I remember reading something about McDonald's chefs. As in, the people who design new menu items. One of them described it as a really interesting job, because you have to take into account things like 'what is the world supply of this ingredient.' I forget what their example was, but they had built something new, and they had determined though sales projections that McDonald's would have to purchase _the entire world supply_ of this ingredient for it to work out.
Or, consider things like the McRib. If I remember correctly, McDonald's only offers it for limited times because they have to wait until the pork market is cheap enough that they can turn a profit.
I worked at a pizza chain, and our chefs often had to make new foods work with the ingredients we already were stocking, at least, as much as possible.
There is creativity and invention in fast food, it just works under a very peculiar set of constraints.
I remember reading something about McDonald's chefs. As in, the people who design new menu items. One of them described it as a really interesting job, because you have to take into account things like 'what is the world supply of this ingredient.' I forget what their example was, but they had built something new, and they had determined though sales projections that McDonald's would have to purchase _the entire world supply_ of this ingredient for it to work out.
Or, consider things like the McRib. If I remember correctly, McDonald's only offers it for limited times because they have to wait until the pork market is cheap enough that they can turn a profit.
I worked at a pizza chain, and our chefs often had to make new foods work with the ingredients we already were stocking, at least, as much as possible.
There is creativity and invention in fast food, it just works under a very peculiar set of constraints.