Yesterday I saw a commercial for a “hand stirred” fruit milkshake smoothie of some sort new at Wendy’s. As someone who’s worked at Starbucks (albeit happily) for much longer than intended, I’ve seen plenty of the “hand shaken” or “hand stirred” nonsense. Why do advertisers see it as such a great selling point at mass produced locations?
First off, it’s Wendy’s for goodness sake. While the company probably encourages excellence and performance, it’s still fast food. It’s still food that you can drive up to a window and receive in less than three minutes. It’s food that has been demographically selected and manufactured for the entire nation to enjoy at every Wendy’s location on every street corner from the ghetto to the suburbs. You aren’t getting personal or gourmet.
Second off, the people making these things don’t have the expertise and aren’t given enough money to care about shaking, stirring, or whatever is required of them. When it comes down to it, time is everything. The faster you get your food, the happier you are. Managers know it. Employees know it.
Third, and most relevantly, having worked in semi “fast food” and been given instructions on “hand shaken” beverages, I know that it means squat. Starbucks is higher quality than most places out there, but we still take quite a liberty with those personal touches to your drinks. If we ring 30 transactions a half an hour on an average day, that’s at the very least 30 drinks, more realistically beyond double that. Yes, your drink will be made well, I can promise you that, but those fancy personal touches that are advertised aren’t always part of the process.
Now step it down to real fast food like Wendy’s. Don’t even think that they are going to take the time out to do anything personal to your beverage, except spit in it if you piss them off.
Here’s the long and short of it: Unless you are paying top dollar from a restaurant or professional, “hand shaken” means nothing.
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