Day 085 - 08 Feb 95 - Page 34
1 clamshell grills.
2
3 Q. Clamshells are in all restaurants now?
4 A. Clamshells are in all restaurants.
5
6 Q. Since when has that been the case?
7 A. I would -- again I would not be held to this exactly,
8 but late 1992/early 1993.
9
10 Q. Right. Why was that? Why was the switch over to
11 clamshells?
12 A. I think as we were looking for safer, more effective,
13 more efficient ways to cook our hamburgers, this technology
14 became available. We tested it out. It cooked a hamburger
15 quicker than before, certain benefits there, and there was,
16 I guess, an assessment done of that versus the one that we
17 had before, and it was decided that we should invest in
18 this new technology to improve the efficiency in the
19 restaurant and improve the safety in the restaurant.
20
21 Q. So you felt it was an improvement in terms of safety?
22 A. I was not involved in the decision to change over but,
23 operationally, we find that it makes the crew member's job
24 a little quicker, easier, and it seems to be -- I do not
25 think there is much difference in safety. There are
26 probably some advantages, maybe some disadvantages.
27
28 Q. What are the disadvantages then?
29 A. I cannot think of any offhand. I was just alluding
30 generally to the time that the decision must have been
31 taken.
32
33 Q. When you say: "The cooking times in the United Kingdom
34 have been fixed by the Quality Assurance department in
35 conjunction with the Operations Development department",
36 what factors were taken into consideration for cooking
37 times?
38 A. The internal temperature of the finished product ---
39
40 Q. Right.
41 A. -- was the major one.
42
43 Q. How does that relate to the Operations Development
44 department?
45 A. In that we work in hand-in-hand with them in performing
46 some of the tests that would be undertaken, and we publish
47 the Quality Reference Guide which changes annually as new
48 products, new procedures, and things are introduced, so
49 Quality Assurance may come up with a, they may change a
50 product which changes the shelf life so they inform us
51 about it. They may like us to do some testing in the
52 development of a new product or a new piece of equipment,
53 so we really work hand-in-hand on changes.
54
55 Q. But do you make suggestions as to what you think the
56 cooking times should be, your department?
57 A. No. It is all fact-based, on doing something like
58 barrel testing, for ever putting baskets of chicken down
59 and seeing what the internal temperature is as we take it
60 out, and abusing products and seeing whether they still
