McDonald's Management Meal

In 1948, the brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald introduced
the "Speedee Service System" which established the principles of the
modern fast-food restaurant.  The brothers decided to close down their
successful carhop drive-thru operation and reinvent their McDonald’s hamburger
restaurant, focusing on efficiency and consistency. Dick and Mac, as they were
known, simplified the menu and took great care in setting up their kitchen as
an assembly line to maximize efficiency. 

In 1954, Ray Kroc, a seller of Multimixer milkshake machines, learned that
the McDonalds brothers were using eight of his high-tech Multimixers in their
restaurant. His curiosity drove him to visit their San Bernardino, California
restaurant (his other clients only used two of his machines at most).  From what he saw, Kroc immediately felt that
the McDonalds “Speedee Service System” was a ticket to success and the future
in restaurant services.  Kroc soon convinced
the McDonald brothers to franchise, believing that their streamlined operations
would provide the consistency ultimately needed to expand to a national market.  McDonald’s Corporation was born.

Today, McDonald’s Corporation’s mission statement says:

“McDonald's
brand mission is to "be our customers' favorite place and way to
eat." Our worldwide operations have been aligned around a global strategy
called the Plan to Win, centering on the five basics of an exceptional customer
experience – People, Products, Place, Price and Promotion. We are committed to
improving our operations and enhancing our customers' experience.”



It
is clearly observed from McDonald’s mission statement that the “customers’
experience” is of paramount importance to McDonald’s Corporation today.  McDonald’s is attempting to add value to its
brand by providing much more than food…an experience.  Also, by clearly defining this in its mission
statement, McDonald’s is attempting to establish a strong organizational
culture which it hopes will ultimately benefit its customers.







Is
McDonald’s Corporation actually successful in delivering on their global
customer experience strategy?  Can a company
who has conditioned me throughout my lifetime, by brilliant advertising
campaigns, to order in ways that will not disrupt the hamburger assembly line
also genuinely provide customer experience to me?  Early McDonalds shortened its menu, which
decreased variations in orders and in turn increased order completion speed.  Modern McDonalds’ came up with “value-meals”
which streamlined customers’ ordering habits. Today we walk into McDonalds and order a number one without a second
thought coming to mind that we have been trained to do so.  Am I not upset that McDonalds doesn’t believe
that I can order a hamburger meal efficiently? Maybe they are right…I am a picky eater.

What happens when we deviate from
the plan?  What happens if we decide to
get adventurous at McDonald’s?  Will ordering
something off the menu halt its hamburger assembly line, just as customizing a
Model T would have disrupted Ford’s automobile assembly line?    Or
has McDonald’s mission statement developed a strong organizational culture that
trickles down even to those service employees that I interact with?  When McDonald’s is forced to temporarily
revert to the company’s founders’ “Speede Service System” mission, does the
integrity of their proclaimed “customer experience” become compromised? We will
test whether or not McDonald’s Corporation’s mission statement has actually transcended
throughout the company, specifically by attempting a simple off-the-menu food
order.  We will rate McDonald’s staff’s
management processes or our “extra special order,” examining organization,
communications, training, and leadership qualities of McDonald’s processes.

I walked into a McDonald’s
franchise located at 3215 Kennedy Boulevard in Union City, New Jersey.  While standing in line, somewhat nervous
about my upcoming order, I observed eleven staff members:  four cashiers, four chefs, two managers, (they
were wearing white shirts) and one “drive-thru” cashier.   An unassuming cashier who we will call “Gloria”
said, with a big smile, “Welcome to McDonald’s, would you like to try a
value-meal?”  I place my order: “Sure,
may I have a number one, (“Big Mac” meal), one six piece chicken nuggets, two
cheeseburgers, one small well done french fries accompanied with “Big
Mac” sauce for dipping, and one “McDouble” hamburger with exactly five
pickles on it.  I also told Gloria
that I needed a receipt that stated my order exactly. 

Gloria inputed my aforementioned “usual”
menu items into the register easily. However, when I began to modify the menu items (above underlined) she
seemed to be bewildered.   One of the
store’s managers, who seemed to be “floating around” the restaurant in an
attempt to ensure its “business flow,” immediately sensed her discomfort and
embraced I guess what he felt was his responsibility to accommodate my special
requests.

Ronnie asked me if he could “start
the order from scratch.”  I agreed and he
cancelled the previous order.  As he
became aware of my special requests and decided how to address them, he first
explained to me what he would have to do to accommodate me, and after my “okay”,
he then preceded to give directions to his fellow employees.  For example, when I explained that I needed
exactly five pickles on my hamburger and that the receipt had to say that
exactly, he explained to me that it was no problem for his chef to accommodate me,
however, that the register only gave him an option of adding pickles once (his
reasoning was that McDonald’s doesn’t charge for extra pickles).  He then shouted an order to his chef in Spanish
which I could not understand - I did here “cinco” though and assumed his
directions were in regards to the pickles on the hamburger.  Also, he explained to me that I would have to
wait an extra five minutes for the well done french fries.  What was interesting was that when I
requested “Big Mac” sauce on the side for dipping he responded, “Oh, you want “Mac”
sauce,” as if it was a “normal” special request. 

As I stood waiting for my well done
fries I was still skeptical.  I thought
to myself that there was no way that there was going to be exactly five pickles
on my burger, and that I would not be able to tell the difference between well
done fries and regular cooked fries. However when I received my order, in contrast to my expectations,  every special item order that I had requested
was executed perfectly, and the entire order process didn’t take any longer to
complete (besides having to wait for the well done fries) than any other “normal”
orders I had previously placed at McDonald’s. 

Through this simple ordering
experiment, I experienced first-hand how organizational culture can actually
influence the way a company’s employees interact with its customers.  Ronnie made me feel that it was his duty to
ensure my satisfying “customer experience” and most importantly, it did seem
that he genuinely did care.  I was
impressed on how efficiently (Mac and Dick would be proud) and how effectively
(Ray Kroc would also be proud) McDonald’s staff handled this special situation.  Ultimately, I attribute the success of the
order process to Ronnie’s confidence, although it is unclear to me whether or
not this manager’s actions in handling of this special situation were trained
to him by McDonald’s or it was just his natural leadership abilities.  I would suggest to McDonald’s to instruct its
employees to always ask a manager’s input if they are uncertain about how to accommodate
the customer.  Perhaps, I would even go
so far as to suggesting to McDonald’s that it should hire people in “plain
clothes” to carry out similar special orders in an attempt to measure how
effectively McDonald’s is actually providing for a satisfying customer experience.