There was a lot of teamwork coordinating grill, buns, dressing, fries, and shakes. I was on the “A Team” and responsible for buns and backup on grill. We were all cross-trained, however, to jump in at each station in the kitchen when needed. During the big rush hours (i.e., the day after Thanksgiving) we had non-stop, overlapping runs of 24/12/6 for hours at a time. Teamwork was essential because when the burgers came off the grill, there had to be toasted buns ready for the patties, with a dresser standing by with loaded “squirt guns” and bins of cheese, pickles, and onions for the burgers, which were then wrapped and moved to heating trays for service. The crew chief, who stood between the servers and the kitchen was crucial to the coordination effort because he or she was responsible for not only increasing production as the lines formed, but also slowing production as the lines dwindled to minimize waste (i.e., food that sat on the heating trays more than 7 minutes, IIRC)
The franchise owner was out of Bridgeport CT. He was an old fashioned German guy who was cut from the same cloth as Ray Kroc. IIRC correctly, he owned something like 40 stores in CT, NY, and NJ, and he an his sons, who now run the franchises, are legends within the McDonald’s organization. The “old man” used to visit his stores in disguise to check out the operations and make sure we were doing things the “McDonalds way,” and it worked because he gave bonuses to the top stores, and we very competitive and wanted to win. Some of the people I worked with way back then chose McDonald’s University over a traditional college and from what I understand, many of them are still working for the franchise owner in well-paid mid-management and executive positions.
Like I said, McDonald’s was a great place to work back then and I am very proud to have worked there.
I remember this older maintenance gentleman we had. He would get so mad at the teenagers who threw garbage in the parking lot. One time I remember him going outside and throwing it back in their car! This was back in 1972. Never get away with that now. I was proud to work there, too!
My former stepfather was the Dean of Hamburger University back in the late 70s/early 80s.