they are consistently voted the best fries by consumers, but where do they come from? In an article by Meredith McHone-Pierce, she reveals that "most of McDonald's french fries come out of the Columbia Basin and the Snake River plain of Idaho." However, she does not give information on who is processing these spuds for McDonald's. In terms of the chain of production, the potatoes provide a weak link.
Thinking Globally
For the purpose
of this page, I tried to stick to production and consumption in the
United States. However, this proved to be challenging. McDonald's is
an international company and is growing rapidly overseas. According
to McDonald's executives they serve less than 1 percent of the
population each day (Financial Times), meaning there are still
markets to be tapped. In China, for example, plans to open 300 more
stores, in addition to the 135 already operating, are underway
(Robinson). 70% of McDonald's production in the States is exported to
Asia (Burrows). As new countries are conquered, new relationships are
developed, and we become increasingly linked to one another. The
child in China can now munch on a french fry from Idaho, while a
child in Idaho can play with his happy meal toy from China and
neither will know how they are linked together.
Works Cited
Associated Press. "Poultry Plant will supply McDonal's." The Commerica Appeal 10 Dec 1996. Lexis Nexis. Online. 30 Nov 1997.
Burrows, Gary. "McGlobal: McDonald's begins to think globally about its distribution to overseas restaurants." American Shipper August 1993: 38. Lexis Nexis. Online. 26 Nov. 1997
McHone-Pierce, Meredith. "No Small Potatoes: Diversity drives Northwest agriculture." Agriculture Marketing January 1996, 18. Lexis Nexis. Online. 30 Novermber 1997.
Pledger, Marcia. "Mcentrepeneur: McDonald's Distributor Makes Burgers His Business from Solon to S. Africa." The Plain Dealer 17 Feb 1996: 1C. Online. Lexis Nexis. 30 Nov 1997.
Robinson, Katy. "Idaho in Asia." The Idaho Statesman 16 June 1997: 1a. Lexis Nexis. Online. 30 Nov 1997.
Staff Writer. "When the chips are down: Mcdonald's strategy of opening more restaurants to compensate for failing US market share has backfired, says Richard Tomkins." Financial Times [London] 16 July 1997:25. Lexis Nexis. Online. 26 Nov 1997
Stewart, D.R. "Tyson devoting half of new plant to meet nugget orders." Arkansas Democrat-Gazzette 10 Dec 1996: 1D. Lexis Nexis. Online. 30 Nov 1997.
Tiernan, Becky. "Companines Outline Value of Quality, Teamwork Strategies." Tulsa World [Tulsa, Oklahoma] 9 Feb 1997: E1. Lexis Nexis. Online. 26 Nov 1997
Tobenkin, David. "Golden State Foods Corp.: Food Firm Bids Consumer a Good Time and Great Taste." The Los Angeles Business Journal 5 Feb 1990:14. Lexis Nexis. Online. 30 Nov 1997.
All images on this page were taken from the Mcdonald's web site found at http.//www.mcdonalds.com./
This Page Created by Heidi Ward.