Take a look inside the McDonalds delivery kitchen in Warrington

The McDonalds delivery kitchen on Winwick Road opened in December to separate the delivery orders from the main restaurant.

Situated just across the car park, the kitchen allows staff to separate the delivery orders from the restaurant and drive through orders, maintaining a better workflow and improving efficiency.

One of 35 kitchens, the Winwick Road site was the fifth one to open in the UK.

“The feedback we have had from it has been really positive, we’ve noticed a big difference” Stewart McWilliam, area supervisor McDonalds.

“It’s all about making sure that the team have all the methods of making sure that they can deliver as quickly as they can and as accurately as they can.

“The town was quite lucky to get one of the first delivery kitchens.”

The kitchen ensures orders are prepared as quickly as possible for delivery drivers (Image: Newsquest)

Instead of all of the orders coming from one site, splitting them into two helps ensure that delivery orders get to customers’ doors faster, and more accurately.

Inside the kitchen is a storage unit, as well as two shipping containers that have been modified to be exactly the same as a typical McDonald’s restaurants.

The shipping containers have two freezers inside, as well as three stations to prepare food, a fully automated drinks machine and an ice cream machine that doesn’t need to be serviced as regularly as a restaurant’s – meaning McFlurry’s are always on the menu.

A conveyor belt connects the workstations to the packing station, allowing staff to prepare and pack the food as quickly as possible.

Each order only appears on the screens inside the kitchen when a driver is available and in the area, meaning food shouldn’t go cold.

Once packed, every order is weighed to try to ensure every customer has exactly what they paid for.

The kitchen is inside an adapted storage container (Image: Newsquest)

“Every order gets weighed on the scales to make sure it’s got the right order in it, even down to the sauces,” said Albie Aware, business manager for the McDonalds sites on Winwick Road.

“We know that McDonald’s customers can be disappointed if they order something and don’t receive it, so these scales have made a massive improvement,” added Stewart.

“We are doing everything we can to make sure it’s going out correctly.”

With around 4,000 orders a week in the delivery kitchen, the wellbeing of the 40 members of staff is a key focus and efforts have been made across the company to manage stress at work.

“Staff at McDonalds used to be overwhelmed with too many orders. You’d think it’s all about the food, but at the end of the day it’s about the people you work with too,” said Stewart.

The efficiency of the kitchen is also a priority, making sure that the food can get to the customers as quickly as possible, and the staff work with the delivery drivers to achieve that goal.

“I don’t think there’s many restaurants that have a delivery kitchen this close to a restaurant, so delivery drivers come here knowing that they are going to get their orders quicker,” said Albie.

“90 per cent of the drivers coming through here, we see them every day, and we treat them as part of the crew because we have to work with them to deliver the food as well.”

Three food preparation stations are inside the kitchen (Image: Newsquest)

Made of mainly 16 to 21-year-olds, the delivery kitchen staff can progress up the ladder at McDonalds – which both Stewart and Albie did themselves.

Apprenticeships and work experience are regularly available, and recruitment drives are held every week.

“For 16 to 17-year-olds there’s not many companies where they pay what we pay. It’s great for experience too and lots of employers see McDonalds and think it’s a great place to get experience,” said Stewart.

The kitchen is open from 7am to 11pm every day for delivery orders, the most popular of which are Big Mac’s, sausage and egg McMuffin’s and the wraps.

“The wraps were so popular we had to stop selling it for a while,” said Albie.

“The demand went through the roof, it was crazy.”

Orders can be placed via Deliveroo, Just Eat or Uber Eats, as well as the McDonalds app, where customers can earn rewards for every pound spent.