Tag: McDonalds

McRib lovers! Here’s how you can have a McRib any time

If you are a McRib lover like me, you know how hard it is to get the McRib. Really really hard. Heck, people have built websites just to track them worldwide! And even when they do show up — finally! —  it’s for a limited time. What’s a person to do if you want to eat them more frequently?

I have a simple suggestion. First, get yourself some pickles, some chopped raw onions, and a sub bun like the one for the McRib (pictures are everywhere on the Internet if you need a reference). Then go to your national grocer (e.g., Loblaws, or my choice Walmart) and look for a box of BBQ pork back ribs. Cook the ribs as recommended on the box. Then take them out of the oven and while it is cooling a bit, assemble your sandwich. For the ribs, chop the meat off the bone and add it to the rest of the sandwich. Voila! You have a very good McRib like sandwich! You might be skeptical, but honestly you’ll feel like you’re sitting in your local McDonald’s eating one of their  McRib sandwiches.

I have not tried it with various boxed BBQ ribs, but Walmart’s Great Value Barbecue Pork Back Ribs resemble the saucy pork meat in the McRib to a very high degree. I say this as someone who has been eating McRibs for years and years. And even if it doesn’t quite match your expectations, you get a good tradeoff in that you can have these every day if you want.

Give it a try. Anytime you want. You’ll be glad you did.

P.S. For more on my McRib writing — hey, I love them! — check these out.

P.S.S. Obviously you need the Barbecue Pork Back Ribs, and not other kinds like the Honey Garlic Ribs if you want to make a sandwich like the McRib. But you could make some pretty amazing sandwiches by playing around with the ingredients and the flavoring of the ribs. Honey Garlic ribs on a bun with cilantro, pickled veg and hot sauce could make something like a bahn mi sandwich. Or the BBQ ribs with ham and pickles and swiss cheese and mustard could make something like a Cuban. Really so many ways to make a great sandwich with these ribs on a bun.

A weird week at Wendy’s (and a few thoughts on dynamic pricing)


It was a weird week last week at Wendy’s. First they were talking about introducing dynamic pricing, only to walk it back later: Wendy’s clarifies no surge pricing after CEO ‘dynamic pricing’ comment.

Was this a weird way to get attention? Possibly.  Or possibly some executive had half an idea this was a good idea before the deluge or outrage hit them. (Recommending surge pricing after consumers have been complaining for months and months about food price inflation is a great example of not reading the room. Not to mention people are already annoyed at the cost of fast food these days.)

Look if Wendy’s wants to go with surge pricing, I say good luck with that. (Also good luck with saying “no it’s not surge pricing, it’s dynamic pricing”.) Unlike Uber in bad weather, they don’t have a lock on meals. Anyone with a little knowledge of economics knows people will just substitute them out with other fast food (or a brown bag lunch). Wendy’s does not make Giffen goods. All they are going to achieve is angering their customers.

For a good guide to dynamic pricing, I recommend this. It can be done successfully and lead to greater profit, but you are playing with fire if you are thinking of using it for your business.

Finally some good news for 2020: the McRib is coming back!

Yaaaas. At least in the US, the McRib sandwich from McDonald’s is coming back in December, according to this. I hope and pray it comes to Canada, too. I love that sandwich: saucy, porky, with pickles and raw onions and that bun. Perfection.

Almost a decade ago I came across an intriguing theory as to why McDonald’s sells the McRib only at certain times. I wrote about it, here.

Thoughts on automation, from the WSJ (and me, someone who specialized in automation)

Robots
Christopher Mims has a good piece here that touches on many of the recent arguments concerning automation, here: Automation Can Actually Create More Jobs (WSJ). Well worth reading.

For my own perspective, early in my career my job was automating many of the systems operations tasks in my part of IBM. In one year I automated essentially the work of 10 people. No one lost their job as result, because while it was good to have these activities automated, the activities were not valuable enough to justify hiring people to do the work. Essentially the automation improved the quality of our work. Automation using IT to improve the quality of work is a good use of automation, be that automation be a lowly shell script or very expensive robot with A.I. Quality aside, how the automation affects staff depends on the culture and the makeup of an organization.

There is talk of places like McDonald’s replacing workers with kiosks as a result of a drive by some for a higher minimum wage. First off, McDonald’s are rolling out those kiosks in Canada, too, which makes me think they are going to deploy them regardless of what the minimum wage is. Second, I have used the kiosks a number of times, and they are of a limited benefit to a McDonald’s customer. The kiosks are good if there is a long line for a person to take your order: they kiosks are bad if there is a small line or no line. They are bad because it will take you many more minutes to place your order, due to the kiosk’s user interface. (Try one and you will see.) The kiosks some time will fail to print out your receipt: if you don’t remember your order number, then you have to go in line, tell them what you ordered, and then get your number. Overall the kiosks are not bad: they are especially good if you like to special order. But if the lines aren’t long and your order is standard, skip them and go in line.

Besides that, McDonald’s will still have plenty of staff and likely will for the future. Kiosks can’t cook, can’t pack your order, and can’t clean the restaurant. If you think robots can do that and do it cheaply, you need to learn more about robotics. I can see why McDonald’s and other fast food places need automation: they are constantly trying to retain people while trying to keep costs down. But the notion they are automating to spite people looking for a higher wage is ridiculous. McDonald’s is not going to become a glorified vending machine and they should not try to be. People go to restaurants and coffee shops to socialize and to come in contact with other people, and automation will provide less of that, not more.

As well, smart fast food places will learn that human contact makes for better business (see Starbucks). There are many ways to be successful as a fast food business, and a positive experience in dealing with staff is one of those ways.

Automation changes work. However, how it changes work is complex. It is tempting to assume that it will eliminate all work, but that is too simplistic. In addition, we need to think about work, income, and why we do what we do. Automation can help us do that, and that is one clear benefit of automation.

(Image: link to image.freepik.com)

One of the reasons McDonald’s doesn’t offer more variety…

…is that it’s expensive for the franchisees, as this article shows: McDonald’s franchisees are furious – Business Insider. I hadn’t thought of it from the perspective, but it makes sense. McDonald’s restaurants are just part of a complex food chain (so to speak). Making changes takes an awful lot, and the cost implications are huge. If this is truly the case for McDonald’s, they may have passed their hey day.