Fast food is currently one of the biggest businesses in the United States due to the hectic schedules that the average person has to deal with. It is often necessary to grab food on the go because there just isn’t enough time to cook at home. This is the main reason behind the tremendous success of fast food giants such as McDonalds and Burger King. McDonalds, a company formed in California to provide fast food at a high volume in a very short amount of time, is currently the industry leader. Its main competitor Burger King was formed with a different objective in mind. It was a place where you could have anything made your way in a short amount of time. The main factors driving both these companies were figuring out the best way to staff their stores and setup production lines in order to meet their volume and time goals. In doing so the store managers also had to figure out the best way to predict hourly sales figures and then use this to set up the store in an efficient manner. Burger King had a bit of a harder time dealing with these factors due to the customizable aspects of their operation. The problem that both companies encountered was the best way to staff for full efficiency and optimization while keeping costs low and structuring the food making process for maximum efficiency. The companies must come up with a track and analyze historical data. Any staggering changes in either direction in hourly sales figures will most likely lead to a long customer waiting time or excess waste and higher costs for the companies. Since the main expectation behind fast food is that it comes out in a very timely manner this is a sensitive issue as it can lead to customer dissatisfaction and in turn lower sales figures. Once the managers have these figures, it then becomes a matter of them being competent enough to set up the lines and the staff to fulfill the need