I have to admit, I love McDonald’s but over the years, I have seen several changes that just don’t make sense. The very business model/ concept (i.e. that it is fast food and cheap) that made them successful during the yesteryears is now thrown out the window . At present, it is far from fast and not at all cheap! One has to wonder why they are detracting from that proven business concept.

I am baffled how I can actually eat at Pizza Hut or another restaurant for a cheaper price than I can order a meal for two at McDonald’s. It cost me about $18 the last time I went to get a meal for both of us there and I wasn’t even full (compared with Pizza Hut costing about $12 for a supreme pizza, salad, 2 drinks with unlimited refills and 8 breadsticks).

Some of the changes I question:

• Gone are the premade burgers, nuggets, fries and other foods - now it is all made to order.
  Why do they even do that?… putting it under a hot/ warm light (as they did in the past) and separating each item in specific product trays would just be equally as good. It is not as if we are getting hot burgers now — I don’t see the difference from then till now… the burgers are equally as flat, fries are equally as soggy, temperature of the food is still the same. So what’s the point of the made to order concept? It just wastes serving time.
• They are cutting down on cashiers and doing the “taking 3-4 orders at the same time per cashier” concept. Not sure the reasoning behind that one. This may be one of those brilliant ideas they got from an expensive hired consultant but in reality, it doesn’t work… it takes more time for one cashier to fulfill 3-4 orders at the same time then it is to have one cashier do one at a time. Also, the amount of messed up orders & mistakes increases. I have noticed that the cashiers have trouble juggling orders and they tend to wait for one order to be fulfilled (and to do one at a time) than doing them all at the same time — which defeats the whole purpose of the new ordering process.
• They have tried (and done away with) the ordering procedure of having one person ring up the order and multiple people fulfilling it. I believe that this one worked better than the ordering procedure of “taking 3-4 orders at the same time per cashier”. It works very well at Wendy’s.
• Why bring back the boxed burger (for the quarter pounders and big macs) when wrapping it up is cheaper? Spend your costs on other things like improving productivity, the ordering system and maybe hiring more staff.
• Why reduce the size of your fruit and walnut salad and deserts while not reducing the price by substantial amounts or price it in proportion to the amount given. Are you trying to pull a fast one on us and think we won’t notice?

With McDonald’s being a franchise, I am not sure how much the head office governs its individual franchisees with its business process and operations. But they better get their act straight; you can only live on your name for so long. When people start to get sick of the increasing prices, bad service and incompetent staff… they are just going to take their money elsewhere regardless of the fancy sponsorships, happy meals or promotional offers you do.