Classes Are Tough at Mcdonald's Hamburger University by Chicago Tribune, Adapted by Newsela Staff on 05.12.15 Word Count 878

Classes are tough at McDonald's Hamburger University By Chicago Tribune, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.12.15 Word Count 878

McDonald's restaurant general managers (from left) Juan Castaneda, Carmen Caba and Joanna Molina meet as a team to consolidate their notes as they gather around a Ronald McDonald statue at McDonald's University in Oak Brook, Illinois, April 14, 2015. Photo: Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

OAK BROOK, Ill. — Two boxes of french fries stacked on the kitchen ﬂoor, rather than stored in a freezer. An empty salt shaker at the fry station. A dry, unseasoned cheeseburger served on a hardened bun.

Those are just a few of the problems a McDonald’s manager is expected to spot in this fake kitchen. The exercise is part of a typical day at McDonald's very own school for managers. The training program is called Hamburger University and it grades managers on everything from handling customer complaints to hiring the best workers. Hamburger University Is Serious Business

Each year, hundreds of new managers visit McDonald’s corporate campus to become students at Hamburger University. They spend ﬁve days working toward an unofﬁcial degree in "Hamburger-ology." During their visits, they role play and have meetings with a professor who pretends to be their boss. They also plan the improvements they need to make at the real 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. “So we want to make sure they have good business grounding.”

McDonald's says all managers must graduate from Hamburger University. To make the grade, they will need to pass courses like shift management and guest services.

“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 United States. “We try to throw a lot of different things at them.”

Grill Man Goes Far

Hamburger University opened in 1961 and has hosted some 330,000 students at campuses around the world. With sales and customer visits falling in the United States, McDonald's says the need for this type of training is more important than ever.

According to McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook, focusing on people is the key to a turnaround. “A motivated workforce leads to better customer service,” he said. Easterbrook has pledged to increase wages and improve educational opportunities for U.S. workers, including covering costs for certain high school and college courses.

Fred Turner, who rose from working as a grill man to McDonald’s senior chairman, started Hamburger University in the basement of a McDonald’s restaurant in suburban Chicago. Its ﬁrst class had just 15 students. Now there are seven Hamburger Universities around the world, including the newest in Shanghai, China, which opened in 2010.

Today, the 130,000-square-foot Oak Brook learning lab is known as the Fred L. Turner Training Center. Inside its classrooms and restaurant settings, managers learn leadership, teamwork and decision-making skills. Ninety to 120 managers graduate from each week-long session. The course is offered about 20 times a year. HU Honor Roll

Students at Hamburger University are evaluated based on the points they earn in simulations and on a final group presentation. Students who finish with a final score of 90 percent or higher earn spots on the honors list. About 10 percent of Hamburger University students wind up in that special group and graduate with gold seals on their certificates.

For many, the training is their ﬁrst time in a classroom in years.

“We estimate between 20 and 30 percent of our restaurant managers haven’t ﬁnished high school,” Lauber said. In addition to overseeing Hamburger University, Lauber also makes English, high school and college courses available for McDonald's employees.

Climbing The Corporate Burger Ladder

Stephen Jones was supposed to go to Hamburger University in January. In the months leading up to his trip, Jones went through the online meetings and classes McDonald's uses to prepare students for the Hamburger University experience. He and his coach decided he was not ready, so his trip was delayed until April.

Jones started out at McDonald’s when he was in the ninth grade, taking orders at a restaurant in Philadelphia. He’s now the 29-year-old head manager of a 24- hour McDonald’s, just blocks from Yankee Stadium in New York. Jones oversees a crew of more than 100 people and 14 managers.

Hamburger University is not the only school that has been testing Jones lately. He also takes online classes at Strayer University.

Jones said he was not planning on going to college, but someone from McDonald’s training team came to the restaurant where he worked and got him signed up for school. Now he is earning a degree in science and plans to work in human relations.

"Focus On The Customer"

McDonald’s is not the only large company that runs a corporate training center like this, but a research group called the Learning Consortium says Hamburger University has a reputation for being one of the toughest programs of its kind. Students at HU do not just hit the books. They also face challenging interpersonal situations.

The Learning Consortium says McDonald's is looking for more than just strong skills; they need managers with good judgment, too. For Jones, Hamburger University was a “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He says he appreciated having a chance to step back and re-evaluate the way he operates his own McDonald's location.

Jones has seen McDonald’s go through difﬁcult times before and believes the company can still succeed.

“We have to do what we’re supposed to do and that’s focus on the customer,” Jones said. Quiz

1 Select the sentence from the section "Grill Man Goes Far" that BEST supports the central idea of the article.

(A) With sales and customer visits falling in the United States, McDonald's says the need for this type of training is more important than ever.

(B) Easterbrook has pledged to increase wages and improve educational opportunities for U.S. workers, including covering costs for certain high school and college courses.

(C) Fred Turner, who rose from working as a grill man to McDonald’s senior chairman, started Hamburger University in the basement of a McDonald’s restaurant in suburban Chicago.

(D) Now there are seven Hamburger Universities around the world, including the newest in Shanghai, China, which opened in 2010.

2 Which of the following BEST summarizes the section "Focus On The Customer"?

(A) According to the Learning Consortium, HU is the toughest program of its kind. Unlike other corporate training centers, it looks for strong skills as well as good judgment in its trainees.

(B) Hamburger University is a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for many managers. For Stephen Jones, it is a chance to rethink the way he manages his store and his focus on customers.

(C) McDonald's has had lots of ups and downs in the past. However, Jones believes that Hamburger University will help it succeed once again.

(D) Students at Hamburger University not only learn theoretical knowledge, but they also face challenging interpersonal situations.

3 Read the following sentence from the section "HU Honor Roll."

Students who ﬁnish with a ﬁnal score of 90 percent or higher earn spots on the honors list.

Select the option that can BEST replace the word "spots" without changing the overall meaning of the sentence.

(A) marks

(B) points

(D) positions 4 Read the following sentence from the section "HU Honor Roll."

Students at Hamburger University are evaluated based on the points they earn in simulations and on a ﬁnal group presentation.

Which word can BEST replace the word "evaluated" in the above sentence?

(A) valued

(B) judged

(D) promoted Answer Key