Reply to: Half our posters out of work

[vetran]

Well presumably they take about 2 minutes to cook... I would hope it can cook more than one at once really.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/h...the-grill.html

42 seconds !

How long does it take to cook a burger on the grill?


This varies from one sandwich to another and depends on how many orders have been placed at one time. As an example, if there are no other orders, the average time from when an order is placed to cook and prepare a Hamburger is a total of 112 seconds (the beef patty is cooked on the grill in 42 seconds) and a total of 180 seconds for a Quarter Pounder™ with Cheese (the beef patty is cooked on the grill in 112 seconds).

[d000hg]

I only ever worked in a Little Chef. Didn't do much cooking (for which the travelling public was very grateful).

I miss LC. Fond childhood memories.

[d000hg]

Is it just me or is "flipping 300 burgers per DAY" not very impressive at all? In a 10 hour 'shift' that's 1 burger every 2 minutes?

I don't know how many burgers an average McDonalds sells but I'd guess it's quite a bit more than 1 patty per 2 minutes

Well presumably they take about 2 minutes to cook... I would hope it can cook more than one at once really.

[vetran]

No, the A259 in Littlehampton in the early/mid-90's. It's not there any more, it's now a Burger King / Subway.

Starbucks for mine!

[ladymuck]

Don't say A3 north in the 80s? Great fun to be had there! Just waiting and washing up, I did some cooking but mainly burgers.

No, the A259 in Littlehampton in the early/mid-90's. It's not there any more, it's now a Burger King / Subway.

[vetran]

I only ever worked in a Little Chef. Didn't do much cooking (for which the travelling public was very grateful).

Don't say A3 north in the 80s? Great fun to be had there! Just waiting and washing up, I did some cooking but mainly burgers.

[ladymuck]

I only ever worked in a Little Chef. Didn't do much cooking (for which the travelling public was very grateful).

[vetran]

Some of the detail may be slightly off, but this is pretty much it.

In Meadowhall, which was a large site, they still only had a small number of machines. Some dedicated to fish, chicken, veggie too so you can't just suddenly switch all machines to burgers if demand goes up without a thorough clean etc.

HTH

It does actually, I read it as 300/hour but as you say grill availability is an issue. I'm used to Woodys who have a 6ft by 2ft grill but yes they would struggle to do more than about 30 on it.

I was thinking something like this instead of a robot arm.

https://www.caterkwik.co.uk/cgi-bin/...prod_HATCOTM5H

You could have it running over an open flame / other heat source and removeable trays that can go through the dishwasher.

[Whorty]

I wonder what the limitation is ?

I doubt its an inherent technical issue that can't be solved with a little time. If we can develop self driving cars then flipping burgers should be easy.

I assumed that burger flipping would be replaced with burger toasting machines with conveyor belts like you see doing toast in hotels. Same for fries.

When you go into a fully automated factory the problems are solved holistically just scaling up manual effort isn't good enough.

Well Whorty at least you have a fall-back position. Repairing TVs has sort of died out.

You think I should put that 2 days of Meadowhall Maccy D's in 1992 back on to my CV? Great advice ... I'll update it now

The limitation as I saw then, and a lot may have changed in 30 years, is the size of the machines and the space available in the 'kitchens' limited how many can be produced. If memory serves me well, I think each machine can cook 6 burgers at a time ... so the process is ...

- Grill top flips up
- flip on 6 frozen burgers
- pull top down and press start (takes 2-3 mins i think to cook?)
- Get 6 buns. Add salad, cheese, bacon, dressing etc to the 6 buns (or 2 buns if BR14 has come in for a fat boy tripple burger)
- top flips up, add burgers to buns and season
- package buns and add to warming area before purchase
- rinse and repeat

So you're probably talking 6 mins per batch of 6 burgers, per machine (with a bit of scrapping and cleaning between cooking)

About 60 burgers an hour per machine, assuming you need to cook that volume - busy periods yes, quiet periods you cook to demand as the finished burgers can only sit so long in the warming area before being thrown away, and the restaurant manager is measured on wastage so they have to control what volume gets cooked.

Some of the detail may be slightly off, but this is pretty much it.

In Meadowhall, which was a large site, they still only had a small number of machines. Some dedicated to fish, chicken, veggie too so you can't just suddenly switch all machines to burgers if demand goes up without a thorough clean etc.

HTH

[vetran]

Agreed, but I bet that number is a hell of a lot more than 300/day

I wonder what the limitation is ?

I doubt its an inherent technical issue that can't be solved with a little time. If we can develop self driving cars then flipping burgers should be easy.

I assumed that burger flipping would be replaced with burger toasting machines with conveyor belts like you see doing toast in hotels. Same for fries.

When you go into a fully automated factory the problems are solved holistically just scaling up manual effort isn't good enough.


Well Whorty at least you have a fall-back position. Repairing TVs has sort of died out.

[pr1]

One of the limiting factors is the machines that cook the burgers .. they only have so many, and therefore there is a finite number of burgers that can be cooked each time period. This is one reason you can't have a breakfast there after 11.30, as the machines are switched to cook the beef burgers from the breakfast things.

I speak from experience ... have spent 2 shifts in a McDonalds in my student days in Sheffield ... worst 2 days of my life! But very eye opening.

Agreed, but I bet that number is a hell of a lot more than 300/day

[Whorty]

Is it just me or is "flipping 300 burgers per DAY" not very impressive at all? In a 10 hour 'shift' that's 1 burger every 2 minutes?

I don't know how many burgers an average McDonalds sells but I'd guess it's quite a bit more than 1 patty per 2 minutes

One of the limiting factors is the machines that cook the burgers .. they only have so many, and therefore there is a finite number of burgers that can be cooked each time period. This is one reason you can't have a breakfast there after 11.30, as the machines are switched to cook the beef burgers from the breakfast things.

I speak from experience ... have spent 2 shifts in a McDonalds in my student days in Sheffield ... worst 2 days of my life! But very eye opening.

[vetran]

Is it just me or is "flipping 300 burgers per DAY" not very impressive at all? In a 10 hour 'shift' that's 1 burger every 2 minutes?

I don't know how many burgers an average McDonalds sells but I'd guess it's quite a bit more than 1 patty per 2 minutes

yep good point.

[pr1]

Is it just me or is "flipping 300 burgers per DAY" not very impressive at all? In a 10 hour 'shift' that's 1 burger every 2 minutes?

I don't know how many burgers an average McDonalds sells but I'd guess it's quite a bit more than 1 patty per 2 minutes

[vetran]

They need another robot to supply the flipping robot.

Can it also empty the basket of fries and put them in the little paper bags?

until our robot overlords are ready they have to be subtle.

Pizza printing is a thing, burger flipping will be.