Mcdonaldization Of Society 2 Essay Research Paper

Mcdonaldization Of Society 2 Essay, Research Paper

The McDonaldization of:

If you have ever had a meal in a restaurant (fast-food/formal dining), used an ATM in a bank, spent your vacation at an amusement park or simply browsed through a mall, you have been exposed to McDonaldization. McDonaldization is the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of America society as well as the rest of the world (Ritzer, 1996, 1). Nearly ever aspect of today s society has been affected by McDonaldization including the restaurant business, education, work, healthcare, travel, leisure, dieting, politics and the family (Ritzer, 1996, 1). I observed three East Side Mario s Restaurant s establishments while the dinner menu was being served on Saturday evenings between 6pm and 8pm to evaluate the ways in which McDonaldization has affected their company. On January 29th I visited East Side Mario s in London, Ontario, on February 19th I visited East Side Mario s in Plano, Texas (I used to hold a job as a server at this location) and on February 26th I visited East Side Mario s in Orange, California. With the diversity of locations I was able to observe, I compared and contrasted many angles of the East Side Mario s concept. East Side Mario s Restaurants Inc. is one of the millions of business that has implemented the four principles of McDonaldization, which are: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control.

With the assistance of Bernard Platt, Vice President of Marie Callender s Pie Shops, Inc., former Vice President of East Side Mario s Restaurant, Inc., I will offer a condensed presentation of East Side Mario s history to get you familiar with the business. East Side Mario s Restaurants, Inc., is a wholly owned division of Marie Callender s Pie Shops, Inc. In 1987 a partnership of restauranteurs developed the ESM (for the remainder of this case study I will us the initial ESM to refer to East Side Mario s Restaurants, Inc.) concept in North Miami, Florida featuring the excitement and energy of a New York City street festival, a blend of outstanding American and Italian food, a place where families felt welcome and comfortable offering exceptional value. Today operating as a separate division of Marie Callender s Pie Shops, Inc., there are a total of 38 American restaurants 11 corporate and 27 franchise and there are over 80 ESM restaurants in The United States and Canada.

Efficiency is the first dimension of McDonaldization and the optimum method for getting from one point to another (Ritzer, 1996, 9). The parking lot allows ample amount of parking space for customers, including handicapped spaces directly in front of the building for efficient accessibility. The restaurant offers delivery to those who would like to spend their dinner in the comfort and convenience of their own homes. There is a small server to customer ratio to provide the best service expected throughout a customer s meal. A kid s bambino menu is offered for children to enjoy less expensive meals that suit their size, along with a separate lunch menu that offers smaller portions for a lighter meal. Happy Hour items are offered at certain hours for a quick snack fix, providing just enough time to satisfy your thirst with a favorite drink. Customers can pay with cash or credit card, whichever is more convenient for them.

To streamline the process of the kitchen work ESM simplified pasta dishes (their biggest items) to take only minutes to cook very large quantities. All employees have specialized jobs to divide the work load/streamline, including: host s/hostess , bartender s, server s, cook s, dishwasher s, salad bar attendant s, cleaning staff, cocktailer s and management.

To simplify the product the menu is limited and specializes in American/Italian food. They offer easy, quickly made finger food appetizers and unlimited soup/salad and bread which is prepared in just seconds.

ESM puts you, the customer, to work the minute you walk into the restaurant. Their may or may not be a host/hostess at the front. In the place of service staff you will definitely find a horn on a taxi stand so that a customer may call for service to the front immediately when they would like to be seated. Take-out boxes are available for the customer to take any leftovers home with them. However there is a catch, the box is merely dropped by the table and the customer is expected to put away their own leftovers. The employees and customers of ESM function efficiently together to produce a profit for the business and satisfy the customer.

The second dimension of McDonaldization, calculability, is an emphasis on the quantitative aspects of products sold (portion size, cost) and service offered (the time it takes to get the product) (Ritzer, 1996, 9). Servers are paid $6.85/hr in Canada and $2.15/hr in The United States. The rest of their money comes from tips so if they expect to take home cash they will have to work to their greatest ability and place their wages in the hands of the customers. Management usually recruits minorities to work the back of the house because they will work hard for little pay.

Emphasizing quantity over quality is an important aspect of calculability. With any entr e unlimited homeloaf and soup or salad is offered. For the bar flies free peanuts are always out in buckets for all to