Behind the Counter: I got to cook at McDonald's

   Last week McDonald’s in Conway let the brand ambassadors come and work behind the counter. Now I have never worked fast food before so I wasn’t sure what would happen, but I was excited to go try it out. I ended up having a blast and learning a lot.



   The McDonald’s workers are super friendly and willing to show you how to do their jobs and let you give it a try, and then help fix it when you mess it up. got to work with Mindy the owners daughter and also manager of this location. She showed me how to work the table as they call it, that’s where all the magic happens and the burgers and sandwiches get made.   It was much harder to start out on than I thought it would be. Everything has a particular order and they build the burger upside down, so it was backwards to my tendencies. I finally got it right, though! I even ended up wrapping them where they didn’t look like a kid had made them.  It was a Thursday evening so this location had their #TBT promotion; I made quite a few quarter pounders and big macs. Each ingredient is very good quality and every single item is labeled with the time that it will expire. It is great to know that the ingredients are monitored and not sat out longer than the allowed times.

I was quite proud of my McNugget making skills. Easiest job ever if all you had to do was put them into their little box.

   The workers make every effort to keep the customers waiting time as short as possible. They have a 55-second goal the majority of the time and a 90-110 second goal during very busy hours. I am glad to say that when I was starting my times were around 77 seconds and I got it down to 75 before I left. That is not too bad for a newbie. The times are reported in the system every hour, but the manager gets the times every 30 minutes so that she can let the team know where they can improve to make their times for the hour better.

From left to right: Mike Shaffer (Director of Operations), Reese (manager and Mike's son), Mindy (manager and Ray's daughter), and Ray Johnson (Owner)

   Talking to the owners I got to see that McDonald’s is more than a big corporation. They are people who live and care about their communities. They are just regular people, some who have been with the company since they were little, others coming in and then making it a family business. Reese a manager at this location has been in the McDonald’s world since he was little, there is even a picture of him when he was 9 standing in the back with his dad, Mike. The owner of this location Ray did not grow up in the business but his daughter, Mindy, has. If they liked the business so much that even after college they came back to work then the atmosphere and company must be pretty good. I believe that it says a lot about how McDonald’s and its franchise owners treat their employees. It was clear that they genuinely care and appreciate their entire team.

I had a blast hanging out with my fellow ambassadors and getting to step behind the counter of one of my favorite places.