Uh…could’t you just do what I do and open the bun up and slide the meat over?
The thing you have to remember is that the crew people in the grill are not making just your food.
An order is only supposed to take 15 seconds in the grill. This includes toasting the bun, dressing the bun, placing the meat on the sandwich, wrapping the sandwich, and moving the sandwich into the " Heated Landing Zone".
This wouldn’t be too hard if everything was made the same way. Too bad that is not the case . There are approximately 15 different sandwich wraps, and an infinite, O.K. it only seems that way, amount of ways to dress such sandwiches. It comes down to Speed versus beauty, and speed usually wins out.
As far as the size of the buns.
The normal hamburger bun has to be used for 7 different sandwiches. Your quarter pounder bun is used for 6 different sandwiches. Which sandwich do you specifically want them to fit?
In all reality the store manager does not want your sandwich to be a Sloppy Mess. If you can't get what you want from one store, go to a different store. If everyone makes the sandwich something that looks like the unrepentant spawn of Yog-Sothoth, call the 1-800 number. Just remember, once we have your name and phone number, it's only a matter of time before the Urak-Hai bikini team shows up at your door.
Never mind that visual image I think I just damaged a retina pictureing it.
I worked at Burger Chef (which was later engulfed by Hardee’s) in the summer of 1967. There was no OSHA. The everybody-wears-gloves rules hadn’t been written yet. In 2002, burgermakers wear either latex or plastic gloves. Believe me, they don’t keep the fingers from getting burned.
Then samclem began lobbing the obligatory buckeyes over the border. Lambasting the neighbors is a curious custom in this part of the country.
–Nott
3.14 seconds, huh? Hell, that’s as easy as pi.
Man am I hot today!
I worked nearly every non-cash-register position at a Burger King. Yes, we had rules on how fast to assemble a whopper hamburger (33 seconds).
That’s 33 seconds to:
- remove the undressed burger from the steam box.
- remove the top
- place on the bottom half (in this order):
a. Cheese (if ordered, 2 slices then steam to melt while fixing top)
b. ketchup (1/3 oz)
c. pickles (4)
d. onion - place on the top half
a. Mayonaise
b. lettuce
c. tomato (2 offset slices) - place halves together, wrap in paper (box fold)
- place in marked box
I could pull it off in 22 seconds. My manager could beat me by a good 5 seconds.
During peak hours, there was a person dedicated to stuffing frozen patties in the broiler and removing them on the other side. The patties were then placed on buns with tongs and placed in a steambox to keep them hot and moist. The food was not handled by gloved hands although washing before taking over your board was required.
There were similar time-based rules for nearly every kitchen position but (except for fries) demand for these foods (chicken sandwiches, etc.) was such that the rules didn’t apply with such force.