Mcdonalds vs Burger King Essay Example for Free

Mcdonalds vs Burger King Essay Let’s look at fast food restaurants. When you hear someone say, â€Å"Let’s go to McDonalds or Burger King,† what comes to mind would you consider the Big Mac or a Whopper? Think of how many calories that goes into each one. When you look at the Big Mac your calorie count is, â€Å"540 with 29 grams of fat and 45 grams of carbohydrates. † The Whopper shows, â€Å"670 calories, 39 grams of fat and 51 grams of carbohydrates. †(www. associatedcontent. com) So which is healthier, McDonald’s wins this one. Less calories in the Big Mac than the Whopper even though Burger King promotes flame broil is better and much healthier. When walking in the restaurants of McDonald’s you get the since of not welcomed until it is your turn to order. Looking around the place, it is clean yet not many people stay to eat there. One or two people will sit and chat for a while before leaving and making their order. One thing is true about McDonald’s, if they mess up your order while you are still there, they will make it correctly and bring it to your table nice and hot no matter what it was you ordered. Now for Burger King, when you enter their door the cashier says â€Å"Welcome to Burger King, can I take your order,† this research has been done in several restaurants in the area. Once you have placed your order you are given a number and a cup to fill your drink, by the time you are done filling your drink you food is ready to go. Looking around the restaurant there are a number of patrons sitting eating laughing and joking around with one another so the atmosphere is a warm and inviting one. McDonald’s seems to be more of a get it and go type of place and Burger King was sit for a while and chat. The goals of each restaurant are simple. The customer is first, satisfaction is a must. We all know that it’s not as simple as it sounds. Let’s compare the two, at Burger King’s customers are greeted with a smile when you walk in, when a customer places an order they have a choice of dining in or take it to go. The customer is given an option to say, â€Å"I will dine in or take it to go,† this shows they are given customers a choice of what they want to do. McDonald’s on the other hand, satisfaction is number one also, but you’re not greeted with a smile, sometimes it seems that the cashiers don’t want to work there or they just seem so tired. When placing an order the customer have to wait for at least five minutes before it is ready. Not so good in the fast food world of service, but satisfaction is what they are striving to have. They both share the same goals but one is more of an over all than the other. McDonald’s have a goal of satisfying their customers at 100% but they sometimes fail at making this goal work. How does the public differ in the choices of McDonald’s over Burger King? For one which taste better, which has better quality, would the customer prefer flame broiled over fried. Take a taste test first, McDonald’s signature burger the Big Mac; as the commercial says, â€Å"Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickle and onions on a sesame seed bun. † When the customer orders it in the restaurant, it is in fact, much smaller compared to the advertisement suggest. When doing this research, two out of five people got what they really wanted; the other three had to ask for more sauce and less lettuce. When the order was received, it was sloppy, sauce on the sides of the bun and not on the burger. The taste was satisfactory but if you present something that isn’t prepared right the taste falls short. Burger King’s signature burger the Whopper; â€Å"Beef patty, sesame seed bun, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, sliced onions, flamed broiled on a sesame seed bun. † Research shows out of the five customers that were tested at Burger King, each customer got exactly what they ordered and was satisfied with the taste of the meal. One even asked for an extra slice of cheese. Burger King satisfied more customers in the area of taste. Which has better quality of food? This falls very hard when thinking about both restaurants. McDonald’s and Burger King have in fact, had good quality but one out shines the other. As it was stated before McDonald’s Big Mac was served sloppy that was not quality service. In terms of Burger King, the customers were very satisfied with the quality of food and service that they received. Looking at the companies goals is a major difference. Lets take the Mc Donalds organization, one hundred percent customer satisfaction. When looking at this goal, its not always reachable. When this goal is not met, they will do what ever it takes to fix the problem. The next goal that puts them at a higher standard than other competitors, its founded on giving back to the community with the Ronald Mc Donald House and Ronald McDonald Childrens Charities. In each restaurant and drive thru theres a donation box so money can be placed into helping the charities. So many times there have been full boxes of money given. Over the years McDonalds has given millions of dollars back to communities in an effort to help children in need of care. Burger King was founded in 1953, the worlds #2 hamburger chain since McDonalds. All of the burgers cooked at Burger King are prepared by grilling over flamed fire. When looking at how the structure works for them, Burger King doesn’t advertise their products like most competitors. There is no way Burger King can produce more sales than McDonalds due to their marketing strategy which puts them at a disadvantage with McDonalds. Where they can improve on this, they can do more advertisement of their products and open more chains around the world. Burger King does offer its â€Å"own in house charitable organizations† and programs which is the â€Å"Have It Your Way Foundation,† which is also a â€Å"US based non-profit corporation to alleviate hunger and disease prevention. (http://en. wikipedia. org) However Burger King also offers Scholarship Programs for millions of high school children across the United States which is in the memory of the co-founder James W. McLamore. This year alone they have awarded more than $1. 4 million in scholarship funds to 1,258 students and they also have four new awards that they give out but the major scholarships includes one King $25,000 and three James W. McLamore Whopper scholarship $50,000. (Burger King Corporation) The interaction with the public for both restaurants is very different. When walking in the restaurant the employees are very busy taking orders. The sense of urgency is upon them to get the food out fast and perfect. Once the order is placed, there is no time to talk however at Burger King, while waiting on your order the manager has time to chit chat with you. Managers make sure that the environment is warm and inviting. The employees that are cleaning around the tables and chairs make sure that they do notice you. There have been times where the employee asks if they could get something more or a refill. This is what customer service should be like. McDonald’s, on the other hand, there is no sense of warmth. Maybe one person may look your way and ask is everything’s alright, but that’s as far as the conversation will go. At both restaurants there is a difference between the employee and manager. They both have different shirts and tags. Sometimes though it could be hard to tell the difference because if you go to the restaurant late at night it’s more lax than the day time hours where you will have employees and mangers playing around but still doing their jobs. One other thing that these companies do, they do hire the less fortunate, meaning people with disabilities. Both companies start with their signature logo and end with their logo, major difference McDonald’s only takes the order. Sometimes it’s hard to understand what is being said over the pa and the order may get mixed up but there is time when getting to the window to fix it. Not all the time at McDonald’s does the employee have the food ready so the customer is asked to pull over and food will be brought out to them? On one occasion, while waiting for the order as the minutes passed by, no order was delivered. The customer had to go into the restaurant to get the order and it was still not what the customer ordered. One would wonder how many times this has happen in the past. Is drive thru really fast and easy? Thinking it may be better to order inside so the order can be done properly. Burger King Employees smile when taking and giving the orders. Even in the drive thru, the smile can be heard over the pa when placing an order. If a customer has to wait on their order thru the drive thru, they are asked to pull around the front and someone will be out with the order. It is never long that you will have to wait maybe two minutes at the most and the food is hot when it is received. There are healthy choices on the both menus, but do customers often choose the healthy choice? Not always. Looking at the choices of the menus: In some states McDonald’s is required to show the calorie count for the customers. On their boxes that the food comes in, there is also a calorie count that the customer can look at and see just how many calories is listed for the choice that was made for the order.