RSS Feed

« The Brand Called... Who? VIII Consultants on the Move »
April 11, 2006

9:17 pm | 0 recommendations | 7 comments

Fast Food, Farther Afield

| posted by Heath Row

Say what? (Don't talk with your mouth full!) When I order at the takeout window of my local McDonald's, I might be talking to someone in Honolulu? Sure enough, for the last year-plus, the Big Mac of fast food has been working with a call center that handles drive-through orders at 40 restaurants around the country.

Forget offshoring. Let's talk about out-of-state-sourcing. (OK, so it's a stretch. Maybe my coinage won't catch on.)

I can understand some of the efficiency and cost-savings aspects of this experiment, but it gives me little hope for what might otherwise seem to be a dead-end job -- and one sought my many people who deserve better. What does it mean for fast-food franchise management development, customer-facing service improvements, and the overall morale of Mickey D workers?

If you're good with people, but you flip burgers, where do you turn? If you're lucky, now just the registers and another retail job in the future. Because the customer service aspect and nascent sales training -- up sell, cross sell -- has been diminished.

(I also wonder whether this presages a move to McDonald's with no walk ins or table seating. But that feels a little too Soylent Green for my tastes.)

Food for thought...

Tags: Management, customer service
Report Content

Comment

Recent Comments | 7 Total

April 12, 2006 at 11:36am

mahendrakumardash

How long they will continue to serve better and maintain the quality of food ,both factors will decide the future.

Report Content

April 12, 2006 at 4:37pm

Pete Carvajal

I've been in the Restaurant Point of Sale industry for many years and this is the first idea that can revolutionize the way an order is taken. I don't suspect the quality of the food will change...but if done correctly the quality and speed of the order taking process can improve greatly.

Report Content

April 13, 2006 at 6:05pm

Godfrey Parkin

Why talk out-of-state when you can cyborder? I suggested more than a year ago that McDs, Starbucks, and others who have regular customers with predictable orders could shave minutes off each order by giving customers an RFID-embedded card. Readers at the entrance doors or drive-through would identify the customer and send the expected order to the kitchen before said customer even got to a point where s/he could talk to a living order-taker.

After a few weeks of predictive modeling, the cost savings would be significant and the perceived service levels would jump. Who doesn't want to be greeted by name by an already-prepared associate, and get their burger or latte a few minutes faster?

Report Content

April 13, 2006 at 6:45pm

Dale Leatherwood

There already are McDonalds with no table seating or walk-ins. There was one in Raleigh, NC at least 7 years ago. Great idea if you ask me.

As for the cyberorder, what if you don't want the "usual" or have someone else in the car with you who wants something too? Will that be waste for the store? Aren't they already doing essentially the same thing now by predictively modeling how many Big Macs, Whoppers, etc. will be ordered on any given day or hour? It's rare that a Big Mac should have to be made from scratch at lunchtime.

Report Content

April 15, 2006 at 7:24am

Mats Bergman

This is actually something that can reduce the stress that must be ever-present when working at a drive-through restaurant and I think a reform such as this can actually be good, if managed well.

Report Content

April 15, 2006 at 11:50am

mahendra kumar dash

Handling orders this way will definitely improve sales ,but if quality is not maintained then it will nosedive very fast.

Report Content

April 16, 2006 at 5:35am

Blaze

See it might work well but these companies are losing their personal touch.

That being said I can't say I wouldn't make this decision if it proved smarter if I was making the decisions at McDonald's.

Report Content

Comment