When manager Rafael Perez walks in for his shift at the Bryan Center McDonald's, he makes sure the floors are swept and the meats are out of the refrigerator and on the grill to create that savory Big Mac the next customer may order.
The line that builds around lunchtime hardly worries him, as he takes orders with a polite "Hi, can I help you sir?" and gets the food out--as a common procedure at all McDonald's--under 90 seconds. He mentions three golden (arch) rules of cleanliness, quality and service that would roll off any manager's tongue, but unlike your typical supervisor, Perez brings a new dimension to the phrase "managing a business" after flirting with danger in Columbia.
A food science and technology major who graduated from North Carolina State University in 1978, Perez moved to Columbia four years ago because he was interested in making Columbian production more efficient through food preservation. Unfortunately, a corrupt Columbian government and guerillas interfered with his vision to "save wasted food and minimize the costs of food production."
The frozen foods business Perez began floundered in the wake of the country's energy crisis. The Columbian government had embezzled funds from electricity companies, minimalizing their ability to distribute a continuous and reliable flow of electricity to residential areas, he explained. Columbians often had power for only a few hours at a time.
"I could operate because I was in Medellin, an industrial part of Columbia, which received more electricity than the residential areas," Perez said. "But, as the country's daily production of electricity decreased to the point where nobody would buy frozen goods because they had no electricity to keep it frozen, I went out of business."
He then took over his dad's cattle business, which sustained the steak restaurant he opened concurrently. Only after a close encounter with death--when guerillas held him hostage--did he realize that he should consider less dangerous alternatives to make a living.
"The guerillas threatened my life," said Perez. "To avoid getting myself or my family killed, I had to give them my cows so I could walk. That's when I decided to leave the country for America."
He looked around North Carolina for a job, and in August 2002 joined the McDonald's at Duke. He wanted to work at the biggest fast-food restaurant chain in the U.S. because he could "obtain knowledge and grow."
Perez helps his staff grow by helping them improve their English. While most of the Spanish-speaking servers--who Perez helps translate for occasionally--are well-acquainted enough with the menu items to know what students mean when they say "cheeseburger without pickles," he still encourages them to learn at least five new words daily so they can engage in conversations that aren't related to food.
Sometimes, however, the McDonald's staff do not need to hear the students say their orders to know what they will want.
"We get to know how customers like their food," Perez said. "For instance, this one guy, he likes his fries very, very fried. When we see him in line, we put his fries on the frier again. There's another guy who likes his burger without pickles, so we know two Big Macs without pickles. And when we see faculty coming, we just start pouring their coffee."
And at lunchtime on some days, Perez eagerly awaits the members of the basketball team. "We expect the basketball team at 12 or 12:30 p.m. after their training," he said. "They love super-size [meals]. We need to be ready for them."
Perez is also proud of his staff's high standards for cleanliness in food preparation. The restaurant has never received a sanitation grade lower than 98 out of a possible 100.
"I think everybody who comes likes the quality," Perez said. "Our new white-meat chicken nuggets are delicious and soft, and the salads have crispy lettuce and chicken in good quantities to leave you feeling good and full."
Something else satisfying students--and thus Perez--is McDonald's new Monopoly games, which started about a month ago.
"One guy was very happy and excited about winning. He told me he's gone to Best Buy to claim his $20,000 in merchandise or money... he was just so happy when he mentioned to me, 'I never believed it would happen in America,'" Perez said. "I told him, 'Hey, keep eating McDonald's and keep winning.'"
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