Random post and mostly rant.
My daughter had soccer practice out of town tonight. Soccer nights are late nights (by kid standards) so we decided to just grab fast food on the way home, which we don't do often.
First place we go to looks open. Short line in the drive thru. Walk inside. People are working in the kitchen but no one is eating at any tables. my daughter and I stand at the counter deciding what to eat for about 5 minutes before someone finally walks up and goes "Sorry, we are closed inside because we are really short staffed."
Ok, I get it, onto the next place.
We stop by JITB. Not my first choice but it's one exit down the road. I walk in and the music is blaring like I was standing front row at a rock concert. Lights are so dim that you could fall asleep in the corner. A worker is sitting in the far corner (in the dark) playing on their phone. Place is disgustingly filthy. I hear workers singing loudly from the back and then one lady curses loudly at another woman from somewhere in the kitchen. I wait for a few more minutes, realize no one is going to serve us anytime soon (and I'm not sure I want to eat in a dirty restaurant where I can barely see my food and where my eardrums are in pain), so my daughter and I leave.
A few exits down is a Burger King. Walk in. No one is at the counter. One guy is sitting - clearly waiting for his food. No one else is in the joint. After waiting a few minutes, I ask the guy sitting if anyone is taking orders and he says "Yea, but I've been waiting forever." I wait for another couple of minutes and leave.
Finally, I stop at Taco Bell a few miles down the road. At this point I've all but given up. My colon is already mad I even stopped here. Not much help at the counter but the place looks organized, clean, and well lit. I place my order on the self-service console. I get my food surprisingly quickly and the employee serving the food is friendly. Success! But no...my daughters order is completely jacked up (not even close to what I ordered) and I had not one but two long pieces of hair in my food. I bring it up to the employee (who was so friendly earlier) and they look at my receipt, at the food, and then just huff off frustrated. Never said a word. I get the food back a second time. Order is still messed up. I eat some of it and while the hair in the food isn't the grossest thing in the world to me, it screwed up my appetite so we finish what we can and leave.
Bad hourly wages and mindless work are certainly at play here. But I actually wonder if it's just as much the absentee owner concept that is causing so much of this bad service. The average McDonalds owner has 8 locations. Many have more. I'm not sure what the stats are for the other fast food chains but it's clear the owners are (generally) absentee - only checking in with managers on a weekly (or so) basis. They have zero idea how their stores are run most of the time. Managers are making $20/hour if they are lucky so they aren't exactly the most motivated people. A good one won't stick around for long. If you happen to have a really good employee, the owner likely has no idea whether they are good or bad because they aren't there. The rare good fast food employee gets overworked, underappreciated and gets tired of the "I don't give a damn" of their fellow coworkers, so they move on (because they care).
Contrast that with CFA where you have operators that quasi-own the store. They share in it's profitability and are working side by side with the staff daily. They know the staff. They know what they are going through. They care about the store. They care about the employees. The operators make good money. Because the product is good and because the stores are clean and well run, the stores make good money and can provide better than average compensation to the employees so the good ones actually stick around for a while.
The quality was bad before COVID and has gotten to such poor levels now that I only eat fast food when I have to. How much worse can it get? How do the operators of these chains and the owners of these stores have so little interest in what they own? It's mind boggling to me.
My daughter had soccer practice out of town tonight. Soccer nights are late nights (by kid standards) so we decided to just grab fast food on the way home, which we don't do often.
First place we go to looks open. Short line in the drive thru. Walk inside. People are working in the kitchen but no one is eating at any tables. my daughter and I stand at the counter deciding what to eat for about 5 minutes before someone finally walks up and goes "Sorry, we are closed inside because we are really short staffed."
Ok, I get it, onto the next place.
We stop by JITB. Not my first choice but it's one exit down the road. I walk in and the music is blaring like I was standing front row at a rock concert. Lights are so dim that you could fall asleep in the corner. A worker is sitting in the far corner (in the dark) playing on their phone. Place is disgustingly filthy. I hear workers singing loudly from the back and then one lady curses loudly at another woman from somewhere in the kitchen. I wait for a few more minutes, realize no one is going to serve us anytime soon (and I'm not sure I want to eat in a dirty restaurant where I can barely see my food and where my eardrums are in pain), so my daughter and I leave.
A few exits down is a Burger King. Walk in. No one is at the counter. One guy is sitting - clearly waiting for his food. No one else is in the joint. After waiting a few minutes, I ask the guy sitting if anyone is taking orders and he says "Yea, but I've been waiting forever." I wait for another couple of minutes and leave.
Finally, I stop at Taco Bell a few miles down the road. At this point I've all but given up. My colon is already mad I even stopped here. Not much help at the counter but the place looks organized, clean, and well lit. I place my order on the self-service console. I get my food surprisingly quickly and the employee serving the food is friendly. Success! But no...my daughters order is completely jacked up (not even close to what I ordered) and I had not one but two long pieces of hair in my food. I bring it up to the employee (who was so friendly earlier) and they look at my receipt, at the food, and then just huff off frustrated. Never said a word. I get the food back a second time. Order is still messed up. I eat some of it and while the hair in the food isn't the grossest thing in the world to me, it screwed up my appetite so we finish what we can and leave.
Bad hourly wages and mindless work are certainly at play here. But I actually wonder if it's just as much the absentee owner concept that is causing so much of this bad service. The average McDonalds owner has 8 locations. Many have more. I'm not sure what the stats are for the other fast food chains but it's clear the owners are (generally) absentee - only checking in with managers on a weekly (or so) basis. They have zero idea how their stores are run most of the time. Managers are making $20/hour if they are lucky so they aren't exactly the most motivated people. A good one won't stick around for long. If you happen to have a really good employee, the owner likely has no idea whether they are good or bad because they aren't there. The rare good fast food employee gets overworked, underappreciated and gets tired of the "I don't give a damn" of their fellow coworkers, so they move on (because they care).
Contrast that with CFA where you have operators that quasi-own the store. They share in it's profitability and are working side by side with the staff daily. They know the staff. They know what they are going through. They care about the store. They care about the employees. The operators make good money. Because the product is good and because the stores are clean and well run, the stores make good money and can provide better than average compensation to the employees so the good ones actually stick around for a while.
The quality was bad before COVID and has gotten to such poor levels now that I only eat fast food when I have to. How much worse can it get? How do the operators of these chains and the owners of these stores have so little interest in what they own? It's mind boggling to me.
