McDonalds hire a real chef
On Twitter this morning
Oh this looks interesting, after a tiny bit of research I get here.
“McDonald’s has hired a proper chef to be its new ‘head of food’. Rachel Cooke meets Mike Faers, formerly of Le Gavroche and Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons”
Mike appears to have also been an advisor at New Covent Garden Food previously and it seems Mike last worked in Le Gavroche and Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in 1993.
I presume Raymond Blanc is pretty upset with see his wonderful restaurants mentioned in the same article as McDonalds and by a guy that last worked for him 15 years ago, but seriously food is food, quality can be improved menu’s can be expanded and spend can be raised, I am sure this is Mr Faer’s brief.
Hopefully his brief will be global as the way things are going with the Phelan family Sunday lunches in Cork McDonalds will be on the menu soon.
Good to read/hear.
I worked at McDs for three years during my college years, I don’t regret a second of it as I learnt a LOT:
Man management, communication skills and most of all - hard graft.
They reward hard workers and look after their own, a good place to work.
At the time of leaving I was only two steps away from having my own store and leading up to that had been recognised as regional employee of the quarter as well as being part of the best drive-thru team in the UK (’98).
However, from stuff that I’ve read since then, it seems I was lucky to have such good stores to work in, (staff, ethics, etc) and fortunate with my mentors too.
One thing that has stood out for me since leaving is the massive Customer Service Focus gap between ‘company’ stores and franchises.
Obviously to a consumer these differences aren’t immediately obvious; McDonalds is McDonalds wherever they go. Well at least, it should be.
Getting the food right is one thing, consistent levels of CS is another.