Day 216 - 06 02 96 - Page 21

 
 

                                                                  DAY 216
 
 
 
 
 
     1        "They employ a lot of students and housewives.  A lot of
     2        people on holiday here.  We are an equal opportunities
     3        employer, although he seemed unsure about whether there
     4        were many black managers. 'We do not look at people's
     5        colour or nationality, but at their availability.'  That is
     6        the key.  100 per cent of Holborn staff are under 26.  They
     7        do not attract older people in Inner London.  Is not a
     8        residential area.  In Camberley, have a lot of older women
     9        and they are fantastic, work really hard and well.  I mean,
    10        older women care about cleanliness in the home and cooking,
    11        whereas what 18 year old bloke bothers about how tidy his
    12        room is.  They are excellent, the older women.  In one
    13        shift are 25 to 30 crew (had 95 on Christmas Eve) and
    14        3 managers, one for the tills and lobby, one for the
    15        kitchen area, one overall.
    16
    17        Managers.  Work 6 days on, 2 off.  Every week work 2
    18        closes, 2, 10-6 or 11-7, and the rest either 6-2, 7-3, or
    19        8-5.  So are 3 different shifts.  He started working in
    20        McDonald's part-time when at school, then did 3 months
    21        full-time; training squad; floor manager (still hourly
    22        paid); first and second assistant managers, on basic weekly
    23        wage; store managers.  As a second assistant, he gets
    24        £6,500 basic with an Inner London Weighting of £1,500,
    25        £1,000 in Outer London.  It is very different working in an
    26        Inner London store.  The employees are different from
    27        suburban employees.  The customers are different.  The
    28        stress is more.  Prefers suburban store.  As a
    29        manager, 'you have to motivate the counter crew'.
    30
    31        "Wimpy and Burger King just cannot handle the turnover in
    32        McDonald's.  'No one can come near us.'  Look at the rate
    33        of McDonald's expansion.  It is quite different in the
    34        others.  A friend of mine went to work for Burger King and
    35        he just could not believe it, it was so easy.  At
    36        McDonald's everything is very tight.  Waste is counted
    37        every two hours and control over the crew labour is very
    38        tight indeed.  At no store can labour costs exceed 15% of
    39        sales.  Is very tight.  So if sales are down, have to
    40        adjust accordingly, maybe cut the staff and make those
    41        remaining work harder.  If sales are down, labour costs
    42        must come down.  So the managers have to control the system
    43        very carefully and schedule accordingly.  Yields are worked
    44        out weekly, e.g., to see how many milkshakes getting from
    45        one packet of mixture.  The other night people were off
    46        sick etc. and we had to run the store with 5 of us instead
    47        of 12.  It was really hard work, but no customer was kept
    48        waiting.
    49
    50        "I cannot see them wanting to franchise more restaurants 
    51        now; we are making a lot of money. 
    52 
    53        "When the US visitors come, they are only interested in the
    54        customer count, has it been increasing, have there been any
    55        customer complaints.  They do not look at profits and
    56        volumes.  Any letter of complaint goes straight to Head
    57        Office, right to the top.  The other day our director, Paul
    58        Preston, came in in plain clothes.  Then he said our
    59        customers were waiting too long and if we could not serve
    60        them fast enough, we should go out, take their orders on a
 
                                      21