# Why does McDonalds always..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505 "2002-08-25T18:06:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![murphydog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@murphydog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/murphydog)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/1 "2002-08-25T18:06:23Z")
Is there a good reason that the cooks at McDonalds ALWAYS place the cooked meat pattie off center of the hamburger bun? With the bun being a larger diameter than the pattie I am forced to first bite into the hamburger where the meat is exposed. Then when the meat pattie portion is consumed there is about 1/3 of the bun left with no meat which I then discard. I saw someone remove the top of the bun and reposition the pattie in the center of the bun so I started doing that too but I find it annoying. Anyone else do this? Why can’t they just put the pattie in the center or else make the bun and the pattie the same size? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/2 "2002-08-25T18:27:36Z")
While it’s little know nor talked about, the McD’s cooks over the years have gotten bored with spitting in the burgers that they cook and have taken to other creative venues. Placing the patty off-center is actually getting rather _passe_. Just wait to see what their union has mandated next!:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Neptune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@Neptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptune)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/3 "2002-08-25T18:38:15Z")
They’ve only got 3.1 seconds to put together two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun. If they centered the pattie, it would take 3.2 seconds. How much can you accompish in that time? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/4 "2002-08-25T18:43:59Z")
I don’t work at McD, but I once worked at one of their competitors. Here’s the deal. Buns bigger than the meat make the sandwich look more substantial than it is. As for the stuff being off center; speed is more important than art in fast food. Besides, the person who put your lunch together is handling hot meat with bare hands, and she’s trying really hard to ignore the pain in her fingers. If it’s more-or-less on the bun, it’s close enough. Exceptions may be found at Wendy’s, where the meat is about the same size as the bun, and at White Castle, where the little square meat is served on a little square bun McD is running through a series of short term new dishes. For October, they’ve scheduled McSushi, made from the same square fish found in the Filet-O-Fish. I need to stop now, before I get sillier than that. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/5 "2002-08-25T19:01:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by murphydog \* > \*\*Is there a good reason that the cooks at McDonalds ALWAYS > place the cooked meat pattie off center of the hamburger bun? \*\* Assuming you’re asking a serious question and not rhetorical one, the answer is (like so many things) money. Picture this: You’re running the grill at the local Golden Arches. You’ve got to grill a few hundred burgers in the next hour or so, and 20 of them are currently sizzling on your grill and must go out in the next minute or two. Now, grab your spatula and as fast as you can scoop those burgers up off the grill two or three at a time and flip them onto the waiting buns. Now ask yourself two questions. 1) Which is more likely happen: most burgers land centered on the buns, or most burgers land a little off center? 2) Which is more likely to keep my manager off my back: Taking time to arrange those off center burgers or getting the burgers out to the customers? And if instead you pretend to be the manager of the aforementioned fast food joint, you can ask yourself a similar question. Which will make my customers complain less: Slowing down to make sure the burgers are centered on the bun, or getting the burgers to them as fast as possible. The answers to these questions point out the answer to your question. They get fewer complaints getting the food out a little faster, but not quite so neat. Because of this, close counts not just on horseshoes and hand grenades, but also on centering your meat in the bun. > [@](#): > > \*\* Why can’t they… make the bun and the pattie the same size?\*\* Same reason, money. Since the bun is the most visible, if you make that smaller, everybody thinks the burgers are smaller. Making the burger a little bigger takes a little more meat or a thinner burger. Presumably, burger thickness has been determined by the same method of finding where they get the fewest complaints, and more meat cost more money. Not a lot more per burger, but sell a few billion and it adds up. Ugly ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/6 "2002-08-25T22:52:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RJKUgly \* > **…close counts not just on horseshoes and hand grenades, but also on centering your meat in the bun.** That has GOT to be one of the best double entendre sentences I’ve ever read. Mind if I save that for a sig line one day? ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/7 "2002-08-25T23:14:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Besides, the person who put your lunch together is handling hot meat with bare hands, and she’s trying really hard to ignore the pain in her fingers. Tell me you’re kidding. Don’t they have food-handling laws over there? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/8 "2002-08-25T23:33:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t they have food-handling laws over there? You have to understand that Indiana is only loosely connected to the US. There are at least three different time zones within the state. They elected Dan Quayle and Dan Burton to congress. How they handle their meat over there would be a subject best left alone. And don’t get me starter on “Hoosiers.” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/9 "2002-08-26T00:38:38Z")
Heeeeeyyyyy, **Samclem**. Wait. a. MINute. You insulting Hoosiers? Hoo-hoo-HOOOOSIERS? Well, okay, you’re right about Dan Quayle. And Dan Burton. And Bobby Knight, of course. (I mean, they finally fired him but are still paying him more than a half-million a year, wish **I** could get fired from I.U.) Oh geez. And John Mellencamp. And let us not forget the Jackson Five! And… Hells bells. Never mind. [slinks away from thread] ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/10 "2002-08-26T00:54:19Z")
Ah Bloomington - is it true that the promoters of Mellancamp’s “Little Pink Houses” were going to give away a “little pink house” in Bloomington, only to discover that it sat on toxic ground? (Bloomington is noted for 2 things: IU and limestone quarries. Quarries tend to stir up nasty stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/11 "2002-08-26T01:09:40Z")
I’m not sure about the Little Pink House, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I think that was just about the time that they figured out the whole PCB-groundwater thing. Now there is a large, rather sinister-looking, smoothly paved parking lot-type thingy covering a good section of land, and we can’t eat the local fish. Quarries, heh. My husband is a paramedic and S&R guy, so he gets to go down and rescue the diving fools who miss the water or hit the rocks just below the surface. Nasty things, those quarries. Eeek. Sorry for the hijack! ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/12 "2002-08-26T01:39:57Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Neptune_ > They’ve only got 3.1 seconds to put together two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun. I don’t know if you’re being serious or not, but for the literalists out there, this is not true. No one ever told us we had to make X sandwich in X seconds. French fry cooking was timed, and there were 1:30 goals for drive-thru transactions, but nothing specific to sandwich preparation. I’m not sure if employees handled the patties strictly with their spatulas. And I don’t think their hands were bare. I do remember some employees wearing latex gloves, but I don’t remember if they handled patties. How busy the McD’s is at the time you visit can affect how neat your sandwich is. When it’s the lunchtime rush, for example, the restaurant is in full-output mode-- things go out as quickly as possible. The prep guys don’t have the time to make sure all the patties are nicely centered on each bun. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/13 "2002-08-26T02:48:00Z")
[hijack]Is it true that Bloomington natives are called “cutters” after the stonecutters at the local quarries?[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Skwerl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Skwerl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skwerl)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/14 "2002-08-26T03:05:44Z")
I work at McD’s currently, so maybe I can shed some light… At the one where I work, in Missouri, we are required to wear gloves when preparing food of any sort. We are supposed to use tongs to handle hot, cooked meat. We have three different sets of tongs: one for fish, one for fried chicken, and one for beefs and pork. We are indeed supposed to center meat on the buns, and they can fit nicely, but often times we are too lazy or rushed to make sure it is exact. Speaking only for myself, I do try to make sure it’s not hanging off too much or obviously miscentered, but I’m not sure everyone does that. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/15 "2002-08-26T04:55:00Z")
MTV was giving away the house, and yes, it was toxic. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/16 "2002-08-26T08:07:49Z")
I used to work at a McD’s (with a limited menu though - no fish nor pork), butI’ll take a shot at this. The beef and chicken have seperate tongs. These tongs are so tiny that lifting a greasy patty with them would make the patty tear itself apart under its own weight if you had to hold it for more than a few seconds, and where I worked you couldn’t get away with putting a ruined patty on a burger - into the bucket with it! So you have little time to get it from the tray to the bun, and moving it around once it’s down there makes a mess as sauce and lettuce get spread around… And thin plastic gloves don’t protect too well from hot temperatures. I still get flashbacks where I’m salting the fries over and over and over… ---
**Author:** ![mrs\_bales](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@mrs\_bales](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrs_bales)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/17 "2002-08-26T20:12:18Z")
i worked at a mcdonalds while in high school. we were never required to wear gloves and we didnt grill the meat, we microwaved it. youre worried about the wrong thing my friend, the burgers not being centered. i worked the front counter, but i did see/hear the horror stories of food prep. if you want a good/sanitary meal, you wont go to an establishment where bored teens prepare your meal. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/18 "2002-08-27T06:17:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Horseflesh \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by RJKUgly \* > > \*\* …close counts not just on horseshoes and hand grenades, but also on centering your meat in the bun._\* > > That has GOT to be one of the best double entendre sentences I’ve ever read. Mind if I save that for a sig line one day?\*\* Be my guest. I wondered if anyone else was as twisted as I am. Shouldn’t have worried around here, I guess 🙂 Ugly ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/19 "2002-08-27T06:58:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by murphydog \* > **Then when the meat pattie portion is consumed there is about 1/3 of the bun left with no meat which I then discard.** Pretty major problem we have here, I’d reckon. How could McDonalds _do_ this to you? Life’s pretty tough in the first world, huh? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505/20 "2002-08-27T07:52:35Z")
I worked at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania in 1995 while in high school. Nobody wore gloves for anything. I had a few other food service jobs in PA, and one down here in Louisiana. Nobody wore gloves at any of them. When the meat came off the grill at McDonald’s, it would go onto a tray which would be placed in a small metal cabinet. Inside the cabinet, hot water was slowly dripped on the patties to keep them from drying out. If it was a slow night, the burgers could sit in there for hours. That’s why I thought it was such a joke when McD’s got rid of “the bin,” the heated metal tray with premade burgers that was within the customers’ site. All they did was move the funky old burgers behind the scenes. The meat cabinets are still back there. I can see them from behind the counter. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-mcdonalds-always/125505.md?page=2)