A Surprise Gourmet Burger With Table Service somewhere unexpected
This local restaurant is usually my summer respite from the heat as they all have great air conditioning and free wifi. At these times, I’ll have a fish fillet sandwich and one of their new fancy coffees (which are quite good, even for you coffee snobs).
Sometimes, you just don’t see what’s right under your nose. I have recently discovered a great new gourmet burger at this most unexpected place, McDonald’s. There are new limited edition burgers and other gourmet burgers on their Signature menu that I have never noticed before as every time I visit, I ignore their confusing flashing menus.
Their current promotion is the Great Taste of America burgers. Each comes with a bigger sized patty and very American flavoured fixings.
Table Service at a Fast Food Restaurant
If you are laden with shopping, baby buggies and just need to sit down and wait for food to be delivered to you, a new option has emerged. It seems they now offer table service. You just need to order your food from their new self service kiosk, note the zone you are sitting and wait for your order to be delivered.
If you are laden with shopping, baby buggies and just need to sit down and wait for food to be delivered to you, a new option has emerged. It seems they now offer table service. You just need to order your food from the new self-service kiosk, note your zone and wait for your order to be delivered.
It’s been ages since I visited an outlet and recently I was at one of the new look outlets. The decor has changed, the menu has changed and there is even a table with ipads to keep kids occupied.
What’s new on the menu
I’ve never paid much attention to the menu before as I only order the same thing. Their new colourful menus are too confusing with so many choices of things you had never tried. I’ve just had an introduction to the premium items on the menu.
On the special menu, they have burgers with bigger burger patties, using different buns (depending on which you order) and there was even a limited edition of US burgers, one served on a New York bagel too.
Nosing around the fridge and larder in a McDonalds
You’ve seen all the clickbait headlines about the content of fast food burgers. This was one of the things that I wanted to confirm on this visit.
I had a good nose in their storage fridge and freezer as I was keen to see the provenance of the meat and produce. In the UK, all the meat is sourced from specific farms and it’s all British or Irish beef. Good to know.
The eggs are free range where possible and all the other meats are sourced from traceable farms. The fish is from sustainable sources and MSC certified. Milk used is organic semi-skimmed. And yes, the chips are made from real potatoes, not reconstituted mash, to dispel the myth.
Almost every product is traceable, which I was quite surprised about.
Making a Big Mac to the formula
Mcdonald’s has a very famous well-defined process for every product on their menu. We had the chance to give this a go behind the scenes. We had less than a minute to put together all the elements of this burger. You had to remember all the elements and the timings for toasting the bread to how long to cook the meat and how long it can stay in the warmer.
The cooked beef patties that have been sitting in the warmer longer than the prescribed time is discarded, to ensure the freshness of each burger. Am not sure what they do about food waste here.
Under the keen eye of one of their floor managers, I follow the instructions but I don’t manage to finish within the allotted time. It does look right though.
Next, I got to make one of the new burgers on their Signature menu for lunch. I like the look of the new bigger patties. I have one of the Spicy Burger with added bacon.
It’s good. Beefy flavour, nice sauce on a soft bun. Does not taste anything like a Big Mac and almost like one of the high street gourmet burger restaurants. At about £4 per burger, this is at half the price of that in one of those restaurants. Quite impressed with this.
If you haven’t tried this yet, check out their new menus and also the new drinks menu. The lemonade slushie is fab. There is also a choice of soft serve ice cream to go with their apple pie or doughnuts.
The new look McDonald’s restaurant has evolved. The new menu items are great and table service changes the game.
ps. They might roll out a test of their delivery service soon too. Soon you can indulge in those late night burger cravings with just a phone call.
Running a lucrative Mcdonald’s franchise- A very lucrative business
When meeting business owners, my Research Analyst mode always kicks in. This branch in Woolwich where we meet is run by Taimoor Sheikh who used to work in the City. He now has 5 franchises in the area. I was quite impressed to see that they do a lot for the local community including sponsoring youth football.
Running his businesses is mostly just one big HR juggling operation. As the business processes are mostly prescribed by the company, they just need to ensure that they adhere to the set procedures and provide the staffing.
According to Taimoor, the average return on capital can be more than 20% is significantly over what you might get from the bank or a good unit trust. That rate of return is a better return than the best performing hedge funds, real estate or any other alternative investments. The official line is that they have had 44 consecutive quarters of growth. Of course, this is not a passive investment. It is more than a full-time job.
Invaluable Business lessons watching the workings of McDonald’s
If you run any business, it might be an idea to watch the film ” Founder” based on the true story of Ray Kroc and how the McDonald’s global domination began in the US. Putting aside his business practices, you see how the power or branding, marketing, and a streamlined business process helps a business grow.
Watch the trailer here
EatCookExplore was a guest of McDonald’s