McDonald's Reusing McFlurry Spindle

[Alpha8472]

Previously the McFlurry was made using a disposable spindle which is was given to the customer as the spoon to eat with. Now the restaurant will reuse the spindle and only wash it every 4 hours. This will supposedly save plastic. However, the customer will now be given a wrapped plastic spoon. Now the old spindle will be contaminated with all the different flavors of McFlurry and sit out in the open to attract flies and bugs for 4 hours.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/lifestyle/mc ... 00664.html

[storewanderer]

Places like Dairy Queen re-use the same mixer all day to mix shakes, blizzards, whatever. There is a process that it needs to be rinsed between orders.

Given McDonalds have so many issues keeping their ice cream machines working (not sure why they always break, but machines that are not cleaned properly tend to break so I am suspicious that may be one of the reasons the machines are down so often), I don't think this will work that great either.

I never liked that super thick plastic spoon that came with the McFlurry. Sure, it never broke, but it just felt awkward and heavy. It is extremely uncomfortable for a smaller mouth to eat with as well.

Another issue with the super thick plastic spoon is a significant amount of McFlurry often stuck to it when you lifted it out, so if they are "reusing them" it sounds like a lot of McFlurry is going to be wasted or they'll have to manually remove the spoon and use a utensil to clear the stuck product into each customer's cup.

I always wondered why they didn't just have a proper mixer with mixing thing attached to the actual machine for good, like Dairy Queen etc.

Also the McFlurry is typically not mixed properly and barely mixed because the super thick plastic spoon does not actually do that well of a job mixing the thing.

So McDonalds is taking the worst of the worst. First they keep using the super thick plastic spoon that already does a bad job even mixing the McFlurry, then re-use the super thick plastic spoon for 4 hours (huge bacteria risk here) plus mix different flavors with the same spoon (just gross and sloppy). They need to eliminate the super thick plastic spoon entirely, get mixer machines that have washable parts that are metal/strong and will properly mix the product.

I don't know what the deal with McDonalds is. They are making some very poor decisions. Their US operation seems remarkably worse than their overseas operations. It doesn't make sense.

[BillyGr]

Places like Dairy Queen re-use the same mixer all day to mix shakes, blizzards, whatever. There is a process that it needs to be rinsed between orders.

So, McDonalds is taking the worst of the worst. First, they keep using the super thick plastic spoon that already does a bad job even mixing the McFlurry, then re-use the super thick plastic spoon for 4 hours (huge bacteria risk here) plus mix different flavors with the same spoon (just gross and sloppy). They need to eliminate the super thick plastic spoon entirely, get mixer machines that have washable parts that are metal/strong and will properly mix the product.

Seems they could simply keep a cup of water (with whatever solution) nearby and run it into that just as you say the regular mixers do with their spindle.

Why re-invent a fairly common process?

[storewanderer]

Seems they could simply keep a cup of water (with whatever solution) nearby and run it into that just as you say the regular mixers do with their spindle.

Why re-invent a fairly common process?

That is a complete violation of health codes unless the cup of water was being changed very frequently (I am not sure how frequently- I would never suggest this process even with the timing because it is so easy to lose track of time in a busy fast food place). A cup of water sitting there for 4 hours would produce various bacteria and that would cause various potential issues.

They would need a cup that was basically a drain that water was constantly dispensing into/draining from if they wanted to keep it sitting in water for an extended time period.

I would think there are some smart McDonalds franchisees out there who could come up with a better process than this...

[BillyGr]

Seems they could simply keep a cup of water (with whatever solution) nearby and run it into that just as you say the regular mixers do with their spindle.

Why re-invent a fairly common process?

That is a complete violation of health codes unless the cup of water was being changed very frequently (I am not sure how frequently- I would never suggest this process even with the timing because it is so easy to lose track of time in a busy fast food place). A cup of water sitting there for 4 hours would produce various bacteria and that would cause various potential issues.

They would need a cup that was basically a drain that water was constantly dispensing into/draining from if they wanted to keep it sitting in water for an extended time period.

I would think there are some smart McDonalds franchisees out there who could come up with a better process than this...

The point being, that is what places that make milkshakes already do, thus it must be approved as they wouldn't do something not approved (and this is more than just one place that it shows up).

Likely that it is not just water in the cup (maybe more like what a restaurant uses to put cloths in to wipe off tables), which is why I had that (with whatever solution) added, but it looks like water from the customer's view (since whatever else is in it is clear and not visible).

[Brian Lutz]

The substance in the cup is probably the sanitizing solution that is used in dish washing. In a commercial kitchen there are generally three sinks used for washing: One is filled with dishwater (usually a commercial version of the dish soap you'd use at home), one is filled with rinsewater, and the third is filled with water that contains a sanitizing solution which is typically made by adding a small quantity of bleach to the water but there are other commercial chemicals available for the purpose. In ice cream shops, they will use what is known as a "dipper well", which is essentially a tiny sink placed next to the ice cream freezer with a steady slow flow of water that will wash the remnants off the scoop between customers and replace the water with fresh water over time. Here's an example of one of these:

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/nemco- ... 31610.html

It's relatively inexpensive but would require plumbing for a water supply and drain. I also don't know what DQ, Sonic or other places that sell similar products would do to clean their machines between customers, but I'm guessing the plastic spoon mixer used by the McDonald's machine was used as a way to get around patents owned by DQ for the Blizzard machine, although those would have expired long ago at this point.

[veteran+]

The 3 sink scenario is standard in all food serving establishments but the last procedure is the drying phase before using for food again.

That little contraption is very cool but has anyone seen this used in places that serve ice cream, soft serve or even yogurt, and especially with different flavours out of one spigot and or one utensil?

I know for sure In&Out does not.

[storewanderer]

The 3 sink scenario is standard in all food serving establishments but the last procedure is the drying phase before using for food again.

That little contraption is very cool but has anyone seen this used in places that serve ice cream, soft serve or even yogurt, and especially with different flavours out of one spigot and or one utensil?

I know for sure In&Out does not.

The rinsing contraption is used at most places that have ice cream by the scoop. Baskin Robbins, Rite Aid, etc. have something like that in place. The water can be turned off when they are cleaning etc. It is built right into the counter/case.

Soft serve and milkshake machines are different. There is no utensil involved in these machines (until you get to McFlurry state but that is a different machine). The machines that In N Out and McDonalds use that spit multiple flavors out of the same nozzle are "cleaned" between uses internally spitting out some vanilla initially then dispensing whatever flavor is being dispensed.

The soft serve machines have parts at the dispensing hole in the machine that product drops out of that are supposed to be removed and cleaned every so many hours (this number of hours may equal the number of hours some places like a TCBY etc. operate in a day).

In N Out and McDonalds does not "mix" any milkshakes manually. So they would not need this water rinsing contraption for milkshakes. The syrups are in the machine and the mixing happens before the product is dispensed out of the machine. There is no utensil involved when they serve a milkshake. They drop the cup below the machine and pull whatever flavor is ordered and put the lid on the cup and serve it.

[veteran+]

There is quite a bit of the previous flavor that comes out, to the point where the tray gets full and you have to use a separate cup to catch it or stop and rinse/empty the tray.

[storewanderer]

There is quite a bit of the previous flavor that comes out, to the point where the tray gets full and you have to use a separate cup to catch it or stop and rinse/empty the tray.

That machine has got to be malfunctioning and they should get it looked at. A separate cup to capture excess other flavor from the prior pour should never be necessary prior to pouring the next cup. I've worked with these machines and this shouldn't happen. The end of a pour should include a squirt of vanilla to clear the tube. Since all flavors use vanilla as a base.

I prefer the machines with a separate nozzle for each flavor.

This has been an issue on those soda nozzles that dispense multiple flavors too (commonly seen at 7 Eleven).