Said to have been invented in Germany, hamburgers quickly became an international hit. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 36.6% of adults consume fast food on any given day.
In the spirit of International Hamburger Day, May 28th, how about you get your sweetheart a burger and fries? Maybe even upgrade to a large! Just as long as it isn’t “on the house”. Some call it a “comp,” some call it a freebie, and some call it sweethearting. Theft by an employee by giving away free merchandise to friends or family or a free meal to show them you care may seem like a small gesture, but it may lead to bigger consequences. Most employees receive training on loss prevention, and sign documents promising not to steal from the companies they work for, but statistics show that employees do not typically associate sweethearting with stealing. They see it as good customer service, or a nice gesture, not realizing the harm it does. It is easier to give away food, since you are not required to scan it, than it is to deal with beseeching friends and relatives. In the fast-food industry, it can be easy to dismiss lost inventory to food waste or replacement of an incorrect order. Which means sweethearting can go unnoticed for long periods of time. Under crime policies, the carriers often look at the valuable cost of the stolen hamburgers.
Fun hamburger facts:
- The largest international hamburger producing fast food chains (McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy’s) each sell approximately 2.4 billion hamburgers annually totaling 7.2 billion.
- The Hamburger Hall of Fame is housed in Seymour, Wisconsin, USA.
- The first fast-food chain in the world to sell hamburgers was White Castle in 1920, and the hamburgers were sold for five cents each.