Whether you stop at McDonald’s for a casual dinner or a 3 A.M. post-soirée snack, you
may have wondered about the happenings on the other side of the drive-thru. You’ve
got questions and we’ve got answers on 10 things that go on behind the scenes at McDonald’s.
The McDonald’s Stats
Everyone knows McDonald’s is a huge global business but you may not know just how huge.
As of June 2020, McDonald’s tends to approximately 25 million customers per day. They have a
total of 14,000 restaurants in the United States alone, and 38,695 total restaurants
in 120 different countries as of 2019. They have 1.9 million employees all over the world
and hire an average of one million workers in the U.S. each year. Last year, they generated
$21 billion dollars in revenue and just over $6 billion dollars in net income. You can
view the numbers through a different perspective when they’re put like this: Every minute,
around the world, an average of 75 McDonald’s hamburgers are sold. Every day, it sells nine
million pounds of fries globally. Every year, 550 million Big Macs are sold. Most of the
fast-food chain’s revenue comes from the U.S., generating 32% of its global income.
They’ve recently taken a few modern steps forward in their restaurants by adding ordering
kiosks and a mobile app. There are also 7,800 McDonald’s restaurants that offer delivery
in 47 countries through its UberEats partnership. Bet you can’t guess what the number one
menu item ordered through delivery is! No it’s not the Big Mac or McNuggets. It’s
actually the Double Cheeseburger, which makes perfect sense, considering its popularity
and price point.
Ownership of Chipotle
In 1998, McDonald’s invested $50 million dollars into Chipotle Mexican Grill. Chipotle
founder, Steve Ells, had 13 locations in Denver within the first five years that the chain
was operating. While he was looking to expand, he managed to get invited to a McDonald’s
board meeting where he brought burritos and tacos for the executives to try. McDonald’s
apparently loved the food enough to invest, giving Chipotle enough leeway to open 500
new restaurants. McDonald’s’ investment grew to a 90% stake in 2005, which meant that,
effectively, McDonald’s owned Chipotle. Because they had so much say in the company,
McD’s also had a lot of... suggestions. They wanted to rename Chipotle Mexican Grill
to Chipotle Fresh Mexican Grill in order to better compete with other Mexican chains like
Baja Fresh. They also suggested serving breakfast, offering drive-thru service, changing up the
menu in different parts of the country (for example, adding barbecue in Kansas City),
and letting McDonald’s franchisees own Chipotle restaurants. Chipotle, in turn, ignored most
of these suggestions - and it seems like it paid off! It was in 2006 that McDonald’s
decided to sell their shares in the chain back to Chipotle, opting to focus on their
own burger business instead. At this time, they also pulled away from Donatos Pizza and
Boston Market. Had McDonald’s kept their ownership of Chipotle, we’d probably be
experiencing a much different version of the Mexican fast-food chain today.
How much salt is in the McD’s fries?
If you’re a fan of McDonald’s, chances are you’re an even bigger fan of their fries.
They’re the perfect snack to satiate salty cravings! The only issue is… well, the salt.
A small batch of McDonald’s World Famous Fries clocks in at 220 calories, and 180 milligrams
of sodium. If we base our numbers on a daily 2,000 calorie diet, 180 mg of sodium is 8%
of your daily intake, and a large takes up 17% of your daily percentage values at 400
mg of sodium. McDonald’s says its salt serving was determined based on consumer opinion,
claiming that extensive research has shown that the majority of customers prefer a “light
sprinkling of salt on their french fries”. If you find the fries too salty, however,
you also have the option to order them without salt. Overall, the amount of salt on McDonald’s
french fries isn’t too different from fries at any other fast-food chain, or even homemade
fries! What you won’t find in homemade fries are the fourteen ingredients McDonald’s
uses—aside from potatoes and salt, of course. It’s also worth noting that McDonald’s
fries, freezes, and then re-fries their potato slices, so a lot of that oil is being used
twice. Maybe salt is not the problem, here…
Why’s the ice cream machine always broken?
Does it ever feel like every time you’re craving a McFlurry, the ice cream machine
is never working? If the memes circulating around social media were anything to go by,
you’re not alone. Turns out, there’s actually a reason for that—and, no, it’s not because
the employees are lazy. According to reports, McDonald’s requires that their ice cream
machines undergo a four-hour-long nightly cleaning cycle. So, the machines aren’t
actually broken (for the most part), they’re just out of service for a little bit while
they’re being cleaned. One can imagine that once they’ve been cleaned for the night,
the employees probably won’t be willing to use it again, at least not the same day.
In 2017, McDonald’s announced that it would be replacing the machines due to a large volume
of consumer complaints about the frequent unavailability of the restaurant’s cold
treats. The newer machines are supposed to have fewer parts and, by extension, be easier
to sanitize. However, replacing every single ice cream machine in every single McDonald’s
is evidently going to be a pretty lengthy process. And that doesn't account for all
the times the ice cream machine does break. Apparently, the machine isn’t super reliable
to begin with, and the time it takes to repair the machine each time can mean no ice cream
at Mickey D’s for up to a day or two.
McDonald’s Lawsuits
As with every company, things at all levels can go wrong. According to several lawsuits
recently filed against McDonald’s, the majority of the issues seem to stem from the work culture.
In one class-action lawsuit, a former Michigan McDonald’s restaurant employee claims that
she endured several instances of both verbal and physical sexual harassment by a manager.
Over two dozen women in twenty cities filed this same complaint with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, some of whom were reprimanded by management after the complaint
was issued. McDonald’s has altered its training program in the hopes of counteracting this
frequent injustice, but workers argue that it’s not enough. Similarly, lawsuits regarding
racial discrimination have also been filed against the fast-food chain, this time at
the corporate level. Under the reins of Steve Easterbrook and Chris Kempczinski, the former
CEO and president respectively, they proclaimed a message of commitment in regards to striving
for equality between the genders, but completely omitted the mention of race. Kempczinski is
still active at the corporate level, now as the CEO of McDonald’s, after replacing Easterbrook
who was fired after having a sexual relationship with a subordinate.
Unconventional hiring practices
In March of 2019, McDonald’s Canada launched its “Friends Wanted” ad campaign, encouraging
friends to apply to work at the franchise together. McDonald’s took a more progressive
approach with this campaign, opposing the popular belief among employers that employees
who are friends won’t get work done. Clearly targeted to the youth, these ads leverage
the idea that young people are more likely to apply for a job (especially one with fewer
perks) if it means they can work with their friends. Through its promotion of camaraderie
among employees, the brand aims to ameliorate its reputation as a fun and convenient place
to work. The recruitment campaign is set up so that each friend submits an individual
online application where they make sure to mention their friend’s name in the form.
By doing it this way, McDonald’s essentially doubles its list of applicants, while also
painting itself as a company that is modern and progressive in its hiring practices. Store
owners were to be given digital and print ads, tray liners and crew stickers, as part
of the campaign. They also had a day where applicants could go through a quick, virtual
hiring process through Snapchat, which they called “Snapplications”. As youth employment
rates continue to rise, McDonald’s is vocal about their support of and eagerness to hire
young people.
Overtime pay at McDonald’s
Before 2012, McDonald’s remained closed on major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The corporate owned restaurants usually remained open, but any franchisee owned McD’s was
used to closing up shop. That was before these owners were urged to keep stores open on holidays,
wracking in thousands of dollars per restaurant, with Christmas being their “largest holiday
opportunity”. Although it sucks to be working the holidays, franchise owners are at least
allowed to properly accommodate their employees by paying overtime on these holidays. For
workers at company-owned stores, the story is a little different. McDonald’s refuses
to pay overtime to employees at these stores, backing up their actions by arguing that these
employees volunteer to work on holidays. When you consider the $147.6 billion dollars that
McDonald’s is worth, it seems like a pretty insufficient justification for those who rely
on picking up all the hours they can get. So, next time you’re thinking of picking
up a holiday burger at McDonald’s, perhaps reconsider—or, at the very least, be extra
nice to the crew handling your order!
McDonald’s charity
The Ronald McDonald House Charity was founded in Canada in 1981, with the goal of keeping
families of sick children as close to their child as possible. They give families who
don’t live close a place to stay near the hospital where their child is being treated.
Every year, RMHC keeps over 25,000 families close together. They have 15 Ronald McDonald
Houses which provide private family bedrooms, fully equipped kitchens, laundry facilities,
playrooms, education programs, special suites for kids with compromised immune systems,
recreational activities, and other support services, including those that accommodate
siblings. In these houses, they can sleep, share meals, do laundry, and connect with
other families experiencing the same circumstances. Through their 33 programs, RMHC helps save
Canadian families $49 million dollars every year in unexpected expenses (such as travel
costs, lodging, and food) related to their children’s illness. McDonald’s Canada
helps cover roughly 35% of the annual $30.4 million it takes to operate RMHC. You can
help support the RMHC foundation by purchasing a happy meal or RMHC cookies where part of
the proceeds will be donated to the charity. You can also donate in their coin boxes or
through their kiosks by rounding up or contributing a dollar.
Archways to Opportunity
Archways to Opportunity is a program created by McDonald’s to help employees further
their education. Their programs help eligible employees of participating restaurants improve
their English skills and work towards a college degree. They can also help these employees
and their immediate families earn a high school diploma through online courses and draw up
an education and career plan with advisors. And the best part is that McDonald’s covers
the cost of tuition for the course! They also have an online program that helps employees
complete their high school diploma over the course of 18 months. Since its launch in 2015,
Archways to Opportunity has had nearly 55,000 American enrolments. Over 39,000 restaurant
employees were awarded college tuition assistance; over 7,400 people graduated from their English
Under the Arches program since 2007; nearly 900 people have graduated from their career
online high school program, and they have granted over $100 million dollars in high
school and college tuition assistance.
McDonald’s restaurants are a community
It goes without saying that McDonald’s is an enormous brand, but what you might not
know is that they still look out for the little guy. They offer flexible working hours for
students or parents, and are generally accommodating to all ages and all situations. Although McDonald’s
is a global franchise, each individual restaurant isn’t managed directly from the top. It’s
run by a local franchise owner, who must work at McDonald’s for a whole year filling the
shoes of every role until they’re allowed to pitch for their store. This means that
the owner of every restaurant really knows and understands their clientele and they’re
passionate when it comes to building up or making changes to their store. Oh, and anyone
wanting to become a McDonald’s franchise owner must have a million dollars or two in
assets, as they need to put down at least one quarter of the restaurants cost up front
and in cash. I guess we’ll just have to stick to ordering at McDonald’s - and not
buying one.
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