“Which marketing department, Cory?  You’ve worked at Wendy’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King.”

All of them.

The marketing department takes hours to construct the perfect sandwich, using ingredients that aren’t even edible.  They put a fine mist on the tomatoes, they paint the lettuce green.  BK uses shredded iceberg lettuce, but the ads look as green as romaine lettuce, and they use full leaves of lettuce.  They play up the grill marks on the sandwich to emphasize “flame-broiling.”  They put each ingredient on that sandwich as though they were playing a Jenga game with $1 million dollars at stake.

They play with lighting and exposure times, then take that single, perfect picture.

Then, they touch up any imperfections on the perfect picture using effects in PhotoShop.  The result looks mouth-watering:

Conversely, when the customer orders a Whopper, the goal is to make it in 7 seconds, sometimes with substandard ingredients.  Or, at least shredded lettuce as opposed to leaf, mayo that isn’t as white, onions that have fermented in their own juice for at least an hour, and a burger patty that hasn’t touched a real grill in its life.  The result looks like this:

I have no doubt in my mind that the whopper in that picture tastes excellent.  That’s not what I’m here to talk about.  What I am here to talk about is the seriously unrealistic standard that the marketing department of a fast food restaurant creates with those PhotoShopped but delicious looking pictures they use in the advertisement.

Customers, fact of life: it will never look like the picture.  Unless you want to wait for two hours while a team of workers stack each ingredient perfectly and we paint the food the vibrant colors.  Then treat it with a special gloss so that it shines in the light.

But then your food, like the delectable picture, wouldn’t be edible.  And you wouldn’t be able to grab it and go at the drive-thru.

It would be nice if the marketing department adopted the Domino’s Pizza approach by using real food in the pictures taken by customers and uploaded to a website.  It looks far more realistic, and just as tempting (in many cases).  And best of all, the customer knows exactly what to expect and isn’t lead astray by painted lettuce or meticulously arranged nacho chips.

It also creates some accountability with the employees: while speed is important, presentation is also a must!  This might be online.  Do you want to be “that guy” that made the “Slopper” that appears on our company’s website?  Nobody wants to be “that guy.”

Since I don’t see  BK or Wendy’s adopting that kind of a policy anytime soon, I recommend that employees just joke with the customers about how disappointed they are in the presentation of the real food versus the fantasy marketing.  Then, after sharing a laugh, tout the quality of the food for the price, leaving them with that food for thought!

More food comparisons.

Old logo:

New logo:

Let’s take a peek at an employee at my last restaurant, who is a great example of what not to do.  I will present a typical order from her, followed by a critique:

Customer: I’d like a Whopper, –

Order Taker: Would you like cheese on that?

Customer: Sure.  And I’d –

Order Taker: Is that a meal?

Customer: . . .  Uh, yeah.

Order Taker: What would you like to drink with that?

Customer: . . . Um . . . I’d like . . . a . . . Coke, and –

Order Taker: Small, Medium, or Large?

Customer: The drink?

Order Taker: No, the meal.

Customer: Oh. . . Uh, I guess . . . uh, Medium.  Uh. . .

Order Taker: Is that it?

Customer: No, I’d like . . . uh. . . a. . . Chicken Sandwich –

Order Taker: Original or Tendercrisp?

Customer: Which one is on the long bun?

Order Taker: The Original.

Customer: Original –

Order Taker: Would you like cheese on that?

Customer: Uh, sure, I guess. . .

Order Taker: Would that be the meal?

Customer: Well, uh, . . . sure –

Order Taker: What kind of drink?

Customer: Uh, . . . uh . . . Maybe . . . Diet Coke?

Order Taker: Small, Medium, or Large?

Customer: (quietly) Small, Medium or Large?

Friend: . . . (almost inaudible) Not sure . . . Large!

Customer: (loud again) Large.  And –

Order Taker: Is that it?

Customer: No, I got more comin’ . . .

I’m not impressed, and I’m annoyed.  I would have had this order taken already, in its entirety.

How could this possibly go quicker?  There are two critiques I have, in addition to politeness.  “Is that it?” is not a proper way to attempt to close an order.  It’s a bit rude and off-putting.  Always say, “Will that be all for you, today?”  Or something like it.  Note also the number of “–”‘s that end the customer’s side of the conversation.  This is where our order taker has cut the customer off to ask a question.  Also very rude.

The critiques that will assist speed of service, and thus the body of this post, are that she is overselling and over-clarifying.

We are not conducting a police interrogation at the drive-thru.  I try to keep it fast and conversational.  That might mean holding on to some questions for the end, or until the customer takes a breath.  Or it might mean not asking certain questions at all.  Let the situation be your guide — in general, if I can do without a question, I won’t ask it.

Now let’s talk about suggestive selling.  It’s not that our order taker here is wrong for doing it.  I’m glad she did!  But, it should be limited to one item or upgrade per order.

I realize that Coca-Cola has promotions and mystery shoppers out and about occasionally to “catch” workers who correctly upgrade Value Meals.  I also realize that if the mystery shopper orders two Value Meals, one  after the other, and your order taker only offers the upgrade to one, that you lose the mystery shop.  Which means that — sorry customers who are reading this — Value Meals are the exception.  Always ask to upgrade Value Meals, even if the customer is ordering their 150th.

Focusing on the non-value meal items, I generally only ask a customer to upgrade their first sandwich to a Value Meal unless there is some compelling reason to ask again.  Whatever they say to that first question, they are now “on notice” — they are aware that the Value Meal option exists.  Which means if they want one, they will ask for one.

I am probably one of the few managers to ever say this, but I almost never ask if the customer wants to add cheese to a sandwich.  I figure they know we will put it on the sandwich for them, and if they like cheese they will ask for cheese.  And, the pictures of the sandwiches on fast food menu boards are arranged to show all of the ingredients, so if the customer is unsure if a particular item is present they can ask or refer to the picture.  If they don’t see cheese, trust me — they will ask.

There is only one time I specifically ask about cheese.  A good drive-thru order taker always finds a way to suggestive sell.  Offering the meal upgrade for sandwiches, “completing the triangle” (entree/side/drink) by asking for the missing corner, or offering a drink or dessert are the main ways to suggestive sell.  Occasionally, however, I might use cheese on an otherwise plain sandwich to make my suggestive sell instead of one of the other things I mentioned.  That works well if the customer has somehow made it clear that they are on a budget or they already have something to drink.

The second problem with the example above is the overuse of clarifying questions.  I always tell my order takers to have a set of default assumptions so that they can limit the number of clarifying questions that they need to ask.

The case-in-point is the Chicken Sandwich.  Since this example takes place at Burger King, I will need to make a clarification for non-BK employees.  BK has three basic types of chicken sandwiches.  The Original Chicken is processed and comes on a sub bun.  The Tendercrisp is a whole breast fillet with seasoned breading and comes on a corn-dusted sandwich bun.  The Tendergrill comes also on a corn-dusted sandwich bun and is a whole breast fillet, but has no breading and is grilled rather than fried.

If a BK customer orders a “Chicken Sandwich” without qualifiers, the default order taker assumption is the Original Chicken sandwich.  Ninety-nine percent of people order the Original, and the handful of Tendercrisp/Tendergrill customers specify their preference.

A more universal application of this same principle is the drink or the order of french fries.  Often, customers will say “I’d like some fries” or “I’ll take a Coke.”  Obviously, both menu items come in varying sizes.  Rather than ask the customer each time he orders a french fry about the size (believe me, you will have to ask each time), I simply assume that the customer wants a medium.

This is handy, but it does frequently confuse people who just order fries.  A lot of times, the ones who just order fries are after the cheapest size (especially the teenagers or the seniors).  Generally, I still give them the medium size.  Reason: they need to learn that if they don’t specify, it is going to cost them a lot of money.

You might think that this causes a lot of fights.  It actually doesn’t — in almost 20 years in fast food I only had one major altercation over it, and that was with a senior citizen who tried to quote the operations manual at me, where it supposedly I “must” ask the customer what size of fry or drink if it is not specified.  Little did she know that the operations manual is where I got this principle of default assumptions in the first place!

And that’s how to answer drive-thru.  Personally, I think that customers appreciate my attempt to minimize the barrage of questions, and it always makes things go faster.

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The obvious explanation is that Hordak was Skeletor’s mentor and trainer. Hordak was grooming Skeletor to eventually command a world under the Horde’s control.

Anyone familiar with the back story knows that Skeletor was stranded on Eternia and Hordak left (with Princess Adora) to conquer another world, probably before Skeletor’s training was complete. It therefore stands to reason that Skeletor doesn’t know all of Hordak’s secrets, and that is why Hordak has succeeded where Skeletor hasn’t.

But I don’t think that’s the reason for Hordak’s success. I believe the real secret is in his minions. Pay attention: this is a lesson that every manager needs to learn.

When we look at Skeletor’s main set of evil warriors, what do we see? Beast Man, who is total imbecile only for comic relief. Trap Jaw, the wizard of weapons, lacks any originality or capacity to think for himself. Mer-Man, is helpless outside of water.

Of all of Skeletor’s minions, only Evil-Lyn is competent and able to hatch an original villainous plot.

Look over at Hordak’s side. Only Mantenna and Grizzlor are unable to hatch an original villainous plot. Everyone else can!

Catra is a force to be reckoned with; she took over Adora’s role as force captain when the latter defected to the Great Rebellion. Scorpia may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she is still a capable enemy. Leech and Mantenna can carry a plot out when they team up. Modulak is the consummate mad scientist; too bad Skeletor lost him to Hordak. And Hordak’s second-in-command, Shadow Weaver, is evil to the core and a terrible sorceress with awesome power–she probably carried the most episodes outside of Hordak himself.

The results speak for themselves. Hordak has enslaved every kingdom on Etheria except for Bright Moon (which he lost in the movie that introduced She-Ra). Skeletor commands only Snake Mountain, and that because Hordak had originally used it as a base of operations during a failed invasion of Eternia.

The lesson? Watch who you’re hiring! If you hire as Hordak did, you will conquer the planet. (Hopefully you won’t enslave all of the kingdoms, though.) If you hire as Skeletor did, you’ll be stuck with miserable, lonely Snake Mountain, always trying conquer Grayskull but never quite getting there. Wisely hire strong recruits who are good fits with your existing team, and you’ll be the Master of the Universe!

Either my e-mails are going into people’s spam filter, or I’m expecting too much of my contributors.

As a contributor, you will be expected to come up with your own blog ideas, and I also expect you to help promote this blog in chats and discussion forums. I would like this site to keep going, but not under my totalitarian direction. I want to assemble a team with ideas to propel this forward to the next level on their own, with me making only occasional contributions.

I will make the occasional update to this site, but I have numerous other writing projects in the works that have a higher priority. I am not going to delete this blog, as I think I still have some more things to say.

Today, we’re going to discuss the affair that Sanford was having. I believe that it is actually an important part of this because this is a man who is a known spokesman for family values. He was one of the first to denounce former President Bill Clinton during the affair with Monica Lewinski. If you, as leader, are going to preach something, your own life had better well reflect what you are preaching.

Mr. Sanford’s life certainly did not reflect what he was preaching.

As a front-line leader, your crew will look up to you and strive to be just like you. I’m not saying that your personal life has to be perfect, but it helps if you can lead yourself and your family first. Your family is a reflection of you, and if you can’t lead them, then you don’t belong in leadership.

Everyone has problems in their personal life, don’t get me wrong. I certainly don’t have perfect situation right now. But what steps are you taking to get out from under the imperfections? Tolerating imperfection is one of the earmarks of a bad leader. Taking steps to correct them is the mark of a good leader.

The only reason that Governor Sanford admitted the affair is because he got caught. If you aren’t following what you expect your crew to do, admit it first, and correct it. Don’t wait for someone to uncover the dishonesty. Or, more appropriately, don’t wait for someone to publically decry the dishonesty. Crew watches management closely; if you’re being dishonest, they probably already know. It will be better coming from you, and they might even forgive the indiscretion.

Find imperfection wherever it lurks. Work to correct it. When you aren’t practicing what you preach, admit and correct it before someone else uncovers it for you. In other words, walk the talk. Can you do it?

Pat Croce puts it like this: “You have to walk the talk.” Anyone can talk a good game, but it takes a real leader to be able to back up what he says with action. In order to lead, you must possess integrity in your actions. Like Croce says, walk the talk.

We have a sad example in the news about a govenor who lacks integrity in his actions. I’m talking about South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, who has recently admitted having an affair with a women in Argentina.

The affair is between him, his wife, and God. I’m not here concerned with the affair, although that also shows a lack of integrity. No, what I’m concerned with here is the fact that this man abandoned his state to have this affair.

No one in a leadership position should ever just up and leave his post, no matter what. Would you want your followers to do that? What if your drive-thru person suddenly had an errand to run that was more important than work? Should she just leave her post and go run the errand?

The bottom line is this: if you don’t want your followers to do something, then avoid the behavior yourself. Don’t be a Mark Sanford and leave your post, leaving your people to fend for themselves. Stay in your post, let your people know that they can trust you will be there.

That’s integrity, and that’s part of leadership.

I have decided to put together a book proposal for Fast Food Management for Dummies and send it to Wiley Publishing. This is based on the incredible support that I’ve had in the polls on this site.

Fast Food Management for Dummies was a clear winning idea, as over 90% of you indicated that you would purchase the title if it were available. The One Minute McManager isn’t selling as well, so I might have to save that for later.

The two crew people in question, according to my collegue, took full advantage of the situation. They didn’t do the things that they were supposed to, such as cleaning up after themselves. They made fun of the other employees. They generally acted as if they were over and above the law.

The GM’s excuse: “They’re my best employees. They make the food really fast and deliever it on time.”

The problem with this sort of attitude on the part of management is that she is creating an environment that is hostile to the other employees. By endowing these two “best workers” with impunity, she is sending two destructive messages. The first is that this sort of behavior is tolerable. The second is that other employees aren’t as valuable as these two.

If the two “best workers” have major attitude problems that no one is bothering to adjust, it sends a message to the other employees that this is the sort of model behavior that management is looking for. That means that other employees, seeking positive recognition, will start to emulate that behavior and then you will have more than just two employees who behave unmanageably.

In the cases where the two “best workers” are favored above other employees, this will foster an attitude of indifference on the part of the other employees. “If they don’t have to clean up their station, why should I?” Start holding these two accountable, the others will see that, too. But it doesn’t sound as if, in this store, that these two will ever be held accountable.

Have I just described your store? Are you holding on to employees that you’d be better off letting go?

How would a subordinate manager handle this situation? With careful documentation. The subordinate needs to hold these two employees accountable and discipline them when they do things that are wrong. If the GM won’t allow the discipline, then copies should be forwarded to the GM’s boss with an explanation of the GM’s behavior.

If the GM’s boss won’t do anything, then it may be time to contact Human Resources. HR should be able to help out in this situation.

Bottom line: Employees like this need to fall in line with the rest of the crew, or they need to go. All too often in fast food, speed is valued above simple respect. Someone who has speed is immune to prosecution and may do as he or she likes in the store. This is destructive for morale and hurts the store’s performance in the long run. It also undermines the authority of the management and sends the message that such behavior is tolerated, even preferable.