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.