Day 196 - 06 Dec 95 - Page 22
1
2 Q. I am on page 3, question 2. You said that the flat-topped
3 grill sometimes led to under-cooked burgers. Why would
4 that be?
5 A. The nature of the grill and the way that they were
6 actually worked meant that it was a very skilled job to
7 actually do the job properly. If you had someone who was
8 not totally skilled or could not actually have the knack of
9 doing it, it was a skill that needed to be mastered. It
10 could lead to under-cooked food or over-cooked food,
11 because the timing was so very critical.
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13 Also if you had a very small person they would find it very
14 hard to do one of procedures which was actually searing the
15 meat if you were laying a lot of meat because they had a
16 long way to stretch. So although with the grills that
17 started come in as I left, the closed down grills, that got
18 away with that situation, the original flat-topped grills
19 did mean that the people who were cooking had to be very
20 highly trained. It was not always possible to have those
21 people on. So you would have times where meat would be
22 possibly over-cooked or under-cooked depending on whether
23 the people was either taking it off too early or leaving it
24 on too late.
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26 Q. Would any under-cooked food always be noticed or whatever?
27 A. Not always. I mean, if there were enough people about
28 it would be seen and stopped, but if you were short of
29 staff by the time it actually got to you as a Manager, nine
30 times out of 10 it is a completed hamburger and you would
31 not be able to tell whether it was cooked or not from
32 looking at it. So it is possible on occasions that stuff
33 would be either under-cooked or over-cooked, although it is
34 very hard to say one way or the another. If it did happen
35 I would say it was an extreme case as opposed to the norm.
36 Not something that would happen every day. It might be
37 once every so often it would happen.
38
39 Q. A question that crosses my mind, do you ever go to
40 McDonald's now to eat?
41 A. Yes. I still eat there now, not very often but I will
42 still eat there. One of the things it did teach me is that
43 I have got a high regard for the cleanliness of the stores
44 and the way they are run, although I most probably would
45 not go on a Saturday or a busy day which if there was going
46 to be a problem it would be on a busy day when they are
47 under pressure.
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49 Q. A problem with what?
50 A. When they are under pressure a lot of food is being
51 cooked, it is not going to be the same quality as if you
52 are on a quiet day and people can take more time with it.
53 So, although I do go in, I would make sure I did not go
54 into a busy store or go in over a busy lunch time.
55
56 Q. These explanations you have given of how the pressure was
57 applied to keep food costs down and not to throw food away,
58 are they similar to the ones about labour costs?
59 A. Yes. It would have been discussed at the same
60 meetings, where ideas would be put across, people would
