You could call Colin Petrie "the man who baked a billion buns".
It may even be closer to two billion. Petrie heads the baking company that produces the burger buns, English muffins and bagels for McDonald's New Zealand operation – an undertaking that sits somewhere between "enormous" and "gigantic".
McDonald's needed more than 100 million buns and bagels last year, enough for 20 buns for every Kiwi. Petrie, General Manager of Aryzta New Zealand, has been managing the production of McDonald's buns for 19 years – but says even he couldn't have predicted the scenes when New Zealand came out of Level 4 lockdown.
Even though the end of level 4 was clearly signalled, the move to Level 3 was akin to an urgent military operation – Aryzta had to produce 2.6m buns, bagels and McMuffins in the first week alone. That's about 371,000 buns a day over a 7-day week.
If you think buns are the most boring bit of a burger, think again. No buns means no burger; they are simultaneously part of what McDonald's calls "the mouth feel" and taste as well as being an entirely necessary part of the holding and eating process.
But Petrie says the immediate aftermath of lockdown was "just incredible". McDonald's and Aryzta had to ensure that their suppliers were up and running, that their systems were all "go" ("we worked round the clock for six days in a row," says Petrie) but then found another obstacle to overcome – distribution.
McDonald's have always prided itself on quality and, while it was vital to ensure McDonald's normal, rigid quality marks were hit after the end of lockdown, delivery of fresh buns was an essential part of that quality drive.
"Imagine what we thought when the trucks couldn't get through to deliver the buns for ages because of the huge queues at many McDonalds," says Petrie. "Some of those queues went for miles and it was hard for the trucks to get through.
"Some people were queuing up and buying $200-$300 worth of McDonald's in one go. I have never seen anything like it."
As the Herald reported at the time, the first day of Level 3 saw more than 300,000 McDonald's burgers devoured (nearly half of those being Big Macs), 30,000 coffees and 125,000 transactions.
Most people also don't understand just how much planning, thought and detail goes into McDonald's buns, says spokesman Simon Kenny: "To become an assured supplier for McDonald's, you have to pass a really high threshold to first become a supplier to McDonald's. Then you are audited multiple times each year to make sure you are meeting our specifications both in food safety, health and safety, people practice and the sustainability of the supply chain."
McDonald's trace everything that goes into making their products – where the flour is sourced from, the sesame seeds and even the packaging.
"For example, we need to know that packaging fibre is sourced from sustainable farms. It is not just our suppliers who need to meet our specifications, it's suppliers to our suppliers."
Kenny says McDonald's also strives to use New Zealand ingredients that match quality requirements: "McDonald's New Zealand proudly source 85 per cent of our ingredients and produce from Kiwi suppliers – and the trickle-down effect of opening Drive-Thrus and McDelivery meant that a significant number of New Zealanders returned to work as we re-stocked our restaurants."
McDonald's is also famous for its consistency – meaning not only should a Big Mac taste the same globally but also that it doesn't meddle too much with the taste of proven favourites.
"Just over a decade ago, we reduced the sugar in our buns by about 30 per cent," says Kenny. "Then, 18 months ago, we changed the recipe for the buns as part of a broader project to improve the taste of our burgers," says Kenny. "Some of the buns reduced in diameter and are taller to improve the ratio of bun and filling with each bite but the overall volume of the bun remained the same."
Other changes made include a protein glaze on the top of the bun which not only adds to the flavour – it helps keep the heat in the burger after it is toasted – meaning the burger is warmer when it gets to the customer. The buns are also toasted longer to help with mouth feel and taste.
To find out more: mcdonalds.co.nz/whats-in-it