Quality Management Compare and Contrast

Quality Management

Compare and contrast quality management:

McDonald's versus the Shake Shack

Hamburgers are the quintessential American comfort food but they have universal international appeal. McDonald's began as a self-enclosed operation, offering a limited number of food items to patrons and with only a skeleton staff of servers (in contrast to most drive-ins of the 1950s, when the franchise began). Today McDonald's has ballooned into an international fast food purveyor, with branches as far-flung as India, Russia, and Israel. In contrast to the burger behemoth, famed restaurateur Danny Meyer has created an alternative to McDonald's called The Shake Shack. The Meyer franchise began in a Central Park location but has slowly begun to expand throughout the U.S. To include Miami Beach and possibly Las Vegas and the Middle East in several years, although it is currently a purely domestic, East Coast operation (Collins 2009). Expansion has been deliberately slow, to ensure that the high quality of the beef can be maintained while still ensuring the restaurants are profitable and embody the old-style 'burger joint' that Meyer was attempting to capture with the design of the Shack.

The Shake Shack is a kind of anti-McDonald's, offering "whole-muscle, no-trimmings, fresh-ground, antibiotic-and-hormone-free, source-verified-to-ranch-of-birth, choice-or-higher-grade Black Angus beef" (Collins 2009). However, both the Shake Shack and McDonald's attempt to maintain rigorous quality control standards for their food. In the restaurant industry, profits margins are slim, partially because so many alternatives exist for customers. Even McDonald's has fierce rivals in the form of Burger King and Wendy's.

McDonald's epitomizes standardizations in its franchise operations. Almost nothing is left to chance, and the training is rigorous to ensure that trainees prepare the food correctly. "When management determines exactly how every task is to be done . . . And can impose its own rules about pace, output, quality and technique...[it] makes workers increasingly interchangeable" (Schlosser 2000). At McDonald's, the temperature of the oil in the fryer, the amount of ketchup on a Quarter Pounder, and the standardized greeting are all pre-determined. Staff turnover is very high in the restaurant industry, and this ensures that even when a franchise is staffed with new workers, the store experience for customers will be exactly the same. Speed is also essential, and all store operating procedures are constructed to move customers in and out of the restaurant as quickly as possible. While some McDonald's do have more comfortable seating accommodations, most stores have hard-backed chairs to discourage lingering, as well as drive-thrus.

Meyer takes a much different approach. Training is important, but Meyer carefully selects the workers to embody his spirit of friendliness and hospitality. Training is just as extensive in terms of serving the customer as it is at Meyer's high-end restaurants like the Union Square Cafe. Speed is not a premium; rather ambiance is, embodying the 'slow food' philosophy of the Shake Shack burger. According to Danny Meyer: "people have to wait in line just to place their orders...After that? They have to wait for us to cook their orders. And then? We hope they'll stay awhile, as they eat. To enhance the communal experience" (Collins 2009).

It should be noted that there is some variation between different McDonald's internationally -- for example, menu items are slightly different, to suit local palates, such as the McShwarma in Israel. "In India, there are no Big Macs because the Hindu people don't eat beef. However, they have the Maharaja Mac, which a Big Mac is made of lamb or chicken meat. There is also a vegetarian burger, the McAloo Tikki" (Adams 2007). However, despite the fact that McDonald's must face what may seem like insurmountable challenges, like selling its 'burgers' in a nation like India where a high percentage of the population is vegetarian or does not eat beef for religious reasons, it still holds to the same quality standards of standardized operating and assembly procedures. This enables the McDonald's style to be exported across borders, even when accommodations must be made.

Meyer similarly keeps a tight reign upon quality control at his organization. But it is quality that his obsession, not that "French fries had to be exactly 0.28 inches thick" (Schlosser 2005). While, "the McDonald's operations manual today has ten times the number of pages and weighs about four pounds," Meyer advertises on the Shack menu that "our fresh steer burgers are ground daily, cooked medium and served plain unless otherwise requested. Let us know if you would like lettuce, tomato, pickle or onion." Few concessions are made to special diets at tastes, other than the fried mushroom veggie burger. There is a Chicago hot dog on the menu regardless of the restaurant's location, and the menu is the same for the Shake Shack at Citi Field Stadium and Madison Square Garden alike.