5 ms·

IIRC McDonalds still does this for some subset of its corporate workforce.

dataengineer56 4y ago
I know of several restaurant chains who do this - it's seen as very important for restaurant head office workers to understand exactly how the restaurants work and the problems that they experience.
kotaKat 4y ago
And depending on the franchise owner, could also be the franchise. My first McJob was at an owner-operated McDonalds where the owner would roll in at lunch on a Saturday in his BMW Z4, see the lunch rush, wash his hands, throw on some gloves, and call out to turn on the other side of the grill for assembly and start packing orders himself on that side to help out the workload. Gained a lot of respect as an impressionable young adult on what a good leader looks like at that job because his efforts trickled down to his store manager and the managers underneath them.
- screwturner68 4y ago
  I don't know if it's still the case but you used to have to go to Hamburger U before you could own a McD's so you knew how to do the job. I actually see it all the time and you can always tell who the owner is, instead of some really uninterested 17 year old you get a middle aged man in a pressed (insert fast food name) polo who is super happy to take your order.
  - greedo 4y ago
    HU is still mandatory, though I didn't feel it was that challenging. A lot of rote memorization basically.
- greedo 4y ago
  Our Owner/operator was a former bicycle salesman who knew hot fries, and that was it. I wouldn't say he was hands off (he insisted that I violate civil rights/labor laws may he rot in hell), but he really didn't understand much more than squeezing out every penny. The worst thing was that Ray Kroc's wife live in the next town over and routinely came through our drive thru. Once the lot was being re-surfaced and she was royally pissed that the drive thru was closed and she had to come inside and mingle with the hoi polloi.
rchowe 4y ago
Apparently this is why some of the McDonalds restaurants in the Oak Brook / Chicago area are very good (or at least perfectly to spec)... they are owned by corporate and used for executive training.
- screwturner68 4y ago
  That is the most expensive McDonalds I've ever been too.
badwolf 4y ago
Waffle House also required you to work in a restaurant for some time before they'll let you buy a franchise.

I know of several restaurant chains who do this - it's seen as very important for restaurant head office workers to understand exactly how the restaurants work and the problems that they experience.

kotaKat 4y ago

And depending on the franchise owner, could also be the franchise. My first McJob was at an owner-operated McDonalds where the owner would roll in at lunch on a Saturday in his BMW Z4, see the lunch rush, wash his hands, throw on some gloves, and call out to turn on the other side of the grill for assembly and start packing orders himself on that side to help out the workload. Gained a lot of respect as an impressionable young adult on what a good leader looks like at that job because his efforts trickled down to his store manager and the managers underneath them.

screwturner68 4y ago
I don't know if it's still the case but you used to have to go to Hamburger U before you could own a McD's so you knew how to do the job. I actually see it all the time and you can always tell who the owner is, instead of some really uninterested 17 year old you get a middle aged man in a pressed (insert fast food name) polo who is super happy to take your order.
- greedo 4y ago
  HU is still mandatory, though I didn't feel it was that challenging. A lot of rote memorization basically.
greedo 4y ago
Our Owner/operator was a former bicycle salesman who knew hot fries, and that was it. I wouldn't say he was hands off (he insisted that I violate civil rights/labor laws may he rot in hell), but he really didn't understand much more than squeezing out every penny. The worst thing was that Ray Kroc's wife live in the next town over and routinely came through our drive thru. Once the lot was being re-surfaced and she was royally pissed that the drive thru was closed and she had to come inside and mingle with the hoi polloi.

rchowe 4y ago

Apparently this is why some of the McDonalds restaurants in the Oak Brook / Chicago area are very good (or at least perfectly to spec)... they are owned by corporate and used for executive training.

screwturner68 4y ago
That is the most expensive McDonalds I've ever been too.

badwolf 4y ago

Waffle House also required you to work in a restaurant for some time before they'll let you buy a franchise.