Sunday, July 16, 2006

Motor City McD

The McChronicles passed through the Detroit airport recently. While there we dropped in (twice) to the McDonald's in terminal A.

The McChronicles is well-experienced with airport McDonald's, having sampled them worldwide. Unfortunately, this store doesn't rank too highly in that category. Here's why:
  1. Slow service: when the line at the register grew long, this team did a good job of organizing the customers, directing us to the next available register, and McShuffling us while our order was prepared. That's when the trouble started - the orders took a very long time to be delivered. At one point we counted 10 customers waiting for their order (even after the line had emptied).
  2. Below-average food quality: this food wasn't "bad", it was just prepared poorly. The hamburger was dry and the meat was overcooked.
  3. Unprofessional staff: once again, this wasn't a flagrant foul, but there was a group of crew - who appeared to be off duty - standing on the customer side of the counter, flirting, chatting, etc.

Our guess is that local management needs to be improved. We've had great experiences with airport McDonald's - even during periods of extremely high demand. Crews can handle it when they're managed properly. Heck, we've seen the team at Chicago's O'Hare airport whittle down a crowd of 100 hungry, hurried travellers like it was child's play. Perhaps a little cross-training might help.

This store is in an excellent location, in an attractive airport. We were psyched to find them during our layovers. Everything was adequate, but there is clearly room for improvement.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.

Image: The McChronicles.

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