'We've run out of food' - said McDonald's. WTAF?! (First world problem,light hearted!)

[ALongHardWinter]

Yesterday,I had a voucher from a newspaper for a Big Mac and medium fries for £1.99,so decided to treat myself on my way home from meeting up with my DD. As I approached the shop,I noticed that it was in darkness,but with people still inside sitting at tables,eating,and staff behind the counter. I went in and asked a passing member of staff what was happening. She said 'We're just about to close because we've run out of food'. Is this actually possible?! Has anyone else ever had this?

There is a stigma, it must be tiresome.

Is it financially rewarding?

I'm on £9+ an hour. So pretty decent.

I love McDonald's when traveling, you know the toilets will be clean, with toilet roll and a loo seat! Also food wise it's reliable, except Bali where the chicken nugget happy meal was served with rice! 😂
There is no McDonald's where I'm living at the moment! It's surprising how much you miss it when it's gone!

I went to McDonalds in france last summer, and had potato wedges with my meal. Oh my god they’re were bloody gorgeous! We need to have them over here please please pretty please 😊

@WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue &
@QuestionableMouse
15 years ago I had so many 'heated' discussions with every McDonalds manager. One of my children became vegetarian, through choice, at 5. I would order Happy Meals for the value and the toy. No vegetarian option was available for children. It's as if they didn't matter.

We usually ended up with a grumpy 'well you can have a vegetarian burger but NO bun'.
That was the best we had.

I'm glad to hear they are now doing proper options for vegetarian children.

It's unfair to exclude a child from joining in with friends and siblings because they chose not to eat animals.

YY to more 'foreign McDonald's' products. I've seen fabulous cake counters with far more options than here including macaroni, beer and a lovely looking flatbread in Malta.

I don't usually have McDonald's overseas because there's usually a more attractive local independent instead but I have been to the airport and railway station ones in a few places.

Macaroni =macarons, fucking autocorrect.

They had to shut local McDonald's when i went in one night and redirect to nearest (few miles away) something to do with order/till system being down. The order system also went offline once in another store & the staff took peoples receipts to make up their orders instead till it came back up, luckily it wasn't during a dinner rush.

Its also frustrating with new order system that if only getting a drink the person who made it doesn't just serve it anymore & sticks on trolley for it to be picked up by another, it can be ages so wish those with no food could get fast tracked. Its still great as few places can get a large tea/coffee for such a reasonable price & always good for a loo stop.

I wish McDonald's wouldn't salt the fries & could add your own instead as has been more than a few times they've been inedible (not just for me). Surely nobody ever uses the salt sachets?

Are the Mcdonalds managers still around? Why can't UK mcdonalds serve burgers in gluten free buns when most of Europe can?

Is it financially rewarding?

thighofrelief101 Yes, the pay is really good and gets better as you get promoted. There are also regular pay rises which is something to look forward to.

15 years ago I had so many 'heated' discussions with every McDonalds manager.

unexpectedgifts I agree it’s much better now our vegetarian menu has been expanded, and McDonalds is a massively different company to the one it was 15 years ago! All training now is focused on making sure the customer gets the best experience possible.

I do have to say though, that while it wasn’t great there was no veggie happy meal back then, it wasn’t the McDonalds managers fault. They didn’t create the menu, and while I can understand having a polite discussion once, I do think it’s unfair to take it out on those who haven’t any control over menu items on a regular basis.

Its also frustrating with new order system that if only getting a drink the person who made it doesn't just serve it anymore & sticks on trolley for it to be picked up by another, it can be ages so wish those with no food could get fast tracked.

Scattyhattie That’s a training issue as small orders (like a drink, a portion of fries, a McFlurry etc.) are supposed to be taken out of sequence so nobody is waiting too long for one item.

I wish McDonald's wouldn't salt the fries & could add your own instead as has been more than a few times they've been inedible (not just for me). Surely nobody ever uses the salt sachets?

The fries are salted because the end result is the gold standard product McDonalds wants to achieve. The accusalt gives out the same portion of salt every time it’s used to ensure consistency.

You can ask for unsalted fries and we will do that, but it will take a few minutes while a new basket is put down.

You’d also be surprised by how many boxes of salt sachets we actually go through! People love their salt.

Are the Mcdonalds managers still around? Why can't UK mcdonalds serve burgers in gluten free buns when most of Europe can?

soulrider It’s not as simple as X works in Y place so it’ll work here. Different countries in Europe have different cultures and demands, and at the moment we aren’t finding enough of a demand in the UK to justify it unfortunately.

I’ve had customers bring in their own GF buns though and we’ll make their burger with those instead of ours Could be worth a try?

You can ask for your fries to be unsalted. Small orders should be handled out as soon as they're ready so people aren't waiting ages for just a drink.

I'm not sure about the buns, sorry. You can ask for any burger to be made without it though (or we can usually put it in your own bun if it's not too busy)

and at the moment we aren’t finding enough of a demand in the UK to justify it unfortunately.

Curious as to how you know there's no demand for something you don't sell....

Why has the sugar tax nixed the toffee sundae? You could just put the price up? I don't understand why the Mc flurry survived but not the toffee sundae. Toffee rage.

@QuestionableMouse 'Toffee sundaes stopped back in Sept or Oct iirc. Probably good for my waistline but man do I miss them.
Me too! Can a MacD's manager say why these have been withdrawn? (Sorry if I missed an explanation, I've tried to read the whole thread, but...)

With McDonalds university i know (now, thanks) you can't do egyptology but can you do anything transferable ie an MBA or a degree in economics or accounting?

Do you think healthy eating trends will be the end of McDonalds?

Do you eat McDonalds every day?

@WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue & @Questionable Mouse thank you for such informative replies! I’ve really enjoyed this thread! Product request tho; McDonalds hash browns all day, and also put them in your chicken burgers. Only reason I’d ever go to KFC is for a tower burger, but their chips are rubbish.

@WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue
@questionnablemouse

Why can't you use your own reusable coffee cup in McDonalds rather than a disposable cup?
Pret, Starbucks etc give you a discount for using your own reusable cup. I've never had a cafe refuse to use my reusable cup before, but McDonalds said they could only serve coffee in their disposable cup.

I didn't know you couldn't take your own cup. They need to get on board with reusable cups, because other places manage it.

I visited a small cafe in a tourist place a few years ago, there was a little supermarket next door.
Every time anyone ordered a member of staff would run out the door and return with at least one ingredient required.
Good way to keep stock levels right but what if the supermarket didn’t have something - or maybe the menu was based on what was available next door?

Most places give you a discount for using your own coffee cup but in McDonald's it actually costs you money as you wouldn't get a sticker to save towards a free cup, so that would have to change to encourage people to use their own cups. But McDonald's as a major coffee seller needs to change in this regard as recycling on its own isn't the best solution.

I'm not a McDonalds employee but their FAQ on the website has this to say about why they don't offer gluten free buns as restaurants in other parts of Europe do.

'The menus, and therefore the kitchen layout and equipment available in our restaurants located around the world vary. To offer gluten-free buns, we would need separate storage and toasting equipment in place to prevent cross-contamination, which many of our UK restaurants kitchens do not currently have the capacity to provide.'

I'm not fussed about them toasted, if they were individually wrapped and provided on the side i'd happily assemble myself! I know you could take your own, but our McDonald's trips are normally grabbing something to eat in a hurry on the way home from the airport or similar so carrying my own isn't feasible.

I bet they'd say they don't want to not toast them as it wouldn't be up to their standards. A bit like Pret's crap response when they removed their gluten free wrap - it wasn't up to their high standards so now they don't do any sort of gf wrap or sandwich.

Curious as to how you know there's no demand for something you don't sell....

soulrider McDonalds does extensive research on all possible viable products. They don’t just decide to launch a product on a whim, that’d be madness!

Why has the sugar tax nixed the toffee sundae? You could just put the price up? I don't understand why the Mc flurry survived but not the toffee sundae. Toffee rage.

thighofrelief101 and Gran22 It’s not just the sugar tax; they weren’t that popular. They required a lot of extras for a product we didn’t sell too many of.

With McDonalds university i know (now, thanks) you can't do egyptology but can you do anything transferable ie an MBA or a degree in economics or accounting?

thighofrelief101 No; as I said there is a very specific training path. It’s not a university you can go and do any course on however related or transferable it may be.

You go there for a specific course for a specific reason (ie. those being promoted to Shift Manager do the BSM (Basic Shift Management Course), then after a few months they do the Advanced etc).

Do you think healthy eating trends will be the end of McDonalds?

No. McDonalds is growing year and year and incorporating the healthy eating trends into their plans. Take the recent Meals Under range for example.

Do you eat McDonalds every day?

I do, and most people seem to. You get a free meal on your break every shift and there’s an almost entire menu to choose from.

CandleWithHair You’re welcome

HopelesslydevotedtoGu You can. We have a couple of customers who bring their own cups we fill up for them, but I could understand being refused if your cup is huge as the coffee machines only take certain size cups.

At the moment there’s no way to use the loyalty scheme with it, but I would like to think they’re working on that as they have recently released paper straws so are thinking along those lines.

Hoppinggreen McDonalds cannot just nip to the local supermarket! Every single product on our menu is specific and all our information relating to it, like allergens or calories, would be the same if we did that. If we run out we run out.

Just wanted to say you can take a reusable cup and use the loyalty scheme for hot drinks, if you order through the app & let them know at the counter.

The person asking about Cromer crabs - very few of them are caught there anymore, most of them come from Spain I think.

Well you’ve shattered all my crabby illusions now. 🦀. I shall have to catch my own off Cromer Pier next time I’m there.