McDonald's Learns Sometimes Less is More

Photo: wikipedia

I found an interesting article for operations management folks.

McDonald's has realized that its addition of so many new products is creating service issues. It goes to show that, by adding too many items or making the ordering process more complicated, you can create bottlenecks and reduce customer satisfaction. That is never a good thing.

The article quotes Jeff Stratton, president of McDonald's USA, who acknowledges that the company's torrid introduction of menu items "created challenges for the restaurants." Looking back, Stratton adds that he "would have taken more time" to study how introducing new items would impact service.

Turnaround times are a big deal. I know that I have left other fast-food restaurants after walking in the door to realize how long I would have to wait. A number of restaurants try to address this issue; Chick-fil-A, for instance, adds order takers to its drive through lines during the lunch rush to handle more
volume.

Apparently, McDonald's service times took a hit this year, posting the slowest turnaround in the 15 years that QSR Magazine, a trade publication, has been keeping track. In response, McDonald's plans to introduce new preparation tables to accommodate more ingredients and, thus, accelerate the assembly process.

It will be interesting to see how such a subtle change in the kitchen will influence the turnaround times.

Too Much Gourmet? We Need a New Word for Quality

One of many 'gourmet' shops in the Atlanta airport.

It has been quite awhile since my last post. And for that I apologize.

My employer occasionally sends me on business trips. I get to travel to parts of the country that I have never visited before ... but I also find myself so swamped that I don't have enough time to blog. Tradeoffs are so much fun!

During one of my trips I was walking (more like sprinting) through the airport in Atlanta. As I was passing by the numerous stands and cafe offerings, I noticed something.

Food vendors sure seem to rely heavily on the word gourmet. Gourmet coffee. Gourmet salads.

Gourmet sandwiches. Gourmet everything. I could not believe it. You would think that, eventually, some enterprising restaurateur would go to Thesaurus.com and rustle up a synonym for that word. I don't know why this got on my nerves so much, and then it hit me.

Yes, it is important to position your offerings as high-quality fare. But when you use the same verbiage as your competition, you run the risk of having your message get lost in the clatter. That's how I felt. I never really noticed what type of salad was for sale, or the name of the vendor selling coffee. All I saw was gourmet, gourmet, gourmet, until it was all one big foodie blur.

Vendors in the Atlanta airport ... be daring and differentiate. If so, I might by a sandwich from you the next time I speed through between flights.