Episode 86: Introducing 100% Fresh Beef Patties and Restaurant Logistics with Preston Pearson of McDonald's [Sponsored Post]

Tuesday, March 27, 2018
This week, we geek out a bit on restaurant design as we go on location at McDonald's to chat with Preston Pearson, Area Operations Supervisor, as they introduce 100% fresh beef patties to their Quarter Pounder and Signature Crafted burger line-up, and how that has changed their kitchen workflow, installed new equipment, and revamped staff training. Lee also joins us and goes through the process of making a fresh beef burger. Have you had one lately? They're so hot and juicy!

Let's taco 'bout it!



Disclosure: Some of the links within these show notes are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, we will earn a commission, which helps support our show. This commission comes at no additional cost to you, our wonderful listener!

Let's taco 'bout it!

  • Lee joins us to help We're just happy to have some fellow bloggers and guests for our segment What did you eat this week? Kathy Dalton of Go Adventure Mom (with a podcast!) told us of Trader Joe's Gnocchi al Gorgonzola and how it's now their emergency go-to meal. Sounds good to me!
  • We also chatted with Valerie of Chew and Chat and she loved the new fresh beef burgers from McDonald's (see what she had to say here) that we tried that evening, plus she told us of a chicken vegetable soup that she made from her cookbook Soup's On.
  • We also chatted with Stephanie Read of the Salt Project (you can find them here: blog, Facebook, and Instagram), about the McDonald's Quarter Pounder she ate at the event. She's been a fan of the Quarter Pounder for a long time now, but she stated that it was the best one she's eaten!


  • Becky of the blog Utah Sweet Savings joined us and told us about what she ate this week: A smoked rib-eye steak with Old Bay Seasoning for 2 hours, then finished off on the grill for a nice sear. Yum! 
  • We didn't realize how much McDonald's is committed to making things better for their customers. Their philosophy is "the simpler the better". 
  • Warning: We are on-site at McDonald's and the sound quality is quite a bit different and variable! We hope you enjoy a more relaxed, "peek" into our field trip.
  • We take a tour with Preston Pearson, McDonald's Operations Supervisor, as he talks us through the changes that needed to be made throughout the restaurant. 

Preston Pearson of McDonald's (picture taken by Kathy Dalton of Go Adventure Mom)

  • Grill-side refrigerators have been installed for easy access to the meat, and they're stocked every 2 hours and as needed at the location we visited. 
  • The meat is shipped in low oxygen, plastic-sealed bags and staged in the walk-in refrigerators and stored appropriately per food handling procedures. When it's ready to be moved to the grill-side fridge, the bag of fresh patties are put into a blue plastic container. The blue color is to indicate a raw product to alert employees.
  • Before an employee handles the raw beef patty, he or she dons blue gloves, once again for raw product only. Once the meat is placed on the grill, the blue gloves are removed and thrown away.
  • He talks about the innovative clamshell grills, where both the top and bottom plates of the grill are heated for quick cooking and a nice sear. The grill's temperatures are verified and calibrated upon installation and daily, so that the fresh beef patty can be cooked in under 80 seconds. Eighty seconds! That's quick to get a hot burger even through the drive-through!

The Hungry Squared Podcast with the McDonald's group (picture taken by Kathy Dalton of Go Adventure Mom)

  • I found out that the special seasoning combination they put on the burgers consists of 86 grains of salt to 14 flakes of pepper. Who has the patience to figure that out?!
  • Once the patty is cooked, it goes through the regular efficient burger assembly, where the employee has donned on clear/white gloves.
  • Afterward, we ate our burgers and even tried some secret menu items, like the "10:30 Burger". The 10:30 Burger got it's name because you could it when the breakfast menu was finishing up and the lunch menu was beginning at 10:30 am. The burger is a Quarter Pounder with bacon, a fried egg, and hash browns. It was delicious! Check our Instagram and Facebook to see Lee's reaction!
  • You can follow McDonald's on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Run Time: 45 minutes

Sponsors: McDonald's is our awesome and food-loving sponsor for this week's episode. Have you tried a Quarter Pounder or Signature Crafted burger with a 100% beef patty yet? You gotta love it!





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