Hamburger U. grills students on McDonald's operations - The Detroit News
Those are just a few of the problems a McDonald’s manager is expected to spot in this mock kitchen. If they miss them, it’s probably a good bet that they won’t be making the dean’s list at Hamburger University in this Chicago suburb, where managers are graded on everything from handling customer complaints to hiring the best workers. Each year, hundreds of new McDonald’s U. S. general managers spend five days at Hamburger University on the burger giant’s corporate campus, working toward an honorary bachelor’s degree in Hamburgerology. During their visits, they role play, have meetings with their boss and prepare to return home and make real improvements at the restaurants they run. “If you think about it, each of them is running a multimillion-dollar business,” said Rob Lauber, vice president and chief learning officer of McDonald’s Restaurant Solutions Group. Every GM makes a run through Hamburger University, taking courses that include shift management, introduction to management and guest services before they get to the session known as GM Capstone. “We put a little bit of pressure on them to quickly make their decisions, just like they do back home,” said Jason Hamm, McDonald’s national training manager for the U. S. “We try to throw a lot of different things at them. But the need for training is especially urgent now as McDonald’s pushes to turn around its U. S. business, which has seen comparable sales and customer visits slip for two consecutive years. Source: www.detroitnews.com
