This afternoon for lunch, I walked over to a Wendy's fast food
restaurant that's around the corner from my office. I wanted to get some
food to take back to eat in my office. I ordered a Single Classic burger
with tomato, bacon, and cheese. I also bought an order of the chicken
nuggets off the 99 cent value menu.

After waiting briefly for my food, I was handed a bag with a hamburger,
french fries and chicken nuggets in it. As I always do when I order take
out food, I inspect the bag when it is handed to me to ensure my order
hasn't been badly screwed up. I don't bother inspecting the actual
sandwich though. I didn't order any french fries, but therein my bag was
a medium size order of french fries. I couldn't see the chicken nuggets
because they were underneath the fries.

I notified the cashier who took my order that I wanted chicken nuggets,
not fries. The cashier apologized, then tossed the container of french
fries into a trash can next to the frying machine. She then pointed to
the chicken nuggets in the bottom of my bag, so I thanked her and I left.

As I walked back to my office, I thought that if I had known the french
fries would have been thrown away, I would have kept them and offered
them to one of my colleagues. I wonder why fast food restaurants throw
away perfectly good food in those situations. The french fries were
fresh out of the fryer and the cashier could plainly see that I had not
handled them in any way. Those french fries were piping hot when they
were disposed of. I am sure some MBA somewhere put that policy into
effect, but it is so wasteful to throw away perfectly good food. Does
anyone know why fast food restaurants throw away perfectly good food?

Stan Horwitz wrote:
[snip]
The french fries were
fresh out of the fryer and the cashier could plainly see that I had not
handled them in any way. Those french fries were piping hot when they
were disposed of. I am sure some MBA somewhere put that policy into
effect, but it is so wasteful to throw away perfectly good food. Does
anyone know why fast food restaurants throw away perfectly good food?

Look at it from the point of view of the manager (or even the
franchise). What rules should you have in place for your unskilled
help to follow rigidly? Put the cooked fries here, only. Serve them
from here, only. Never put anything here except the fries directly
from the frier, period. That's pretty straightforward. Now what
exceptions should you make? You may add fries that were already served
to someone else -- when? when still hot? when untouched? when no one
is watching? when they've left a whole lot of them on the table? when
orders are backed up and the fryer is slow?

No, best to stick with the basics. Once the order is bagged it's dead,
never to be served to anyone else. -aem

Stan Horwitz wrote in news:stan-93DEDC.17550210082005
@news.giganews.com:

I wonder why fast food restaurants throw
away perfectly good food in those situations.


Stan,

It's a health issue.

Even if you just opened it and looked inside, your runny nose could've
dripped into the fries. The restaurant has to protect it's customers
from it's other customers.

Andy

aem wrote:

snip

Look at it from the point of view of the manager (or even the
franchise). What rules should you have in place for your unskilled
help to follow rigidly? Put the cooked fries here, only.

No, no! Not here! Over there, by the severed fingers.

snip

Stan Horwitz wrote (at last):
I notified the cashier who took my order that I wanted chicken nuggets,
not fries. The cashier apologized, then tossed the container of french
fries into a trash can next to the frying machine. She then pointed to
the chicken nuggets in the bottom of my bag, so I thanked her and I left.

As I walked back to my office, I thought that if I had known the french
fries would have been thrown away, I would have kept them and offered
them to one of my colleagues. I wonder why fast food restaurants throw
away perfectly good food in those situations. The french fries were
fresh out of the fryer and the cashier could plainly see that I had not
handled them in any way. Those french fries were piping hot when they
were disposed of. I am sure some MBA somewhere put that policy into
effect, but it is so wasteful to throw away perfectly good food. Does
anyone know why fast food restaurants throw away perfectly good food?

It's the difference between "clean" and "contaminated."

The kitchen and holding areas are clean areas. Once food leaves the kitchen
with your server or goes over the counter and into your, the customer's,
hands, it's contaminated and never reenters a clean zone.

An MBA didn't formulate this concept. Some MD, MPH, PhD or othersuch stick
in the mud thunk it up

contagious diseases just aren't much fun

In article , Stan Horwitz
wrote:
The cashier apologized, then tossed the container of french
fries into a trash can next to the frying machine. She then pointed to
the chicken nuggets in the bottom of my bag, so I thanked her and I left.

As I walked back to my office, I thought that if I had known the french
fries would have been thrown away, I would have kept them and offered
them to one of my colleagues. I wonder why fast food restaurants throw
away perfectly good food in those situations.

Because once they've been served they cannot be re-served. Even ifyou
didn't touch them. It's the law. I'm guessing there are places that
fudge on it but do it out of the customers' sight -- harder to do the
way most fastfood places are set up.
--
-Barb, http://www.jamlady.eboard.com 8/3/05 New York-Vermont tab (a
couple pictures added to the 7/29 note on 8/5)

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:00:25 -0500, Melba's Jammin'
wrote:

In article , Stan Horwitz
wrote:
The cashier apologized, then tossed the container of french
fries into a trash can next to the frying machine. She then pointed to
the chicken nuggets in the bottom of my bag, so I thanked her and I left.

As I walked back to my office, I thought that if I had known the french
fries would have been thrown away, I would have kept them and offered
them to one of my colleagues. I wonder why fast food restaurants throw
away perfectly good food in those situations.

Because once they've been served they cannot be re-served. Even ifyou
didn't touch them. It's the law. I'm guessing there are places that
fudge on it but do it out of the customers' sight -- harder to do the
way most fastfood places are set up.

Just out of curiousity. Does anyone read the other followups in a
thread before posting or are newservers getting slower receiving
posts? There are at least 4 posts in this thread stating the same
thing, as if none of the posters saw that someone else already gave
the same response they are about to post. This happens much more often
than it used to.

Or is it something else I'm missing?

Mark Alsop wrote:

Just out of curiousity. Does anyone read the other followups in a
thread before posting or are newservers getting slower receiving
posts? There are at least 4 posts in this thread stating the same
thing, as if none of the posters saw that someone else already gave
the same response they are about to post. This happens much more often
than it used to.

Or is it something else I'm missing?


Some of us choose to read newsgroup messages unthreaded, by the order in
which they are posted instead of threaded by topic. When you read once
or twice a day and see an original post you want to reply to, you have
no idea whether the post has received 100 replies or none between the
time it first appeared and the time you read it. Clear as mud?

gloria p

On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 02:39:48 GMT, Puester
wrote:

Mark Alsop wrote:

Just out of curiousity. Does anyone read the other followups in a
thread before posting or are newservers getting slower receiving
posts? There are at least 4 posts in this thread stating the same
thing, as if none of the posters saw that someone else already gave
the same response they are about to post. This happens much more often
than it used to.

Or is it something else I'm missing?


Some of us choose to read newsgroup messages unthreaded, by the order in
which they are posted instead of threaded by topic. When you read once
or twice a day and see an original post you want to reply to, you have
no idea whether the post has received 100 replies or none between the
time it first appeared and the time you read it. Clear as mud?

I get it. But, doesn't that negate the "conversational" aspect of
Usenet? Not quite real time like IRC, but moreso than web forums,
which, I think, is a good thing.

I'm not intending to be chiding anyone, just curious about a
phenomenon that seems to have grown more common over the last few
years.

[Since this thread started out tagged "Slighty OT" I don't feel too
guilty going a bit further off topic.]

"Andy" Q wrote in message
.. .
Stan Horwitz wrote in news:stan-93DEDC.17550210082005
@news.giganews.com:

I wonder why fast food restaurants throw
away perfectly good food in those situations.


Stan,

It's a health issue.

Even if you just opened it and looked inside, your runny nose could've
dripped into the fries. The restaurant has to protect it's customers
from it's other customers.

Andy

When I was at my f-i-l's assisted living dining room, the server was a
little fast. When I told her I wanted something with sugar in it, she moved
a dessert hastily toward my face and under my nose. I knew before it got
that far that I didn't want it, but she was moving it so fast. I motioned
to her that I didn't want it, but she said, go ahead and take it and put it
on the table in front of me, and I said to her that she must have already
served it, and she nodded yes. This all happened in a flash. At any rates,
this was a great way to get TWO desserts.
Dee

Stan Horwitz wrote:

As I walked back to my office, I thought that if I had known the french
fries would have been thrown away, I would have kept them and offered
them to one of my colleagues. I wonder why fast food restaurants throw
away perfectly good food in those situations. The french fries were
fresh out of the fryer and the cashier could plainly see that I had not
handled them in any way.


Legally speaking they *cannot* re - offer for them sale or even offer to
give them away. To do otherwise would be a health code violation.

--
Best
Greg

pennyaline wrote:

It's the difference between "clean" and "contaminated."

The kitchen and holding areas are clean areas. Once food leaves the
kitchen
with your server or goes over the counter and into your, the customer's,
hands, it's contaminated and never reenters a clean zone.


IOW it's a health code violation...


An MBA didn't formulate this concept. Some MD, MPH, PhD or othersuch stick
in the mud thunk it up


Or an attorney (J.D?)...:-)

--
Best
Greg

Stan Horwitz wrote:
I notified the cashier who took my order that I wanted chicken
nuggets, not fries. The cashier apologized, then tossed the container
of french fries into a trash can next to the frying machine. She then
pointed to the chicken nuggets in the bottom of my bag, so I thanked
her and I left.

As I walked back to my office, I thought that if I had known the
french fries would have been thrown away, I would have kept them and
offered them to one of my colleagues. I wonder why fast food
restaurants throw away perfectly good food in those situations. The
french fries were fresh out of the fryer and the cashier could
plainly see that I had not handled them in any way. Those french
fries were piping hot when they were disposed of. I am sure some MBA
somewhere put that policy into effect, but it is so wasteful to throw
away perfectly good food. Does anyone know why fast food restaurants
throw away perfectly good food?

It's not just fast-food places (or at least it shouldn't be). As previously
stated, it violates health code issues. The cashier/server has no way of
knowing if you did or didn't handle the food or in some way contaminate it.
In another example, say you went to a restaurant and ordered fries with your
steak but you received a baked potato. They'll take the plate back and give
you fries, but the potato goes right into the rubbish bin.

I dislike the waste but I like my health. If they didn't charge you for the
fries you should have taken them to the office and given them away... but
hindsight is 20/20

Jill

In article et,
"Gregory Morrow"
gregorymorrowEMERGENCYCANCELLATIONARCHIMEDES@eart hlink.net wrote:

Stan Horwitz wrote:

As I walked back to my office, I thought that if I had known the french
fries would have been thrown away, I would have kept them and offered
them to one of my colleagues. I wonder why fast food restaurants throw
away perfectly good food in those situations. The french fries were
fresh out of the fryer and the cashier could plainly see that I had not
handled them in any way.


Legally speaking they *cannot* re - offer for them sale or even offer to
give them away. To do otherwise would be a health code violation.

Perhaps, but they could have simply told me to keep the fries and maybe
asked me to sign a receipt to handle inventory control.

Stan Horwitz wrote:
In article et,
"Gregory Morrow"
gregorymorrowEMERGENCYCANCELLATIONARCHIMEDES@eart hlink.net wrote:

Stan Horwitz wrote:

As I walked back to my office, I thought that if I had known the
french fries would have been thrown away, I would have kept them
and offered them to one of my colleagues. I wonder why fast food
restaurants throw away perfectly good food in those situations. The
french fries were fresh out of the fryer and the cashier could
plainly see that I had not handled them in any way.


Legally speaking they *cannot* re - offer for them sale or even
offer to give them away. To do otherwise would be a health code
violation.

Perhaps, but they could have simply told me to keep the fries and
maybe asked me to sign a receipt to handle inventory control.

LOL I doubt one container of fries would have much affect on "inventory
control". I just hope the person who *ordered* the fries and didn't get
them checked their bag as you did.

Jill