Re: PRIVATE [cobalt-users] Wendy's, ketchup, and other OT stuff

[Patrick Béart <patrick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Should have been sent off-list, Steven, eh?
>
> Steven Werby wrote:
>
> >  The really sad thing is that that specific location used to have 
> > the ketchup pump
> >  mechanism that I could operate myself.  Apparently, the customers 
> > were taking too
> >  much ketchup b/c they got rid of it.
>
> Nope.  Not the reason.  Believe me (or if you don't believe me, price
> the product yourself); you could take the equivalent of 20 packets of
> ketchup out of the pump and it would cost your Wendy's franchisee less
> money than the three packets they gave out.
>
> The problem is the health department.  The pump is considered a breeding
> ground for germs.
>
> Which it probably isn't, because ketchup is acidic.  But that's the way
> it goes.

	Actually, no. There is a wide variety of "germs" (bacteria) 
that can, and do, live in an acid environment. A good example is 
pickles. They are still "hot packed" - meaning that the pickles and 
juice are sealed in the jar at a high temperature and the cooling 
process creates the vacuum seal on the jar (lid).
	Jeff is correct: The cost of those little packets is far 
higher than the cost of the ketchup that they contain. The process of 
creating those little guys is kind of a wonder. The packaging is a 
kind of film, beginning as a large roll - like toilet paper or paper 
towels. Hydrogen peroxide is used to disinfect the film just prior to 
it's being shaped into tubes and filled.

	Pardon the trivia, but before I became something of a 
computer geek, I graduated from college with a degree in Food 
Manufacturing. Worked in that industry for about 6 years before 
becoming catatonicly bored. Web development is MUCH more interesting! 
; )



>  > I don't eat fast-food much,
>
> Sorry, but then you don't qualify as a geek, and we can no longer trust
> anything you say <smile, again>.

	Oops, that's me, too. I'm a "healthy geek".   <G>



Patrick Beart
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
patrick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx       503-558-8322      Clackamas(Portland), OR
Web Architecture:   http://www.WebArchitecture.com
Intelligent Internet consulting, site development, and hosting 
solutions since 1994

* Founding MEMBER --  Internet Professionals Northwest. (www.ipn.org)
* MEMBER -- Webmaster's Guild/ Association of Internet Professionals
 -------------------------------------------------------------------