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The last time I ate fast food was in the 90's, but even then I remember there was sometimes a wait depending on the time of day. Late night at Taco Bell could take quite some time.
Did I miss something? When there is a long line of cars waiting in the drive through, any sensible person would park and go in to order. Sometimes families with a lot of little kids really need the drive through. But most drive through drivers I have seen are single adult drivers. Walk in, have a number of people wait on you, get back in your car and go. Being lazy can add to the "fast" factor, and let's face it, most Americans need the walk.
Increasing customers, with drive-thrus, larger menu, decreasing staff, custom orders, and people too lazy to stay home and cook causing more people to go to fast-food restaurants.
When I worked at McDonald's in 1994, we had wrapped hamburgers, cheeseburgers, all the main ones in a warming area where servers can just pick it and place it on the tray, put the fries in a carton, and put a cup on the tray. Now you have to wait for your sandwich to be made.
Also lack of discipline (If you have time to lean, you have time to clean). Management have gotten more lax. The older generation was more disciplined than the newer.
Increasing customers, with drive-thrus, larger menu, decreasing staff, custom orders, and people too lazy to stay home and cook causing more people to go to fast-food restaurants.
When I worked at McDonald's in 1994, we had wrapped hamburgers, cheeseburgers, all the main ones in a warming area where servers can just pick it and place it on the tray, put the fries in a carton, and put a cup on the tray. Now you have to wait for your sandwich to be made.
Also lack of discipline (If you have time to lean, you have time to clean). Management have gotten more lax. The older generation was more disciplined than the newer.
Actually in 1991 working at burger king we had plenty of time to lean, and you still got your food as soon as you ordered it, Why? because we would make a crap ton of all the most common items filled up the heat lamp rack, made a bunch of baselines to but in the steamer(just meat and bread for the special orders so all we had to do was add the toppings for special orders) cleaned up after ourselves and it would be almost an hour before we had to clean again in the kitchen or make new burgers(except for special orders), the last fast food job I had after that was for 2 weeks at a beefers in 2004 it had been 10 years since I worked fast food at that point, I quit after 2 weeks, making an order from scratch only after its ordered is a nightmare you are constantly moving for hours at a time, plus with fewer people in the kitchen you never seem to get ahead much less catch up.
I consider fast food to be anything under 5 minutes. McDonalds seldom breaks just a few minutes. My local Burger King and Taco Bell are much slower. There’s only 1 Taco Bell in my city and it’s not unusual for them to have 10-15 cars lined up. I’ve eaten there a few times the last few years and it almost always takes at least 10-15 minutes. Their food isn’t good enough to wait that long, so I don’t go there anymore. I can get food at almost any Mexican restaurant in 15 minutes for carryout.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever waited more then 5 minutes at a McDonald’s. I think that’s fairly impressive.
A couple years ago we happened into our local McDonalds when they were having an inspection from corporate. We noticed something was "off" when we walked in -- the place was spotless and the workers were actually hustling. Had a clock running showing serve times, with the expeditor calling them out with each order, and big "way to work team" and "let's keep those serve times going" like you would see in some idealized TV show. They were running about 33 seconds per order when we were in that day. And the food actually looked like the picture.
Of course the next day they were right back to their sloppy ways, mumbled "can I take your order" and lackadaisical attitude toward service and customers. No wonder Chick Filet is kicking their butts.
I eat "fast" food about every other week and then it's usually if I'm pressed for time. From what I've observed: (1) Fast food is not fast, and fast food is not cheap. (2) Management is lackluster at best and service with a smile is from the past (3) If they really wanted to return to their trademarked fast food status, management would return to setting a maximum of easily prepared meals and have teams that were well trained in churning them out quickly and professionally. If they want to go more upscale casual (i.e. Panera bread, etc.) then do so with another concept using their brand. McDonalds has always said that they're in the real estate business too, so use that real estate and apply a shared business concept. Then if people have to wait for something "fast" they're not mixed in with those that want something more "fast, upscale and tailored to order". Just my 2 cents.
I also think once a fast food place goes public, the quality of the food diminishes and the morale lowers. McDonald's, Yum! Brand, etc.
Further expansion of fast food places, which are too many too fast all across America, could contribute to the poor quality of food. Also poor management.
McDonald's used to be good when I was a kid (fries fried in beef fat). I used to love the Chicken McNuggets. Last time I had McNuggets two years ago, there was an odd aftertaste. Old oil? First time I noticed, I thought it was a one-time thing. Second time, in a different location, same thing. Third time, again in a different location, same thing.
There's a reason why most Texans prefer Whataburger over McDonald's. Whataburger is cleaner, food is better, employees are nicer, more professional, and more competent, and they stay private within the Dobson family. No IPO will occur.
There's a reason why Whataburger didn't expand across all of America. Whataburger really hasn't changed the menu much. They added a few things slowly over the years, but not at the level like McDonald's.
I also think the communication among corporate and managers at Whataburger is much better than McDonald's, due to the fewer locations. Over 800 Whataburgers in America versus over 14,000 McDonald's in America alone.
I even see little Texan kids cheering and being happy at Whataburger.
Food was fast then they made up a bunch of burgers, wrapped them in paper, set them on a warming tray, and when you ordered one, they handed it to you. Or roller skated out to your car and set a tray on the window. Now you have to wait for somebody on the line to make one up exactly the way you want it.
More and more people want their burger grilled after they order it, an served hot. That's not gonna happen if you want it in 39 seconds. Restaurants are responding to customer demand, and diners would rather have it cooked to order, than off the stack.
This.
Want a good example? Walk into a Chik-fil-A. You can either have fried chicken, grilled chicken, chicken strips, or chicken nuggets. Everything on their menu board is a variant of that. I've never had to wait more than two minutes for any order as a result.
Meanwhile, walk into a Burger King, and the menu board reads like a freaking Departures board at an international airport. I personally like Burger King, but I always ask myself, "Is this going to be worth it?"
I am normally a very controlled person in public. Last Tuesday, when I took my youngest son to McDonalds as promised; it took 47 minutes to go through the drive-thru & by that time I was screaming out the window.
On the other hand, it’s probably the first time in about 3 months (I take him twice a month) that they managed to not screw up my order & the ice cream machine was even working (not that’s it’s really broken when they say it is. It’s just a huge PITA so they won’t refill it).
Only chick fil a and in n out burger are willing to pay their employees a decent wage so the ccustomer
service just keeps getting worse at the other fast food places. I have definitely noticed this over the last few years.
And don’t think kiosks are going to help. I went to my first McDonald’s that only has order kiosks, which were fantastic to use, but the wait to get the food (they bring it out to the table) was one of the longest I have ever waited at a McDonald’s.
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