I’m a frequent customer at the L’wzaar Seafood Market in the Katara Cultural Village in Doha. The food is delicious. And is delicious every time I go there. The fish is always fresh, the food is always served in the same way and the taste and presentation of each dish is almost perfectly identical every single time.
When I went to study this restaurant for my third short project, trying to measure how much the theories of McDonaldization applied there, I noticed a lot of aspects that did conform to the theory, and others that did not.
When you first enter the restaurant your eye quickly goes to the interactive projection of a pool with swimming fish in the foyer. The theme of seafood, seafood-market and sea-life is captivated beautifully by the décor and the whole “set-up” of the place including the ambient sounds that emote feelings of “a busy market” and “classical, authentic dining”.
The walls are covered with blue mosaic tiles, and plasma screens rest on the pillars throughout the restaurant playing sport programs, and aquariums hold fish hostage for display.
L’wzaar seafood market employs a huge staff, with approximately 60 waiters, a manager, an assistant manager, a captain (in charge of reservations and seating and greeting and reception), a hostess (who assists the captain), a head chef, sous chef, about 15 line cooks and 2 – 5 servers at the fish market display (who help you with your selections, and weigh the fish) as well as several dishwashers and cleaners.
Al though the food that reaches your table says nothing but authentic, delicious, unique, and innovative, the process of preparing it is very much McDonaldized. Everything is measured, calculated, and controlled to produce exacting standards, and predictable results. The time the fish needs to be cooked is already pre-determined and set based on weight and type. Your selections at the market array of fresh fish and crustaceans are weighed, a sticker with a barcode is placed on your ticket with the table number, and it is placed on a tray and given to waiter to be taken to the chef at the pass, where your order will be completed. The barcode system eliminates human error, and the simple, easy-to-learn process de-humanizes and de-skills the workforce so that they are easy to replace, leading to the homogenization of labor.
Among many other observations, an important aspect of irrationality of rationality is in also adopted in L’wzaar Seafood Market. At first, I couldn’t really apply this theory to my observations. However, Professor Geoff pointed out that the huge staff and waiters resembles somewhat the case of the numerous cleaners constantly sweeping and cleaning the floors in the CMU building, even though the hallways are spotless. The irrationality of rationality here, is the superfluous employment of waiters at L’wzaar, that now looking back, does in fact fit this concept. The presence of too many waiters and cleaners to keep the restaurant clean and working, takes away the “rationality” of it.
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