MCDONALDS CONSULTANT CHECKS QUALITY OF FOOD AT A CHICAGO RESTAURANT, 2003-08-19 (photo)

McDonald's operations consultant Barb Taylor checks the temperature of chicken patties at a Chicago McDonald's restaurant, on August 19, 2003. McDonald's has been hit with a poor customer satisfaction record for several years, in turn, hurting sales and profits. The world's largest fast-food company has started a drive to improve service, as an army of some 500 in-house consultants have now been assigned to help reverse that trend. 18 months ago, McDonald's unveiled a new grading system to stem admitted shortfalls like slow order times and inconsistent food quality. Uniform standards for grading all 13,600 of its U.S. restaurants are key to a service turnaround, executives say. REUTERS/Deborah Cohen DC/GN