Mathematics at McDonalds

Our mathematical ideas

Counting
O Money
O Change
O Totaling an order
O Counting how many nuggets go into each packet
O How many things are needed within each order
O How many fries
O How many burgers
O How many straws
O How many napkins

Our mathematical ideas

continued
Numbers
O Calling out numbers for customers to

receive their orders

O Stating the total amount of the order
O The number of things ordered

Our mathematical ideas

continued
Measuring
O The amount of fries that are put into

each bucket and then into the deep

fryer
O The size of the drinks
O How many fries go into a small,
medium and large packet
O How many coffee beans do I put into
each coffee does the size matter?

Our mathematical ideas

continued
Time
O Being able to tell 24 hour time (the

roster is in 24 hour time).

Counting Examples

Number Examples

Measuring Examples

Time Example

Our Interview with

Name: Zac Keltie
Age: 20
Occupation: Manager at Yarraville Mc
Donalds
Duration: 2 years
Zac is the product quality manager
for Yarraville he also helps with the
management of running the shifts.
This means he looks after the quality
of everything in the store ranging
from burgers to coffees, this is his
responsibility.

Q: What do you think about when you

have to give change to a customer?
A: Luckily when giving change to a
customer the register totals the amount
and then allows you to select how it was
tendered. There is an exact cash button, if
you paid with a $5, $10,$20,$50 note or it
even allows you to type in what the
customer is giving you into a calculator
How do you gather the change?
I count the dollars and then the cents
when giving change to a customer as it is
my responsibility that there are no
variations on my till at the end of my shift.

Q:What do you think about when

cashing a customers order?
As an employee at Mc Donalds you need to be
aware of how to detect fake money. Fake money
comes through Mc Donalds quite often and the
customer usually orders something cheap so they
can get majority of the money. If the fake money is
accepted the drawer will be down. However
employees are trained how to detect this ie. Can it
rip?, Is it paper?, is the window clear?, is there
white out on it? Ect.
Something that you need to also be aware of when
cashing a customers order is different money
currency. Quite often will customers try and hand
off different currency in coins. The employees of Mc
Donalds need to be able to detect this and rectify
it.

Q: How do you check that you have

the required items for your order?
A: With technology these
days checking the order is
becoming easier. The order
is totaled on the screen
and lists what is needed
for that particular order.
Employees of Mc Donalds
simply need to count what
you have placed on the
tray or in the bag and
match it to the screen.

Q: How do you time how long

the fries will cook for?
A:Mc Donalds fries take 3
minutes to cook. Cooking fries in
the vats are simple as you press
the button when you put them in
to cook. At 2minutes 30 seconds
it will beep and ask you to shake
it. It is a countdown timer as seen
on the left and will beep and
state done on the vat once the
chips are cooked.
Mc Donalds chips are kept up to
10 minutes in the fry station.
Once the 10 minutes is up a
portable timer will buzz above
the station to indicate that the
batch of fries needs to be wasted.

Q: How do you know how many

fries to put into each serve?
A: Size matters and when it comes to fries it is
important to get the right amount of fries as it can
effect yield summaries if too many fries go into
each packet. We make the fries using one hand a
small contains 75 grams, medium contains 117
grams and a large contains 154 grams. How do we
know how many grams? After putting the chips in
the fry scoop it should be one motion where the
chips fall into the packet. Employees are told not to
stuff the packets.
Furthermore we had a automatic fry dispenser that
dispenses fries in small, medium, or large loads. A
small load would allow you to make 2 large, and
medium would allow you to make 2 large and 2
medium, and a large would allow you to make 2
large 2 medium and 2 small packets of fries.

Q: How do you get the drink

sizes the same every time?
A:Knowing drink sizes is easy at
Mc Donald's whether its a soft
drink, shake or even a frappe
all our drinks are calibrated to
the correct size. This allows us
to track our yields on drinks
quite closely to see what is
coming in and what is coming
out. These calibrations are set
by the company.

Q: What are is an example

where you count money?
A: On the left hand side is a
example of the safe control
sheet. This online document
is used to track our money in
float which is kept in the safe
and petty cash. Float is
counted by a manager before
their shift and after their shift
to track if there are any
money variations throughout
the day. The float consists of
coins and notes. At my store
the float is at $4000 so you
could only imagine how many
coins would need to be
counted. Often you will need
to do re counts as it is easy to
loose track however this
document makes it easy as
you enter the amount as you
count it.

Q: Why do you time how long

it takes for orders?
Mc Donalds has standards just like any
other company. They have expected
ordering times(how long it takes to place
your order) and total expereicne times
(how long it takes to order and get your
food). At my store through drive thru it is
expected that the customer will take within
25 seconds to place the order, 15 seconds
to cash and the total time they are in the
drive thru for is 210 seconds. On the left is
a drive through timer. It allows use to track
how many cars and how long they have
been in our drive thru. If a customer goes
over the expected total experience time it
affects our timer and as you can see from
the picture our score board is 92%. This
indicates that for the last rolling how 8% of
cars have exceeded the expected time.

Continued
O On front counter a similar system works to be able to see how

long it takes. Where you collect the order from times each
order. Once again there are expectations that you are to serve
and give the customer their order within a certain time.
O Australia wide we can see if all stores are at the expected time
for drive thru 24/7. This leader board ranks you depending on
how many cars have come within the hour and if they have
been under the expected time. Below is the score board.

Q: What is some examples of

when you count produce?
A: On the left is an example of our daily stock take
sheet. Each night before closing we are to count
specific items. The items on this list can be added
and taken off. Each month this alters as there is no
need to be counting items that there is no variations
for. This sheet is to track how much product we
have left and does it match up with what we have
sold. On Sundays there is an extensive weekly stock
take sheet and our monthly stock take sheet is even
more extensive. At the end of each month we count
individually every product in the store this means
counting individual ketchup packets, individual salt
packets, boxes of chicken etc. After the stock is
counted a stock and yield report can be accessible
to indicate any differences.

Q: What is some examples of when

you count produce? (continued)
A: Another example of counting
within Mc Donalds is our fries.
This picture sits above the fry
station and tells the employee
how many packets of each fries
is needed. It is also used for
breakfast where hash browns are
listed. This screen is very helpful
when its busy as employees
dont need to call out what size
fries they need the employee on
that station can see themselves.

Q: What is some examples of when

you count produce? (continued)
A: This picture is an example of
our product level system. This is
displayed for the kitchen boys
which allows them to know how
many of each item they should
have up at one time. For example
for chicken it says 2 trays with 2
units this would mean there
would be 4 individual patties up.
This system is used so we are
only cooking what we are going
to sell and that we arent going
to have to waste any products.
Employees are encouraged to
cook less, more often so
customers are guaranteed to get
hot food.

Q: How do employees know when there

working and how do they get paid?
A:Rostering is done online. Mc
Donald's have an online
system for employees called
METIME. This allows
employees to know what
shifts they are working for the
week. The picture to the left
is the smart clock. This is
where crew clock on for
shifts, clock off for breaks and
clock off for shifts. The clock
is in twenty four hour time as
is the roster. This clock allows
us to see if the crew are on
over time, time the breaks
and when they are rostered.

Q: How do you know how much

sauce to put on each burger?
What about if they ask for extra
sauce
A: Like the drinks each sauce
gun is calibrated to dispense
certain mls. Every sauce that
is used on burgers is
calibrated to a certain
amount. The calibrations vary
from burger to burger. If a
customer requests for extra
sauce instead of putting one
shot of sauce on the burger
you would put two.

Q:In Mc Caf what is the difference

between the coffee shot sizes?
A:Just like sauces our coffee
machines are calibrated to
dispense a certain amount of
coffee. This calibration is the same
at every McDonalds in Australia.
O Small:55ml
O Medium:75ml
O Large:110ml
O These calibrations cannot be
touched unless you are a
manager. Also there is no way a
crew member could accidently
change these calibrations.

Q: How do you know how many

buns you need for each day?
A: Buns are delivered
twice weekly. Each
night the buns are
counted and put in
our system. In our
system it tracks how
many were used for
the day and from our
count how many are
remaining. This
information is sent to
our bun company.

Reflection
We were surprised with some of our findings
from the interview. Zac showed us many
documents that we both didnt know existed. For
example on the next page is a picture of one
weeks results for their store. This allows the
managers to pin point the top business
indicators for the week as it clearly shows what
areas are opportunities and what they are doing
well. Highlighted in the green is what is expected
and what Yarraville are doing well and in the red
are opportunities- so times where they didnt get
the recommended time.

Reflection continued
It was interesting to hear from a managers point of
view to understand the business side of things. As we
are both customers we have asked questions in the
past like why cant they just give me the sweet and
sour sauce for free? Why dont they fill up the chips
more?
From this interview we understood that like many
companies Mc Donalds have standards, and these
standards need to be met to run a successful
business. It was interesting to see that a standard
could range from the amount of mls in a small coffee
shot to the expected total experience time for a
customer in the drive thru.

Continued
O We predicated prior to going to the workplace that there would be various

mathematical concepts within the store, however didnt realize the extent.
There was things we just did not take into consideration when we were
brainstorming like putting a certain number of chicken patties in one tray
so they can continue to stay hot.
O Doing this interview at Mc Donalds has been an eye opener as we both

didnt realize the amount of mathematics in one work place which makes
us believe and also compare to our own workplaces that mathematical
concepts are everywhere in our society and we do it sometimes without
realizing.
O Zac mentioned in the interview that although he doesnt like mathematics

being in a workplace like Mc Donalds you are constantly being exposed to

it as you are counting and adding. Although he doesnt believe he is
doing math he is able to do it without thinking it is math's. He is
contributing to the society mathematically when you walk through the
door of his store and you order.

Continued..
Zac showed us the behind the scenes
of Yarraville Mc Donalds. He exposed
us to documents and produce that as
non employees of Mc Donalds are
thank full of the opportunity.
O As a customer we also didnt realize
how much mathematics was
entailed. The obvious was counting
the money that comes in.

We would like to thank McDonalds

Yarraville for the help and support with
this task and to Zac Keltie For
conducting an interview with us.

APA Referencing:
O Australia, M. D. (2015). Mc Donald's Australia.

Retrieved March 25th, 2015, from https://

mcdonalds.com.au
O Figure 1. Crossan, A. (2013) Retrieved from
http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-09-18/australiantown-not-happy-about-new-mcdonalds
O Figure 2-35. Newton, G. (2015) From Iphone
O Figure 35=6. Kate. (2012) Retrieved from
https://letsgetmilkshakes.wordpress.com/2012/09/
04/seeking-person-of-skill-to-help-me-build-my-i
nvention
/