404 Media: iFixit Tears Down McDonald’s McFlurry Machine, Petitions Government for Right to Hack Them. “A group of right to repair activists and consumer rights advocates are petitioning the Librarian of Congress for the right to hack McDonald’s notoriously unreliable McFlurry machines for the purposes of repair, according to a copy of the petition obtained by 404 Media.”
Tag Archives: fast food
Fast Casual: Chipotle recruiting 7K workers via social media
Fast Casual: Chipotle recruiting 7K workers via social media. “With fall being the start of the Chipotle Mexican Grill’s second-busiest season combined with the opening of over 250 restaurant this year, Chipotle is using social media to recruit over 7,000 workers. Building on the success of its ‘Behind the Foil’ documentary style television spots, Chipotle is rolling out an installment of commercials featuring unfiltered and emotional testimonials from team members about the impact Chipotle has had on their lives as well as a glimpse into daily preparation using real ingredients and classic culinary techniques.”
Wendy’s, Google Train Next-Generation Order Taker: an AI Chatbot (Wall Street Journal)
Wall Street Journal: Wendy’s, Google Train Next-Generation Order Taker: an AI Chatbot. “Wendy’s is automating its drive-through service using an artificial-intelligence chatbot powered by natural-language software developed by Google and trained to understand the myriad ways customers order off the menu.”
Business Insider: You may pay nearly $8 for a McDonald’s Big Mac in Massachusetts versus $3 in Oklahoma. Here’s why costs can vary — even for locations across the street from one another.
Business Insider: You may pay nearly $8 for a McDonald’s Big Mac in Massachusetts versus $3 in Oklahoma. Here’s why costs can vary — even for locations across the street from one another.. “Riley Walz is a business major at the Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York and dabbles in coding. The 20-year-old one day hopes to run his own business. Until that happens, he’s taken on the unofficial position of ‘fast-food data scientist,’ thanks to his latest side project, the Fast Food Index. Walz’s index, distributed to classmates last month, tracks the pricing of four popular fast-food items…”
Tubefilter: Jack in the Box hunts for a “Head Twitch Creator” to stream on its behalf
Tubefilter: Jack in the Box hunts for a “Head Twitch Creator” to stream on its behalf. “If you’re excited about streaming on Twitch but less excited about sharing your face with the internet, Jack in the Box has a solution for you. It is hiring a Head Twitch Creator, who will don a round, smiling head, put on a conical hat, and go live as Jack Box, the fast food brand’s mascot.”
NBC News: Dolly Parton to star in a musical on TikTok about Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza
NBC News: Dolly Parton to star in a musical on TikTok about Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza. “Dolly Parton is starring in a TikTok musical about Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza that will premiere later this month. Yes, really.”
Tater Tragedy: McDonald’s Philippines halts sales of large fries due to potato shortage (Coconuts Manila)
Coconuts Manila: Tater Tragedy: McDonald’s Philippines halts sales of large fries due to potato shortage. “If you’ve recently left a McDonald’s counter frustrated and clueless as to why they’re out of larger french fry sizes, then the fast food chain has some answers: McDonald’s Philippines has announced that the global shipping crisis has caused a shortage of their beloved french fries.”
Business Insider: A Chipotle general manager and 4 of his employees quit after a surge of to-go orders drove them to their breaking points
Business Insider: A Chipotle general manager and 4 of his employees quit after a surge of to-go orders drove them to their breaking points. “Peter Guerra, a Chipotle veteran of five years and general manager for six months, worked at the Scofield Farms Chipotle location in Austin, Texas. ‘My store was severely understaffed, we struggled just to keep our heads above water,’ with less and less support from management, Guerra said. He said he was regularly scheduled to work 80 hours a week, but often had to work additional hours to cover for employees who quit and left gaps in staffing.”
Washington Post: ‘It’s a walkout!’
Washington Post: ‘It’s a walkout!’. “The discontent driving the Bradford workers and so many others had been there for years, an ever-present aspect of an economy that could be especially cruel to anyone without an education. The pandemic — the fights with customers over masks and the fears of falling sick — added to the strain. But it was the labor shortages, which extended to just about every part of the country, that caused workers’ long-suppressed anger to burst into the open.”
BBC: New Zealand Covid: Men caught smuggling KFC into lockdown-hit Auckland
BBC: New Zealand Covid: Men caught smuggling KFC into lockdown-hit Auckland. “NZ police have made a bizarre arrest after a pair of alleged gang associates were caught trying to enter Auckland with a boot full of KFC chicken and tens of thousands of dollars.”
Business Insider: An Oregon McDonald’s is so desperate for workers it hung a huge banner outside calling on 14-year-olds to apply
Business Insider: An Oregon McDonald’s is so desperate for workers it hung a huge banner outside calling on 14-year-olds to apply. “A McDonald’s in Medford, Oregon, has a banner out front advertising that it is hiring 14- and 15-year-old workers. ‘There are always staffing issues, but this is unheard of,’ the Biddle Road restaurant operator, Heather Coleman, told Insider. She said the situation is unique in her family’s 40-year history operating McDonald’s franchises.”
KAKE: These four Chick-fil-A locations closed their dining rooms because they didn’t have enough workers
KAKE: These four Chick-fil-A locations closed their dining rooms because they didn’t have enough workers. “In April, May and June the rate of quits per share of employment in the accommodation and food services sector, which includes restaurants, held steady at 5.7%, according to seasonally adjusted data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s far higher than the quit rate across all sectors, which was 2.7% in June. Experts say that when restaurants are short-staffed, it can be even trickier to hire because of the stress placed on remaining employees, among other things.”
USA Today: Burger King rolls out feature to let customers order straight from Google search, Maps, Google Pay
USA Today: Burger King rolls out feature to let customers order straight from Google search, Maps, Google Pay. “Burger King really wants you to have it your way, even by ordering from a Google search. The fast-food chain said it will allow customers, starting Dec. 21, to order pickup or delivery straight from Google search results. Customers can also order directly from Google Maps or Google Pay.”
Deutsche Welle: New Twitter record set by chicken nugget plea
Deutsche Welle: New Twitter record set by chicken nugget plea. “A US teen broke the record for the number of retweets with 3.44 million repeats of his request for free food from fast food chain Wendy’s. The boy bested the likes of Ellen DeGeneres and Barack Obama to claim the title.”
Arby’s Apparently Suffers Data Breach
Looks like Arby’s has suffered a data breach. “Sources at nearly a half-dozen banks and credit unions independently reached out over the past 48 hours to inquire if I’d heard anything about a data breach at Arby’s fast-food restaurants. Asked about the rumors, Arby’s told KrebsOnSecurity that it recently remediated a breach involving malicious software installed on payment card systems at hundreds of its restaurant locations nationwide.” Looks like this is one of those weird ones where the corporate-owned stores were impacted and the franchises were not.