Why was your Five Guys order delayed?

January 27, 2020 10:36PM

I'm well aware that how I answer this question in no way impacts whether my report is accepted. But for kicks: I can't think of any time where there was an obvious reason (and sometimes I'll say there was no apparent reason). If the kitchen is really behind I'll put "The location was not efficient" or "there were many online orders" if that's the case. How do others handle this?

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January 27, 2020 10:43PM

Be as objective as possible....

How many orders do you estimate was ahead of you?
How many staff was in the kitchen assisting in assembling the sandwiches, preparing buns, cooking fries, etc.?
Was there any large orders ahead of you? I consider a typical family where multiple burgers orders to be a large order.

Very infrequently shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado these days.

January 28, 2020 12:04AM

Location was busy
Staff were standing around chatting
Staff were not set up for service/ran out of product on the line
Staff were focused on shutting down for the night
Orders were prepared out of sequence

It's an open kitchen. These things are pretty easy to observe.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2020 12:05AM by 1cent.

January 28, 2020 03:57AM

I rarely can spot an obvious reason for a delay. Or at least one I'm 100% sure about. Last time I did a shop where the food was delayed (and it wasn't by much), there was a delivery service waiting for orders at the pick-up area, but the restaurant itself wasn't busy at all. So I put that there "appeared to be a number of take-out orders being prepared." More often than not, though, my response is that I didn't see an obvious reason for the delay or that there was no apparent reason for the delay.

I waited at one location once for about 20 minutes for my order. There were only four or five other people at tables, no lines at the register, and only a handful of people came in for take-out orders. I had NO idea why my order took so long and had no idea what to say in the report. .

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

January 28, 2020 04:33AM

I either say that I could not deternine the reason for the delay, or that there were x number of orders ahead of mine.

January 28, 2020 04:58AM

When the place is slammed or workers are visually screwing around it's pretty easy. As far as "out of sequence," I dealt with an "out of sequence" order a few days ago, it was a teen who just wanted fries, no sandwich, no drink, just a cup of fries, so they boosted him ahead of my order in sequence. I don't have a problem with that and don't think it added noticeably to my wait time.

January 28, 2020 06:07AM

@BirdyC wrote:

I rarely can spot an obvious reason for a delay. Or at least one I'm 100% sure about. Last time I did a shop where the food was delayed (and it wasn't by much), there was a delivery service waiting for orders at the pick-up area, but the restaurant itself wasn't busy at all. So I put that there "appeared to be a number of take-out orders being prepared." More often than not, though, my response is that I didn't see an obvious reason for the delay or that there was no apparent reason for the delay.

I waited at one location once for about 20 minutes for my order. There were only four or five other people at tables, no lines at the register, and only a handful of people came in for take-out orders. I had NO idea why my order took so long and had no idea what to say in the report. .

You can see if they are throwing patties on the grill as orders come in. If they aren't doing that, orders are going to be late. It's that simple.

January 28, 2020 06:10AM

@KokoBWare wrote:

When the place is slammed or workers are visually screwing around it's pretty easy. As far as "out of sequence," I dealt with an "out of sequence" order a few days ago, it was a teen who just wanted fries, no sandwich, no drink, just a cup of fries, so they boosted him ahead of my order in sequence. I don't have a problem with that and don't think it added noticeably to my wait time.

Obviously, fries only go out first. I mean more that if you get one burger and a large group comes in after you. If they serve that big group first, then you got bumped. If they serve several groups that came after you, the person expediting has messed up and it will result in a significant delay.

January 28, 2020 07:48AM

@1cent wrote:

@KokoBWare wrote:

When the place is slammed or workers are visually screwing around it's pretty easy. As far as "out of sequence," I dealt with an "out of sequence" order a few days ago, it was a teen who just wanted fries, no sandwich, no drink, just a cup of fries, so they boosted him ahead of my order in sequence. I don't have a problem with that and don't think it added noticeably to my wait time.

Obviously, fries only go out first. I mean more that if you get one burger and a large group comes in after you. If they serve that big group first, then you got bumped. If they serve several groups that came after you, the person expediting has messed up and it will result in a significant delay.

I understand. Yes, if they made you wait for a large group behind you I'd put that in the report and I wouldn't be nice about it.

Unrelated: A few days ago I shopped a Five Guys that was out of hamburgers. I kid you not. How does that happen?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2020 07:50AM by KokoBWare.

January 28, 2020 05:18PM

@KokoBWare No offense, but your phrasing here seems a bit biased. We don’t just report what bothers us and it’s not about being “nice” or not. It’s just a factual report of what happened. You can observe if staff were working in an disorganized way that caused a delay or if it was just a busy time.

January 28, 2020 06:08PM

@1cent wrote:

@KokoBWare No offense, but your phrasing here seems a bit biased. We don’t just report what bothers us and it’s not about being “nice” or not. It’s just a factual report of what happened. You can observe if staff were working in an disorganized way that caused a delay or if it was just a busy time.

I've re-read all of KokoB's statements and don't see any bias here. You can tell if employees are screwing around or not. Employee talking on personal cell phone and not doing job = screwing around. Employees standing around talking not preparing orders = screwing around. I doubt she puts "screwing around" in the report but actually points out the actual situation, but there is no bias here. She isn't saying for example "white kid screwing around" or "teenager screwing around." There are even specific questions the client asks in regards to what the employees were doing.

January 28, 2020 08:59PM

Maybe "bias" is the wrong word. These are the phrases that I found indicated more personal judgment than objective:

"I don't have a problem with that..."

"I'd put that in the report and I wouldn't be nice about it."

I was thinking about this recently. Even when people do things that infuriate me, I have to add some distance. Even things that don't bother me, I have to report on. Our feelings are useful tools, but in the report it has to be as factual as possible.

January 28, 2020 09:23PM

Today I noticed the crew leader go out and sit in his car for five minutes. Figured it was a smoke break, but when he leaned out and stubbed his cigarette out that was proof enough. I sent an email to the help desk letting them know.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

January 29, 2020 03:02AM

@KathyG wrote:

Today I noticed the crew leader go out and sit in his car for five minutes. Figured it was a smoke break, but when he leaned out and stubbed his cigarette out that was proof enough. I sent an email to the help desk letting them know.

Maybe that was his regular break; in which case why would it be a problem? Unless he took this break while the place was so busy they needed him there to keep things moving, and that's why orders were delayed.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

January 29, 2020 03:06AM

@1cent wrote:

You can see if they are throwing patties on the grill as orders come in. If they aren't doing that, orders are going to be late. It's that simple.

Not really; not all the time. Sometimes they're putting patties on the grill as orders come in, and you still get your burger a couple minutes late by their standards. Sometimes the crew seems to be working right along, but your order's late.

Sometimes they don't put your patty on right when you order, and your order's on time. (That happens to me sometimes when I order a hot dog.)

Maybe they're not synchronizing finishing the fries with the orders that are in progress. Who knows?

It can be pretty hard to tell why one's order is delayed. I don't make a judgement unless I'm fairly certain.

I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.

January 29, 2020 04:17AM

A lot of times (at least for the stores in my area) the staff are preparing a bunch of pick-up and delivery orders.

January 29, 2020 07:16PM

Same as you. No observable reason. Or guess that online orders could be the slowdown, if you have observed anyone bypassing the register when they enter.

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