Schafer and his team at the McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago, Ill., work to develop the menu and brand strategy for America’s largest fast-food chain.

“What that means is that we get to go and figure out what our customers want and discover how to make that happen in 14,000 restaurants,” Schafer says.

One ingredient that customers started craving was the taste of real butter. In 2015, the company made the decision to switch to “the good stuff” instead of using margarine. Chef Schafer, who was still relatively new to the team, helped make the switch and cause a large impact over time for dairy markets from a demand perspective.

“I was just coming into McDonald’s and the team had already put a lot of work into it, so it was really cool to see butter on the menu and how we were using it,” Schafer says. “As a chef, [butter] is one of my favorite ingredients. You can’t cook eggs without butter, that’s how we look at it. It is really critical to what we do, and it is so important to things like the Egg McMuffin where you have simple ingredients that you have to make really well. So, you need to have the best ingredients you can get ahold of, and whole butter is that ingredient.”

Simple Meals Require the Best Ingredients

Being able to execute simple meals and repeat it over and over again is something McDonald’s is well-known for. But how do simple dairy ingredients go into creating delicious menu items?

“My approach is to start simply and build on it,” Schafer says. “[Figure out how to make] dairy the star, and then build around that.”

While Chef Schafer focuses on crafting simple, well-executed menu items, it takes a lot of work to buy enough ingredients to serve millions of customers daily.

“I can’t say enough about the job that our supply chain system does and working with them every day,” Schafer says. “But at the end of the day, I know this all starts back at the farm. Part of going to school for me at the Culinary Institute of America was actually going out to California for 30 days to [better] understand what it takes to make these products that come into the restaurant, how to use them responsibly and learn what makes them special. What it takes to [be a farmer] is impressive, and we have to respect that ingredient and treat it right when it comes into our restaurants.”

Though Chef Schafer works hard to choose the best ingredients for McDonald’s menus, it can be a bit confusing to sort through all of the different dairy products that are available.

“One of the things we do working with Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) here at McDonald’s is that they help us understand what we’re really looking for and what we need to use at the scale that we are at so that we can be consistent across the restaurants and get the best ingredients we can,” Schafer says. “There’s been a lot of different projects that [DMI] has been involved with over the last number of years, like the milk jugs in our Happy Meals for example. Being able to get milk to the consumer the way our customers want it is so important.”

Looking at the Horizon

While staple items like the Big Mac and the Egg McMuffin will always remain on McDonald’s menu, Chef Schafer uses his creativity to craft new food items he thinks customers will enjoy. One particular treat Schafer is excited about involves dairy as the main ingredient.

“What I’m really excited about right now are the McFlurries we have,” Schafer says. “We have a McFlurry with caramel and Chips Ahoy cookies, so how can you go wrong? We also had a stroopwafel McFlurry earlier in the year that was just a knockout, and it all starts with the [dairy] ice cream base.”

Utilizing a variety of cheeses is another way Chef Schafer helps make new menu items stand out.

“Cheese is always an option on the sandwiches we serve,” Schafer says. “We are always looking at different kinds of cheese, how they melt and how the customers like their visual appeal.”

No matter what type of dairy product it may be, it’s clear that dairy will stay on the menu at McDonald’s.

“It’s a really broad world out there,” Schafer says. “Without the farmers to produce the milk, the people to produce the cheese and without partners like DMI to really help us understand what we need to be doing for our customers, [we wouldn’t be able to] come together in order to produce new products for McDonald’s U.S.”