Do you know long long it takes to sing the song Happy Birthday To You? Every Burger King crew member does! It is all of 20 seconds.
Once a staff member clocks in, his first duty is to wash his hands; in 12 steps. One of which is massaging soap into the hands and arms for 20 seconds. There is a timer. In the event you forget to switch on the timer…..and that’s why everyone at Burger King sings Happy Birthday To You at the wash basin. Cleanliness is next to goodliness, and you can never compromise on hygiene when it comes to handling food.
The BK kitchen – back of the counter where you decide between potato wedges and onion rings and whether to upsize your life – is a compact space of the highest and fastest standards. Everyone knows his spot and aquits his work station in the regulated time, from order to serve.
It takes slightly longer to fill an order of The Whopper. No more than half a minute, 29 seconds is good. I of course took 1 minute and 36 seconds, which is not bad, if I’d produced three Whoppers. It was just the one.
Every fast food chain has its assembly line operations. At BK we toasted the buns – top half is called “crown” and bottom half “heel” – then it’s flame-grilled patty, mayo spread, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, tomato sauce. Easy? Can you figure 21 gr of mayo and 14 gr of tomato sauce and 21 gr lettuce? Without weighing machine?
Your BK Whopper has to come in at between 262 and 282 gr. I was close to busting, at 280 gr.
Now I’m a certified Whopper, and I have the pin to prove it. Plus the baseball cap. Fortunately we could not eat our own makes…so I could order a 282 gr one, you know lah Singaporean kiasu only.
