Concepts of Statistics

CASE:

Visit at least two different fast-food restaurants that make hamburgers. For example, in the United States McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King are good choices. For some of you fast-food junkies, this will not be difficult; vegans may have to take a friend for product testing. Observe the basic operational differences between these stores. Note the differences in the following processes:

The two restaurants that I chose to conduct my case studies were Dairy Queen, and Burger King. Although Dairy Queen is known for its incredible ice cream, I think that there burgers are very good and when I get that fast food crave I chose one of the two.

Q1. How are in store orders taken?

Dairy Queen orders are taken two ways in store either by drive through or at the register. The same goes for Burger King when it comes to the taken of their orders. They both do this by inputting the order into a computer and transferring that order to their cooks in the kitchen via screens or monitors.

Q2. Are the hamburgers prepared to order, or are they prepared ahead of time and delivered from a storage bin?

Dairy Queen burgers I noticed was prepared to order, I asked one of the cooks and he told me that it depends on the time of the day and order. He said that they will pre-cook patties and have them heated in a controlled oven basically a steamer to keep them hydrated until ordered. He said this is done during rush hours and times of the day that lots of orders come through. Where demand is high and output must be fast.

Burger King on the other hand, I was not able to talk to a cook but noticed patties being dropped on the grille as orders were being processed. This could have been due to the small crowd that was there during the time I arrived, but it seemed like it was standard operations procedure. As far as taste both burgers tasted fresh and not like preheated rubber.

Q3. How are special orders handled?

Both companies handled special orders on a case-by-case basis. They seem to be willing to cater to the customer needs and wants. I did not witness a off the wall request such as just meat and pickles, but when customers asked for certain things they were eager to serve.

Q4. How are the hamburgers cooked?

Dairy Queen although I didn't get a up close look seemed to be using standard frozen patties, like the ones you can purchase for a home BBQ. There were cooked on a flat top grille with what I believe was cooking oil in a squirt bottle.

Burger King burgers were prepared using an open flame grille were the burger passed through for a certain time period until done, this gave it that authentic broiled look and taste that there customers have come to love.

Q5. How are the hamburgers assembled?

The Dairy Queen I visited was in a small town on the outside of MS, there the burgers were assembled by the cook one at a time. The cook assembled the burger by hand using the screen as a reference for what topics the customer ordered. Hand crafted each burger to perfection (just me adding my sales pitch for the burgers I love).

Burger King assembled their burgers using a chain of workers that constructed the burger according to their station and responsibility. One person was in charge of condiments and another for the bread and wrapping.

Q6. Is a microwave oven used in the process?

Speaking for both fast food chains that I observed, I did not notice any use of microwaves when preparing a hamburger. Everything was done on the grille and constructed by personal hands.

Q7. How are other commons items, such as French fries and drinks, handled?

All other items were handled pretty much in the same manner there were prepared for each order. French fries although