A Better Oscar Mayer Weiner

Countless Americans have this classic ditty embedded deeply in their psyches: “I wish I was an Oscar Mayer wiener.”

But what it means to be an Oscar Mayer weiner is changing, because for the first time in 20 years, Kraft foods, which makes Oscar Mayer hot dogs, is altering its formula.

I went inside their top-secret test kitchen.

“We have even higher quality cuts of meats, a different unique spice blend to make it just the beefiest, juiciest hot dog that we’ve ever made,” said Sean Marks, Kraft’s senior marketing director.

To drive the point home, he added, “We are America’s favorite hot dog.”

So why change? The fact is, Kraft is in a neck-and-neck battle with Sara Lee and that company’s Ballpark Franks.

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Posted in Pop Culture | 1 Comment

Many Hawaii McDonald’s Drive-Throughs Use Workers In Texas

HONOLULU — More than half of the McDonald’s restaurants in Hawaii with drive-throughs are now using what are called “remote order takers” — people taking your order from a call center in El Paso, Texas.

The operation requires special training for the call-takers so they can understand Hawaii customers.

McDonald’s Restaurants of Hawaii started testing remote order takers in 2006. It then began expanding the program statewide in 2007.

“We want to make sure that our customers get their orders right and they get them in the most convenient way possible,” said Melanie Okazaki of McDonald’s Restaurants of Hawaii.

McDonald’s actually trains the Texas order-takers to understand local phrases and accents.

“Sometimes people throw in a little bit of pidgin here and there and so we want our order-takers to become accustomed and comfortable with that,” Okazaki said.

So McDonald’s does some role-playing with the order-takers from the mainland and gives them a few Hawaiian words to use such as aloha and mahalo.

“It takes a little getting used to on the order-taker’s side, but I think with practice, they become more and more comfortable working with our local clientele,” Okazaki said.

McDonald’s said the new system is delivering more accurate orders and speeding up service, but there is no cost savings.

“We haven’t pared back on our labor force at all. In fact, we’ve been able to have our crew members concentrate more on their particular position,” Okazaki said.

So food workers can concentrate on the food without worrying about taking orders as well.

If the system goes down, restaurant staff can still handle drive-through orders in house.

Thirty one out of 50 Hawaii McDonald’s restaurants are using the new technology. The other 19 have chosen to keep things as-is.

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Posted in Interesting, Texas | 1 Comment

USB Mixtape

Remember in the days before digital music and MP3 players?
If you do, then you probably made compilations of all your favourite music, to share with your friends and loved ones, on good old fashioned blank cassette tapes.
If you miss making mix tapes this product will inspire you again!

Create your own unique mix tape
1. ADD YOUR OWN SOUNDS TO THE USB STICK.
2. PLACE THE STICK INSIDE THE TAPE STYLE GIFT PACK.
3. WRITE YOUR OWN MESSAGE AND PLAYLIST.
4. GIVE IT TO SOMEONE YOU LOVE.

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Posted in Goofy, Pop Culture | 1 Comment