One of the neglected problems that many restaurants share has a common root in the issue of milkshakes. While we may think of milkshakes as an enjoyable or innocuous sort of drink/dessert item, it turns out that problems with milkshakes are common for customers, restaurant staff, as well as franchisees and managers. In my own research into the topic, I have found the complications of milkshakes to be deeply interesting and also somewhat troubling, though there is still much that mystifies me at the same time. What is it about milkshakes that creates so many problems for people, when we might think of it as a pretty straightforward item if we are not aware of the difficulties involved in it? How is it that entire documentaries have been made about the problems of milkshakes with specific restaurants, and how is it that most people are still unaware of the difficulties of making milkshakes for those involved which makes them less than beloved by those who have been responsible for making them for customers, a responsibility that falls either to the kitchen staff in an ordinary restaurant or the bar staff at restaurants with bars? And what, if anything, can be done about these problems?

My first familiarity with the problem of milkshakes came about as a result of the roasting involved between Wendy’s and McDonald’s about their contrasting situation with milkshakes. This led me to a website that informed would-be shoppers at McDonald’s about whether their local restaurant had a functioning milkshake machine or not, as at any given time a substantial portion of that chain is not able to offer milkshakes because of difficulties with servicing the temperamental machines. This led to a documentary which demonstrated some ways that McDonald’s corporate screwed over their franchises in order profit off of service calls to the company that manufactures shakes which is in turn owned by McDonald’s itself, making for a troubling case of self-dealing where the interests of McDonald’s corporation harms the well-being of franchises by seeking to make them pay more money to corporate, albeit indirectly. As the motive of self-dealing was not present for the sales of milkshake machines to other restaurants, those restaurant chains had fewer problems because they were not able to improve their bottom line by increasing service calls.

But other restaurants are by no means immune to problems making milkshakes, as this problem comes up repeatedly when I go out to eat and chat with the bar staff at some of the restaurants I frequent in the area where I live. In one such restaurant, for example, the bar staff has long struggled with milkshakes and expressed to me their dislike of the conditions they have to make milkshakes under. This includes a generally high workload that includes handling all the alcoholic drinks for the restaurant as a whole as well as serving the bar top (where I usually sit) and the other tables in the bar. There are a limited number of milkshakes, which make a limited amount of one type of milkshake at a time. These mixers frequently have problems with them, possibly due to the vibrations, are noisy, and when multiple types of milkshakes are ordered they must be completely cleaned before they can be used to make another kind of milkshake, one at a time, which makes simultaneous orders of different kinds of milkshakes very difficult to fulfill in a reasonable time. Such a situation is easy to imagine when one is serving large parties of children who may all want milkshakes at the same time, which puts the bar staff under a heavy burden to make what is generally a low-value item, far less profitable than far easier shots of liquor, beers, or glasses of wine which do not require remotely the same effort for far more value to the bartender.

Even when restaurants are able to resolve some of these difficulties with having more robust milkshake machines, there are still difficulties involved for the staff and for the management of the restaurants involved. Last night, for example, after I was finished eating, I had a discussion with the bartender where I was eating about the difficulties she had with milkshakes. She noted to me that it took about one hour or so to clean the milkshake machine, and that it was such a time-consuming task–time that the restaurant did not want to pay overtime for to staff closing the restaurant– that it was only done at that location three times a week instead of daily as in other locations. Even where there is greater capacity to make milkshakes, it is still a time-consuming process that takes a lot of effort and that prevents someone from taking care of the bar or of the tables near the bar when one is focused on making the large orders for shakes that often come in simultaneously. In an environment where staffing is limited, this makes for a heavy burden. On top of this, such machines as are capable of making milkshakes are often temperamental to clean, and it is easy to make mistakes in the course of making milkshakes or cleaning the machine, which can be a costly problem and lead to the employee responsible facing being written up or receiving verbal warnings as a result, which leads them to want even less to be involved in the process of making milkshakes or in cleaning the machine. Temperamental machines do not make for happy employees.

From my own investigations and research, it is clear that milkshakes present problems that are distinct from that which other drinks provide. Having a drink that mixes ice cream and other ingredients in order to provide a combined drink that is at the boundary of liquid and solid presents special difficulties to machines in terms of temperature control as well as the effort required to make the ice cream the correct texture. Such machines can easily become clogged because of the ingredients involved in making a milkshake, and cleaning such machines is difficult because hot water becomes cooled nearly to freezing running through the machine, requiring a large amount of time and effort in order to clean such machines, which may often be necessary in order to fulfill orders which require different flavors of ice cream or drink. When this is combined with capacity difficulties or mechanical problems, when such machines are complicated in their operation and cleaning, and when the people responsible for making milkshakes are themselves already overburdened with other job tasks, the result is that trouble and frustration is inevitable under such circumstances as commonly exist in contemporary restaurants. There would appear to be a ready market for machines to make milkshakes that have greater capacity, are far less complicated to use, and that offer for better temperature control to keep ingredients from causing problems for machines. Who is to take up the challenge of making a better milkshake machine that better serves the needs of restaurants remains to be seen, though.