Burger King Vs. McDonalds

McDonald's believes in 'Doing It All For You' culture which gave rise to "Made to Stock" process and Burger King believes in 'Have It Your Way' culture which gave rise to "Made To Order" process. This core cultural difference influences the operational differences between these two companies. They are listed as follows (See Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2 for process flow diagram of McDonald's and Burger King respectively),

1. McDonald's (MD) cook their burgers on grills using batch process (12 patties/grill) which involves human intervention (to turn, sear and pull the burger). Burger King (BK) uses chain broiler assembly process (8 burgers/chain) without human intervention.

Implication: MD requires team work during peak periods to manage high demand.

2. MD uses only same size burger patty but BK uses 2 sizes (2 or 3.6 ounces) of burger patty.

Implication: MD has easy inventory control, better bargaining power with suppliers, volume discounts, and lesser complexity in orders placed by customer.

3. MD being 'Made to Stock' requires bigger inventory and all the buns and patties are mated during the assembly process following the dressing. At BK the mating of the buns and patties occur before the assembly process.

Implication: BK is able to present variety of menu to customers whereas MD has standardized menu with less options to choose from for customers.

4. At BK burger dressing is done manually using plastic squeeze bottles without premeasured quantity whereas MD uses standardized lever based dispensers and portion controlled condiments.

Implication: BK spends 1.1% of sale on condiments leading to wastage. Also, BK causes variation in amount of sauce, thus causing variation in taste.

5. BK uses microwave to keep their burgers warm and fresh whereas MD serves fresh burgers off the grill.

Implication: Microwave may affect freshness and taste of the burger and thus quality of BK burgers may deteriorate compared to MD. Also, it adds to utility cost for BK (BK spends 2.1% more than MD for utilities)

6. MD stores burgers in the bin; if they are not sold in 10 minutes then they are discarded whereas BK produces burgers as they are required, thus reducing possible food wastage.

Implication: MD spends more 1.9% more on food compared to BK. Also, food wastage leads to paper wastage for MD (MD spends 0.9% more on paper wastage compared to BK).

7. Both companies believe in deskilling the process. MD does it through assembly process (automatic dispensers) and BK does it at the cooking phase by using machine based broiler.

Implication: This reduces the amount of time and money the company needs to invest on the employee