Upper West Side McDonald's

"Slice" (Flickr name) took these beautiful McDonald's images on Manhattan's Upper West Side (top) and in Chinatown (bottom). And he did so, "With McChronicles in mind"!

We dig these photos for so many reasons, including:

• unique McDonald's facades
• reference to the rare McVeggie Burger in UWS window
• the colors, lighting, & composition
• a friend shared them with us
• a friend took them with The McChronicles in mind
• the juxtaposition of the apartment building, the Dunkin' Donuts, et al
• the crazy Chinatown excitement is captured nicely

"Slice" (quoting his Flickr profile) is Adam Kuban, "Editor & Publisher of both Slice, America's Favorite Pizza Weblog, and A Hamburger Today, a burger blog. Also blogs on food in general at Bite by Byte."

The McChronicles has loved A Hamburger Today as long as there has been a McChronicles. Excellent writing, creativity, fun, passion, and more await you should you venture on over there (and you should).

These images remind us that, while McDonald's derives great utility from a cookie-cutter approach, they also offer up a pretty wide range of unique settings, decor, and experiences. The McChronicles always gets excited when entering a unique McDonald's store.

Thanks for thinking of us Adam. We hope to visit these McDonald's over the summer.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.

Images: Slice (Flickr)

McKroes McPicture Blog

The McChronicles doesn't know much about this topic, but we do know enough to be intrigued.

Okay - here's how it all came together. First we encountered some really interesting images on our Flickr photo bar (left-hand side of this blog) from a cat named McKroes. We went to their Flickr site and found they had a lot of cool images of McDonald's in Europe. So we posted about them.

Then, we heard (from good McChronicles friend Jan-Willem) that McKroes had recently started a blog to accompany their Flickr McDonald's image site. So, we checked out the McKroes McDonald's Picture Blog. According to info on the blog, McKroes is from The Netherlands and they have an obsession with learning of, locating, visiting, photographing, and Flickring McDonald's restaurants. Talk about cool! And we also took notice of their interesting color and layout selection - they look like a sister site to The McChronicles - yup.

The McChronicles has had a small number of encounters with McKroes recently, and we find them to be very friendly. Their maniacal focus on collecting McDonald's images only makes us love them more. The McChronicles encourages EVERYONE to support McKroes efforts. Send them your list of favorite locations, help them reach the store to take the photo, and tell your friends about their blog.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: McKroes Screen Grab.

McDonald's Ring Tone Offer

One of the coolest fast food people known to The McChronicles is a man named Jan-Willem. He is a multi-store fast food restaurant owner in Europe - and he's up on most everything in the world.

Jan-Willem tipped us off to McDonald's mobile phone ring tone and wallpaper website. Based on our testing, it seems to be free and easy. You simply submit an image to their image library, then receive a free ring tone or wallpaper (limit 1 per phone number). The McChronicles chose the McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It" jingle (of course).

In addition to offering up modern ring tones, you can even score a coupon for free fries, right on your mobile device.

But that's not all ... you can even click a link that takes you to an online game called SHARK BAIT. High scores are posted on the site.

This whole site is great for the e-crowd. The McChronicles recommends you take a look.
Thanks Jan-Willem, you're great!

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: McDonald's website screen grab.

Regional McDonald's Website

The McChronicles stumbled upon a peculiar item while dining recently. While in a McDonald's we spotted a card featuring, "The latest and greatest about McDonald's of Central New York and Northern Pennsylvania...".

Actually, the card merely directs attention to a website that features interesting information on ... you guessed it. We found this regional focus quite unusual and interesting.

Upon investigation we found a colorful landing page - so far so good. Our first click sent us to an ad for a Disney film - and left us feeling like we were delivered to "adland" under false pretenses. Not what a loyal and curious consumer hopes for.

But then, we got to the meat of the matter. Turns out that the site truly IS full of regional/local links of interest: our favorite - the Ronald McDonald House of Central New York. There are also cool links for local educators, local McJob opportunities, and much more. This site truly IS a local/regional McDonald's resource. By the time we were done perusing, we liked the site. Not sure if all or even many regions have such a website, but it would be cool if they did.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Images:
TOP: The McChronicles.
BOTTOM: McDonald's website screen grab.

Cleanliness

The McDonald's customer has been "sold" a clean, sparkling restaurant since the beginning. Whether it is a print ad or a TV commercial - one of the highlights of the McDonald's experience (as promoted) is cleanliness. Rightly so, we say. Cleanliness is a critical part of any dining experience. And this is true whether an order is "for here" or "to take out". The wrappers, bags, napkins, etc. are all a part of the experience.

That said, The McChronicles dropped by the Clinton, NY McDonald's recently for a relaxing lunch. Immediately upon entering the store it hit us ... the place was really clean. The biggest impact came from that long stainless steel counter. Empty except for the cash registers, sparkling, ... CLEAN! No kidding - it really made an impact.

Why? Because, too many times, a McDonald's floor is a bit dirty, there are things stacked and stored on the counters, and there is litter laying around.

We were sold the whole cleanliness thing. We bought it. We want it. We expect it. And it is really nice to receive it. Thanks Clinton.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.

McDonald's Free Fitness DVDs

The McChronicles wheeled into the New Hartford, NY (#825) McDonald's to score a free fitness DVD. The experience was better than expected.

We knew the company is offering a series of 4 DVDs in a program that promotes their new Asian salad. The gig is, buy the salad and water - get the free DVD. According to a company press release,

"The new Go Active!Happy Meal for Adults features any Premium Salad, including the New Asian Salad for a suggested retail price of $4.29 (prices and participation may vary), a Dasani(R) water or medium or larger drink and customizable workout DVDs which are provided in sequence, while supplies last. The Asian Salad is the newest addition to McDonald's menu and the Premium Salad line. "

The crew at the counter offered to let us choose ANY DVD that we wanted. Since people on our team had already scored some DVDs we really liked being able to select the one we needed.

On thing about these salads - it takes extra time to get your order since they heat up the chicken to order. Take our word - it is worth it. We have NEVER encountered a single person who didn't like these premium salads.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.

Image: The McChronicles.