Balance of Food

Fast food consumers want to benefit from improved technology

Most people can accept ordering off a kiosk for #fastfood. @freshii has people in Nicaragua taking your orders and getting paid $3.75/hour to do so. https://t.co/NClAES61ho

— Chad Rubel (@balanceoffood) July 8, 2022

Haven't had much fast food in recent years. Have enjoyed ordering from the Steak n Shake kiosk. My large fries orders aren't complicated and they haven't screwed up the orders.

Would I rather order from a human being? I want my order to be correct. Anecdotally, kiosk orders have been more accurate.

Freshii splits the difference. You approach a screen. You talk with an actual human … in Nicaragua. That person is getting paid $3.75/hour.

Ordering from a human sounds better than ordering from a kiosk. Yet there are a few drawbacks to the Freshii plan:

The idea behind fast food jobs is that they help the youth in your area get work experience. Unless you live near Managua (the Nicaragua capital), this would not apply. The profits don't stay in the area. Paying the workers in your community benefits the community where they live.

There are often subtle language differences in dealing with customer service with someone whose primary language is different than your own. You want to be understood when ordering fast food. What happens when you don't get your order prepared properly. Yell at someone in Nicaragua who is doing their best? Learn Spanish curse words?

There will always be some element of the customer base who enjoy personal interactions with a real human. That could be ordering fast food or going through the checkout at grocery stores. Would these people settle for a virtual human, the kind of humans who don't need a break and won't want money as a reward.

Fast food kiosks and self checkout at grocery stores have an efficiency that improves service. This works better when workers are trained to work in other areas of the business to improve the customer experience.

Wendy's self-serve kiosks should inspire better customer service

The Freshii compromise, like most compromises, misses the boat. You get a human but not likely one who will improve the customer experience. However insulting $3.75/hour might be, the kiosks could be cheaper in the long run.

Customer service phone lines get outsourced to countries with a lower standard of living. The service isn't any better, often worse. The corporate people smiled when they collect huge bonuses because they employ people, even at wages that would be illegal in the United States and Canada.

A local upscale fast food business recently reopened. In the past, you ordered from a live human being standing in front of you. They ask for your credit card (no cash) when the order is complete.

The new system in scanning in a QR code to your smartphone. You order awkwardly from an online menu. I ordered 2 items yet had to start over with 1 item since the cart didn't receive the item. I had to type in my credit card information to a third party for a fast food meal. You can store that credit card information, all for a now way more expensive fast food experience.

This was a system with financial vulnerability and 4 times the period for placing an order. I was ready for a kiosk at that point. This is a place that I liked before the changes.

Change, yes, but why not change that improves the situation for the consumer. The new changes are great for the business but finding solutions that help both are truly a win-win.

No one is asking to go back to the time where telephone operators had to connect people (ask your parents or grandparents). We want to benefit from improved technology.

BalanceofFood.com fast food coverage

Making rich people richer isn't helping society. A kiosk may seem impersonal but that feels slightly better than cramming a room full of people taking orders thousands of miles away. You could easily make the argument that those wages are better than paying for a machine.

Henry Ford had the idea of paying people a decent wage so they could afford to buy a Ford. You also got better customer service back then because that was meaningful.

Good customer service would be worth a few pennies more in the long run, however the order is collected.

Twitter capture: @balanceoffood
photo credit: me

Treat yourself to better quality food on your cheat day

"Could you be 'good' for 3 days, for a whole week so you could chow down on this colossal insane burger?"

The phrases "cheat day" and "sinful" have been cropping up on Food Network and Cooking Channel lately.

Robert Irvine has a whole show devoted to the concept: Cheat Day USA. The opening episode makes several stops where in Denver "a barbecue sandwich is taken to new heights with hickory-smoked beef, pork and sausage, slathered with homemade creamy cheese sauce and topped with beer-battered onion rings."

Yum and Yummer, Food Paradise, and a Food Network special also had episodes devoted to a cheat day.

• Yum and Yummer
• Food Paradise
• Food Network special

Of course, Guy Fieri had a Cheat Day episode on one of his many reality shows.

How to succeed on the Food Network and Cooking Channel: Love every single food

Podcast: Guy Fieri and his new $80 million Food Network deal

The concept of a cheat day isn't new. The Catholics do this during Lent where Sundays become cheat days in that you can indulge in whatever you gave up — for 24 hours.

We're not even upset over the idea of a cheat day. Your humble narrator used Saturday nights to make a special dinner during the height of the pandemic and looked forward to that during the week.

If you truly have been good on those other days, really good, that should be part of your reward. Splitting your French fries with a friend. Adding extra vegetables to your salad. Cutting bacon in half so you feel like you ate 2 slices when there was one slice cut in 2. Building in consistency on good days can make that a pattern instead of viewing it through the lens of 3-6 "good days."

Okay, so you aren't that good on your "good days." You still want the reward. You are human after all.

The problem isn't where you set your standard on those "good days"; the issue is your standard on the cheat days.

I've seen most of these segments. They remind us of most of what is on Food Paradise. I want to host a show where we point out 1-2 (sometimes 5) items that shouldn't be on said food item.

If you have too many things on your burger, you might as well have a portobello mushroom or veggie burger instead of a burger. Yes, food on TV needs to be ridiculous.

A burger should have 2, maybe 3 items at the most. Smaller, more subtle flavors in the mix. A slow onion jam on a burger is wonderful though maybe not indulgent. Blue cheese contributes more flavor than a more flavorless cheese. Crumbled bacon instead of 3 barely cooked strips. Still indulgent but a nice treat.

BalanceofFood.com reality TV coverage

"Damnit. I've been good all week. I should be able to celebrate the way I want." Yes, you should. You don't want to measure out celebration or happiness.

The barbecue sandwich from Denver has 3 different kinds of meat. Will you appreciate all the different types of meat on your sandwich? The "homemade creamy cheese sauce" sounds like calories without much flavor. That can be indulgent but not useful to truly be indulgent.

As someone who has ordered French fries and onion rings at the same time, I get the temptation of fried foods. The beer-battered onion rings might be helpful if a substitute for French fries.

If your celebration food has better quality and flavor without tons of layers, you can really appreciate the taste that goes into a cheat day item. Use those calories for maximum flavor. You deserve the best for a cheat day.

Bone marrow done at home: a most unusual breakfast

This doesn't look as glamorous as the picture at the top of the column. I took this picture but that isn't the reason. This is bone marrow on sourdough toast from my latest birthday. 2 ingredients: bone marrow and toasted sourdough bread.

Plenty of flavor and fat. Great mouth feel. Calories? Have no clue what I ate in that meal. This was indulgence. I had to do a bit of work but not that much work.

This might be the best meal I have this year. Should finish in the top 5 or 10. This wouldn't make the cut on those food television shows because the dish isn't "outrageous" and doesn't photograph well. There is certainly no third or fourth rate cheese in the dish.

You can reduce food costs despite inflation

This grilled mac and cheese sandwich from Panera is described as OTT (over the top). We would agree. Maybe you will beg for this sandwich.

If the whole good day/cheat day yo-yo isn't working for you, ask yourself if you can do better on your good days. Add some lower-calorie flavor to your good days. Add some higher quality food to your cheat day.

Perhaps you will respond better to a more even wavelength than the ones you get now where your highs are too high and lows are too low.

BalanceofFood.com television coverage

"We eat with our eyes," television says to us. We don't. "Television wouldn't lie to us." It does. All the time.

Bigger isn't better. More ingredients piled on top are not better. Think of food more like a charcuterie board than a Dagwood type sandwich.

photo credits: Cheat Day USA/Cooking Channel; me