I did the math on this as part of a business development project in college, and dated a McDonald's general manager for about a year.
The actual cost of a typical quarter pound cheeseburger just about anywhere hovers in the 75 cent range for materials. Depending on your hardware and staff wage rates, your overhead can vary greatly, but you are looking at no more than a dollar generally in materials.
They expect to do $50 of sales for every person on shift in a given hour.
The only product at McDonald's which has a high materials bill is the Filet 'O Fish which costs more than 3/4 its selling price in materials, not to mention they are made to order instead of pre-made (they are made to order to save waste) as well as having their own seperate fryer vat on standby.
If you want to hold up a McDonald's line on peak, order fries no salt, a Filet 'O Fish and a large hot chocolate. All of it is made to order and will take 4-5 minutes. They like to have every order done in 90 seconds as a benchmark.
A quarter pound patty takes 78 seconds to cook at McDonald's, and the regular 1/10 pound patty takes 34 seconds. Burger King uses an automated conveyor broiler while McDonald's has a double sided griddle.
I figure some clever engineering can make one of those BK broilers into a steak vending machine.
A four ounce serving of fries costs less than 13 cents, and fountain soft drinks through agreements with Coca-Cola and Pepsi are also less than 25 cents per 20 ounce cup. The machines are leased free for any establishment that purchases more than eight cases of syrup per month.
I figured that for $4, through a well organized, streamlined operation can profit handily selling quarter pound cheeseburgers, a drink and an order of fries, even with current commodity costs. Upping the quality of the ingredients a notch, and paying fair wages would not even break the five dollar barrier.
The actual cost of a typical quarter pound cheeseburger just about anywhere hovers in the 75 cent range for materials. Depending on your hardware and staff wage rates, your overhead can vary greatly, but you are looking at no more than a dollar generally in materials.
They expect to do $50 of sales for every person on shift in a given hour.
The only product at McDonald's which has a high materials bill is the Filet 'O Fish which costs more than 3/4 its selling price in materials, not to mention they are made to order instead of pre-made (they are made to order to save waste) as well as having their own seperate fryer vat on standby.
If you want to hold up a McDonald's line on peak, order fries no salt, a Filet 'O Fish and a large hot chocolate. All of it is made to order and will take 4-5 minutes. They like to have every order done in 90 seconds as a benchmark.
A quarter pound patty takes 78 seconds to cook at McDonald's, and the regular 1/10 pound patty takes 34 seconds. Burger King uses an automated conveyor broiler while McDonald's has a double sided griddle.
I figure some clever engineering can make one of those BK broilers into a steak vending machine.
A four ounce serving of fries costs less than 13 cents, and fountain soft drinks through agreements with Coca-Cola and Pepsi are also less than 25 cents per 20 ounce cup. The machines are leased free for any establishment that purchases more than eight cases of syrup per month.
I figured that for $4, through a well organized, streamlined operation can profit handily selling quarter pound cheeseburgers, a drink and an order of fries, even with current commodity costs. Upping the quality of the ingredients a notch, and paying fair wages would not even break the five dollar barrier.
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