McDonald's Crew Member (Part-time)

Hello, I’m Soumame. Around February this year (2025) until I return to school in September, I had no reason to go to campus and ended up staying at home. To avoid losing contact with society and becoming depressed (lol), I started as a crew member (part-time) at McDonald’s. The internal systems, especially the kitchen, are very well designed, so I wanted to share my impressions.

The content on this page is based solely on my personal views, conjecture, and experience. I am not disclosing any procedures that would be considered trade secrets and are not visible from outside the kitchen. When you sign a part-time contract, you are told not to leak such information. Conversely, the things published here are already available on the Internet and you can actually visit the restaurant to check them yourself. If you like, go to a store and place an order to verify.

Becoming a McDonald’s Crew Member

First, I started by looking up job listings and contacting stores to become a McDonald’s crew member.

At McDonald’s, part-time staff are called “crew.”

A term for part-time and casual staff working at McDonald’s restaurants. We call them “crew” by likening them to shipboard members so everyone in the store can come together to aim for the same goal. These wonderful moments bring smiles to customers with delicious products and hospitality tailored to their needs.

Having actually worked there, I think the “shipboard member” metaphor fits perfectly. The goal is to quickly deliver high-quality meals while being tossed about by the oncoming waves of customers (lol)…

Because it was my first interview for a food service job, I worried they’d ask technical questions and studied a lot beforehand. But the interview took place at a table with customers and was very simple. The interviews I’ve had before were usually long and technical, so I wondered if such a simple interview was really okay. That worry disappeared quickly.

McDonald’s has thoroughly documented procedures so that people with any background can work there; they don’t need to hire “already skilled” people from the start. You gradually increase the tasks you can do and are allowed to try different things.

I’ve heard of cases where people fail the interview, but I personally think that’s more likely because the store already has enough staff, the hours don’t match, or similar practical reasons—not because they lack aptitude.

First Shift — Potato Person

So, the first thing I did was cook McDonald’s fries. This role, called the “potato person,” is the most straightforward and arguably the most important position.

A side menu that is essentially a core product

French fries mainly consist of potatoes, batter, and oil, so they’re very low cost and can be served quickly. While McDonald’s sells many localized products worldwide, the fries are sold as the same product across the globe. In terms of sales and branding, it’s fair to say fries hold an extremely important position.

An optimized kitchen

Although fries are an important product, the person making them may have little experience. In fact, I started making them while being taught from my first day. The kitchen is designed so that with minimal training anyone can produce high-quality fries quickly.

At the McDonald’s where I work, equipment for each step is arranged so items flow from right to left; you can complete the entire process by moving sideways.

First, you take a bag of frozen fries from the freezer and put them directly into a dispenser. The dispenser contains the same frozen product as the freezer but is designed to dispense an appropriate amount from the bottom. By preloading the dispenser from the bag, you can start cooking faster and with more precise portioning than if a person scooped directly from the bag into the fry basket.

Once the frozen fries are in the basket, you fry them directly. Fry times are managed by a computer, and when the time is up the famous “tirori” sound plays. This sound is so well-known—I wonder if the same one is used across Japan? Even franchise stores play this sound, so the equipment supplier may be standardized.

When the fries are done, you put them into the holding area and add salt. The holding area is specially designed so the fries can be kept warm without becoming soggy. Salt is dispensed using a dedicated salt dispenser so the correct amount can be applied in one go.

After salting comes bagging. You open a box and put fries inside. Using a scoop (a tool for gathering the appropriate amount of fries), you place the right portion into the container. Personally, I found this a bit tricky—getting the exact regulated amount is difficult. During peak hours you can’t weigh each portion, so you have to learn by feel to scoop the correct amount.

All of these steps take about four minutes.

The 7-minute rule

There is also a time limit: fries older than seven minutes after frying are discarded. Fries have a very short shelf life among fried items, so you must be careful not to overcook or keep them too long.

In practice, because of the Japanese spirit of not wanting to waste food, there are cases where fries older than seven minutes are still served…

Production quotas by time

To prevent overcooking, production quotas for fries may be assigned by time slot. If you visit McDonald’s during busy times you’ll notice fries are sometimes pre-made even if no one has ordered them yet. That way, when an order comes in you can serve the item immediately. By contrast, hamburgers have a set production time of 50 seconds, while fries take three minutes to cook if not in stock—so pre-making them avoids that delay.

Order processing

After getting comfortable as a potato person, you move on to the next training. You learn tasks step by step.

Although I also worked the floor, my primary role was in the kitchen, so I trained to become a person who makes hamburgers. Making a hamburger isn’t just following a recipe and handing it over. You memorize the product names displayed on monitors. An “initiator” toasts the buns, places the base ingredients, then hands the product to an “assembler” who adds the remaining ingredients, wraps it, and drops the finished item into a chute to send it out.

Made For You

It’s well known that McDonald’s has used the “Made For You” system since 2004: orders entered at the POS appear on kitchen monitors and items are prepared accordingly. This technology lets restaurants prepare items that vary by order (like hamburgers) without making and storing them in advance, reducing waste.

50 Happies Born from M | McDonald’s Japan 50-Year History | McDonald’s Japan Thanks to you, McDonald’s Japan has reached its 50th anniversary. We introduce the 50-year history we’ve walked with our customers from various angles. www.mcdonalds.co.jp

Monitors everywhere

There are many monitors throughout the kitchen, and they’re quite sophisticated—different information is shown depending on the location. Near the fry station, you see the amount of fries needed for current orders; the burger station monitor shows burger-only info; the drink station shows drink info, and so on. By placing monitors at each station and hiding irrelevant information, crew members can stay at their posts and immediately see what to do.

Despite the stark black-background white-text UI, I thought it was well designed: it shows seconds elapsed since the order and colors that change (turning red if it takes too long). During busy periods, not all orders are displayed when the queue grows. The intent is clear: focus on the orders in front of you and get them out fast.

A fixed number of people generally work in front of each monitor, but if orders pile up a system called a “Danger Call”—a rather alarming name—is used (basically yelling “Danger!”). That summons people with capacity to come help. You might wonder if it’s okay to jump into someone else’s task mid-process; by checking the monitor, the person arriving can immediately see what help is needed and start working right away.

This system is indispensable to McDonald’s operations. There have been times when it stopped and restaurants were temporarily unable to operate, even suspending service. All processes rely heavily on this system.

[Notice] Many stores nationwide have temporarily suspended operations. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience to our customers.

— McDonald’s (@McDonaldsJapan) March 15, 2024

I wondered how this system is handled overseas. When I recently visited the US, I saw it was exactly the same, so I think the same platform is used in many countries. It’s impressive that crew members around the world use the same software. I’m curious how much kitchen equipment is sourced locally. For example, in Japan, fryers are unique. How do I know that? Because I didn’t hear the “tirori” sound in overseas McDonald’s!

Importing such equipment would raise costs, so I’m curious how they procure local kitchen equipment that meets their standards.

Various order methods

Mobile orders and in-store kiosk orders are also processed through the same system.

The response is astonishingly fast: when an order is completed it appears on the store monitor within about 1–3 seconds. Mobile orders can be made via a browser or native app, so the app sends a request to some server. From what I researched, it seems orders go through a central mobile-order processing server and then to servers deployed per store.

These orders are combined with traditional counter orders, which I find impressive. By the way, the most detailed customizations are possible at the counter: freshly fried fries, extra ketchup, and other custom requests that may not be available via mobile order or kiosk. Exceptions and menu items not listed can be handled here.

Input → Processing → Output flow

Thus, diverse input methods (mobile, kiosk, counter) are handled by one system, crew members act as actuators in the McDonald’s factory, and the customer’s ordered product comes out. With a solid manual, humans can act flexibly and quickly as actuators—there currently isn’t a robot that can replace this.

Closing thoughts

Working part-time at McDonald’s had many interesting aspects, but the hours were long and it was tough, so I quit last month.

If you’re thinking about a part-time job or are curious how global fast food chains grew so large, I recommend trying it for a few months. McDonald’s stories are quite popular among friends. There’s a game called Overcooked! that people said this job resembles, so I plan to try it sometime. Overall, it was a great experience.