It's a relative time sink and the toughest logistical challenge in the whole store for workers due to soft serve melting so fast.
You must make the ice cream last. The car has to be at the window (or customer at the counter) when you start. This is the only item in the store that must be prepared like this so you must always have a free person to do this. McDonalds does't provide the labor budget to have "free people" standing around to get your ice cream when you need it. Making ice cream almost always hurt another area of the store in a small way.
Also making a soft serve ice cream cone is much harder than you think. Took me ~2 months to get it down. Dont even get me started on dipped cones.
Fun fact: This is why your mcflurry doesnt have candy at the bottom. Workers hate ice cream! They dont blend it with the machine, they'll just hand blend it to be quick.
The fix would be to take the burden off the the employees. Automate it just like they did drinks. Or increase the labor allowance to have the staff to handle ice cream. They'll probably never do that though.
This question makes me think that you believe the problem is an efficiency that can be solved rather than an intentional choice.
Ive worked at several restaurants as a waiter and food prep staff. The businesses have very thin margins and most costs are fixed except for…labor.
When it’s lunch rush, it feels like every atom of your being is pressed to the limit. Then when that’s done your manager has to come around and start assigning random cleaning and other tasks so people aren’t just hanging around.
When they schedule, they want to just *barely* handle the busiest time or otherwise it’s an inefficiency in the system.
Also to mention, restaurant staff aren’t the most…stable workforce in the world. So even if they do schedule to have some buffer, people will quit and call in sick on a dime.
I know what op is talking about when they say they do the work of 2-3 people and I believe them. The system is designed to squeeze that extra bit out of everyone.
If there was a magic mystery inefficiency they found, that would translate to decreasing staffing per shift, not increased breathing room for the individual workers. (IMHO)
I've never worked at a McDonald's, but I have had to operate and maintain a soft-serve ice cream machine. I don't eat soft serve ice cream because I know how long it takes to clean these machines properly. I've seen what happens when they aren't. I don't trust that places like fast food joints that are understaffed, where the employees aren't motivated enough to do a thorough job, would take the time necessary to make sure those machines are clean.
In my experience the major time sinks happen when multiple McFlurrys were ordered. Mixing one takes about 15-30 seconds, and if too many are ordered at once the ice cream would start to come out slower.
When you’re backlogged with multiple people in line, multiple orders, and you’re a 1-3 person crew in the front, every second counts. Ice cream was the easiest thing to cut because of the stereotype that it was always broken so people didn’t question that it was “down”, and those precious seconds made my 17 year old life much easier.
It likely doesn't, but McCafe Drinks/Burgers are a staple. Coffee and Burgers are likely included in most of their orders, Ice Cream they get a few each hour.
If it’s only a few that’s no more of a backup than someone getting to order and going “uhhhhhhhhhh” or the people arguing with the cashier that something was wrong.
You must make the ice cream last. The car has to be at the window (or customer at the counter) when you start. This is the only item in the store that must be prepared like this so you must always have a free person to do this. McDonalds does't provide the labor budget to have "free people" standing around to get your ice cream when you need it. Making ice cream almost always hurt another area of the store in a small way.
Also making a soft serve ice cream cone is much harder than you think. Took me ~2 months to get it down. Dont even get me started on dipped cones.
Fun fact: This is why your mcflurry doesnt have candy at the bottom. Workers hate ice cream! They dont blend it with the machine, they'll just hand blend it to be quick.
The fix would be to take the burden off the the employees. Automate it just like they did drinks. Or increase the labor allowance to have the staff to handle ice cream. They'll probably never do that though.