There’s a slight possibility that, on occasion, I may indulge in a guilty pleasure or two at McDonald’s when things get hectic.
After experiencing something multiple times, and seeing it happen to others, I feel there are two things the company could do to:
- Reduce customer waiting time
- Reduce the number of meals with errors
To be clear, I’ve never worked at McDonald’s and don’t know much (if anything) about their operation, but do feel as though this is a good observation
Here’s one ordering scenario that I’ve seen happen time and time again.
Employee – “Hi, welcome to McDonalds may I take your order?”
Customer – “I’d like a number 4 please with no pickle and add ketchup, and a Coke to drink please. Oh, and make that a large meal.”
“Large meal.” That’s the kicker.
When you say that, the employee has to completely back out of the order and start over.
Why? Because the option to make your meal a large is at the beginning of the ordering process.
When this happens it adds time to the ordering process and increases the likelihood of errors.
In regards to the errors, employees will try to rekey the order without asking the customer the specifics again, and that can result in things being skipped over. I almost always subtract or add something to my order, so this is coming from experience. No pickles please!
The Solution
If McDonald’s retooled their ordering software (I know that’s easier said than done) so that the large meal option could be keyed at any point, or at the end of the process, it would likely result in shorter wait times and less order errors.
Now, you might also be thinking, “Wouldn’t it just be easier if employees asked the meal size at the start of the process?” To my understanding that’s what they are supposed to be doing, but it just doesn’t happen. From what I’ve seen “Would you like a medium or large meal?” just doesn’t flow right when mixed with, “Hi, welcome to McDonald’s may I take your order?”
Again, I’m just a casual customer that doesn’t know much about McDonald’s processes, but I’m also a customer that has experience this enough to know that it’s an opportunity for improvement.
And yes, I’m nerdy enough to ask various employees if they think this is a consistent issue, and if this solution would make the process better. The answer has always been yes.
Have any processes like this stood out to you before?
PS – now I’m craving those guilty pleasures again. Coke. Fries. And maybe a burger. 🙂
