"Welcome to McDonald's!

Can I take your

order please?" On average I would repeat this
phrase at least 500 times on any given shift,
and depending on the customer's response I
had another set of questions ready to go. As the
customer placed their order, I would enter it
into my computer. The order would then flash
up on two screens inside the restaurant. One
screen would face towards the grill, and the
other in the drive-through booth where the
customer is handed their food and drink by yet
another smiling employee. However, this description is deceiving and does not begin to describe
the complex system of production that occurs every afternoon in your local McDonald's store.
Drawing from my own experience as a employee of McDonald's, and my research on the
McDonald's chain of production, I hope to take you on a tour, or rather the tour your food makes
around the country before landing in your lap.

Your Order
Because production at McDonald's changes every hour, let me first set up the scene. It is a
weekday afternoon around 12:30. You have just driven up to the drive-through greeted by a long
line of cars. After nearly dying of heat exhaustion and carbon monoxide poisoning you finally
make it to the speaker where you are greeted by me, a cheerful employee who has been at the
store since six o'clock that morning. However, while we hear each other's voices we will never
meet each other face to face. Due the extreme lunch rush, we are running a four man drive-
through, consisting of the order- taker, money-taker, runner (person who assembles the order)
and presenter (the happy employee who hands the order to the even happier customer). As I take
your order: "A number two extra value meal super-sized with a coke, six piece chicken
McNuggets, and a apple pie," I will prepare your drink and then move on to the next order.
However, while the process seems very simple, let's follow the order through the chain of
production inside the store, and see how complicated a simple meal can be.
The Cheeseburgers
In the rush of lunch hour, the production team is quite efficient as each task is broken down and
one person covers each task. First, hamburger patties are cooked. The number of patties and what
type of patties cooked is determined by the grill manager that is present on every shift. The
cooked patties are then placed in a warmer until they are needed. Next to the grill is the
hamburger bun toaster. This person is responsible for toasting the buns. Again, the toasted buns
will be placed in a warmer until ready for assembly. The assembler, also taking orders from the
grill manager, then assembles the burgers. This worker grabs the meat and the buns from thier
respective warmer and usually assembles 12 sandwiches at one time. For the cheeseburger, the
assembler places cheese, ketchup, mustard, onions, and pickles, and finally caps it off with the
other half of the bun. The tray is than passed to another worker, the Q-er and wrapper. This
person wraps the sandwiches in their respective wrappings and then Q's (microwaves) the
sandwiches. After microwaving, the sandwiches are then placed on top of the microwave, where
the grill manager will transfer the sandwiches to the warming bin, placing a number behind the
fresh row, indicating when it is time to throw out any left over sandwiches.

The French Fries

Believe or not, during the rush of lunch, one person actually covers the cooking of the french
fries. While this task has basically been taken over by machines, it is the duty of the french fry
worker to make sure that during the lunch rush the store never runs out of fries. What this
basically involves is reloading the french fry dispenser when low, and immersing the frozen fries
in the oil and lifting them back out again. The dispenser automatically dispenses the right amount
of fries into each frying basket and is automated so that all the worker has to do is place the
empty basket on the rack and it will slide down to be filled again.
The Chicken McNuggets
The chicken McNuggets are handled by an entirely separate worker. This worker is the back line
worker, which basically consists of all the fried patties, such as the chicken and fish patties, and
of course the chicken McNuggets. The Nuggets are dropped in the deep fryer, cooked and then
transferred to yet another warming bin. The back line assembler will have some six and nine
piece boxes ready, but for the most part these are usually assembled as needed. The back line
person is also responsible for the full production of the fish sandwiches, excluding the buns. The
back line person will help the assembler if they ever get a slow moment.

The Apple Pie

In McDonald's food production, it is the apple pie that takes the longest to cook at 12 minutes.
Usually these are cooked before the lunch begins during the changeover from breakfast to lunch.
The worker responsible for the pies is also responsible for the making the store's salads for the
days. This worker bakes the frozen pies, boxes them, and places them in the warmer up front.
Very rarely are pies cooking during the lunch hour rush.

Now that your order is cooked, it is ready to be assembled. This is done by one of the workers on
the drive-through team. After completely filling your order, it is then placed on a cart, where the
presenter will double check your order and hand it to you to enjoy. After you have driven away,
your order will be cleared from the screen. The ultimate goal of the drive through team is to have
this whole process completed within 60 seconds. Whew, just thinking about it again makes me
exhausted. But, that is just what it takes to produce your order inside the McDonald's store,
where did all the products come from?

Getting Stuck in the Web Of Production.

According to Brian Corcoran, the staff director of global distribution/ logistics for McDonald's
International, McDonald's is at the end of the supply chain: "We don't produce french fries, we
don't book freight, we don't own a shipping line, we don't receive freight, we don't distribute to
the restaurants. We only buy it when it gets there" (Burrows). The McDonald's corporation relies
on distributors to procure, produce, process and move McDonald's products. According to
journalist Marcia Pledger there are 40 distributorships in North America: "Each houses 575
different products and the trucks to deliver them. Everything that goes into a McDonald's, from
the frozen hamburger, fish and chicken patties, to napkins and Happy Meal toys, comes from a
distributorship" (Pledger). In the United States, there are 19 distribution centers (Tobenkin).
While many distributorships are owned by different companies, the largest distributor is the
Golden State Foods Corporation out of Irvine, California.

Golden State Foods Corporation

The relationship between this distributor and McDonald's products was founded in 1962 with
McDonald's founder Ray Kroc. Since then, the Golden State Foods Corporation has dealt only
with McDonald's. Today the company owns eight of the nation's distribution centers, two food
processing plants, and a bakery, employing over 1,400 employees (Tobenkin). The distribution
centers service stores in Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, the Carolinas, upstate New
York, and Northern Pennsylvania. Also it services stores found in Hong Kong, Singapore, Guam,
Taiwan, and Malaysia (ibid). However, the processing plants owned by Golden State Foods,
supply many more stores throughout the region. David Tobenkin, reporting on the Golden State
Foods long relationship with McDonald's writes:

"The centers [processing plants]-- in the City of Industry and Conyers, Ga., as well as a dairy plant in Pasadena, and
a bakery in Greensboro, N.C.-- supply more than 960 million hamburger patties per year, 20 million buns, and 40
million gallons of syrups, sauces, and condiments. About the only items Golden State doesn't make for the chain are
french fries, pies, and shortening."

Yet despite the hands off approach Corcoran suggested earlier, Tobenkin reports that
McDonald's "also tells the company who it should buy its raw materials from and has access to
Golden State's financial records."

For example, while the GSF corporation might produce the hamburger patties, the chicken
products are produced by the Tyson corporation which has been servicing McDonald's since
1982. Until recently, the Tyson production of chicken products for McDonald's was concentrated
in its Nashville, Arkansas plant. However, because of the growing demand for chicken products,
a new plant is underway, in Union City, Tennessee. This $55 million dollar plant is expected to
reach full production in 1998 processing 650,000 chickens a week. (Stewart). According to an
article appearing in a trade journal, The Commercial Appeal, the Tyson poultry plants are
typically split into two areas: . . . "with live birds brought into the first production area where
they are slaughtered. The meat is then handled in the further processing area." Tyson foods then
moves to the chicken to a distribution center where it is then distributed to the McDonald's
stores.

Another company McDonald's has selected is the Bama Corporation. Bama, out of Tulsa,
Oklahoma, supplies 1.2 million pies and 1.4 million biscuits daily for the fast food corporation
(Tiernan). Like Tyson and GSF, Bama's relationship with McDonald's has a long history, dating
back to the mid- 1960's when the apple pie was first produced. Again the food is prepared in the
Tulsa plant and then shipped to a distribution center.

Let's Take A Look at That Order Again

As if the production process inside the store wasn't complicated enough, now we have added
several more companies needed for the completion of one meal. Let's start with the
cheeseburgers. Since I worked at a McDonald's in the Pacific Northwest, it would be safe to
assume that the Golden State Foods Corporation would be delivering the products. Therefore,
from our information on GSF we might assume the beef initially started in the processing plant
in Georgia (as well as the ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onions), while the cheese was delivered
from Pasadena, and the buns from North Carolina. Each of these would make the trip to a
distribution center where they would meet up with chicken McNuggets from Union City,
Tennessee and the apple pie from Tulsa, Oklahoma. At the distribution center, all of these
products would be loaded into a single truck with three separate compartments, one for freezer
storage, cold storage, and dry storage. The products will arrive at the store once a week (or more
or less depending on store's volume) where they will be stocked in various freezers, refrigerators
and stock rooms. Yet, there is one key element missing in the line of production, the french fries.

What Happened to the French Fries?

McDonald's french fries have continually won over the taste buds of millions Americans as they
are consistently voted the best fries by consumers, but where do they come from? In an article by
Meredith McHone-Pierce, she reveals that "most of McDonald's french fries come out of the
Columbia Basin and the Snake River plain of Idaho." However, she does not give information on
who is processing these spuds for McDonald's. In terms of the chain of production, the potatoes
provide a weak link.

Thinking Globally
For the purpose of this page, I tried to stick to production and
consumption in the United States. However, this proved to be
challenging. McDonald's is an international company and is growing
rapidly overseas. According to McDonald's executives they serve less
than 1 percent of the population each day (Financial Times), meaning
there are still markets to be tapped. In China, for example, plans to open
300 more stores, in addition to the 135 already operating, are underway
(Robinson). 70% of McDonald's production in the States is exported to
Asia (Burrows). As new countries are conquered, new relationships are
developed, and we become increasingly linked to one another. The child
in China can now munch on a french fry from Idaho, while a child in Idaho can play with his
happy meal toy from China and neither will know how they are linked together.