Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 22
1 A. Eight regular and four McDonald's, that was it, that
2 was -- the quarterpounders were done on a separate grill.
3 We had the same problem with those on a Saturday.
4
5 Q. Do you mean the four Big Macs were on a separate grill to
6 the eight?
7 A. No, they are done in the same run. It was four Big
8 Macs -----
9
10 Q. Are they bigger than the ordinary ones, or not?
11 A. No, they are the same burgers, but because you have two
12 in a Big Mac and one in a regular, you call it an 8/4,
13 eight regulars and four Big Macs. You do the same thing on
14 the grill every time; it is just the dressings and the buns
15 that are different.
16
17 Q. I see. So there would be eight patties there?
18 A. Yes, you lay eight patties every time, or whatever, you
19 know, run you were doing.
20
21 Q. When you say nine was fundamental, you mean doing no more
22 than nine was fundamental to this blitz on beef integrity?
23 A. Yes. It was the specific point, that we were not meant
24 to -- our clams were not designed for 12 pieces of meat,
25 and we were told: "You cannot lay 12 pieces of meat." But
26 people would lay 12 pieces of meat all the time. I do not
27 know now, but I cannot imagine they have changed because it
28 must be just as busy as it was before; and there was no
29 solution to it that we could find, except to change the
30 grills.
31
32 It was the same with the quarterpounders. On a Saturday,
33 the quarter -- on a Saturday, you would have -----
34
35 Q. When you left, the grill was still a nine grill, was it?
36 A. Yes. It was the same with the quarterpounders,
37 though. On a Saturday -- it did not happen during the
38 week. During the week, the regular meat, you still had the
39 same problem, but on a Saturday, only on a Saturday, the
40 quarterpounders, you had the same thing. You were never
41 meant to lay more than six, I think, and we used to lay
42 nine; and that meant really squeezing them into the
43 platen.
44
45 Q. Are you saying this problem altogether only occurred on a
46 Saturday?
47 A. Yes, or because it occurred -- it was most obvious on a
48 Saturday, because you had such excessive demand. We used
49 to have people -- you know, the store would be full; there
50 would be queues seven or eight people deep, and 14 queues
51 of seven or eight people deep trying to be served. I would
52 say it was just more obvious on a Saturday.
53
54 MR. MORRIS: Can I just ask one question? When you said "more
55 obvious", you made some kind of distinction between
56 quarterpounders and the other. If you can just clarify
57 what you meant there?
58 A. Well, the quarterpounder were not a problem during the
59 week, but on a Saturday they were a problem, because you
60 just could not keep up with the demand. Quarterpounders
