Thanks to The Fast Food Maven for making The McChronicles aware of this interesting story."A baby was born in a Washington state McDonald's restroom and the mother didn't know she was pregnant."
"... was working the night shift and ... suddenly ran into the restroom feeling ill."
The McChronicles mused about the new McSkillet Burrito. Then, Michael Schroeder gave us the 411 on how good they are. Moved to action, The McChronicles travelled to Sarasota, Florida to sample this promising breakfast fare.
The Sandwich:
The McChronicles was enjoying a "welcome home" lunch at McDonald's with a friend and noticed the ad (on the cup) for the new McSkillet Burrito.
McDonald's is doing something kind of cool - and you can get involved.The top ten after online voting will become global finalists and each will
win a trip with a guest to McDonald’s 2008 Worldwide Convention in Orlando, FL, April 14-17, to compete for top honors.
Americans LOVE Thanksgiving. They bring the whole family together and gorge themselves on the traditional faire of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and more. At least most of them do.It's incredibly surprising how busy McDonald's is on Thanksgiving. It surprised everyone, including the owner and the store manager, who cut hours down to literally nothing. Then, during breakfast from 8 all the way to 10:30 breakfast cut-off, when we were really busy, and short-staffed, it surprised our
customers, as well.
Lunch was like a normal mid-week lunch. This surprised me more than anything.
Breakfast I understand. You're cooking up a storm for dinner, who wants to cook
a breakfast too? But lunch? At 1:30 PM?
A friend of The McChronicles just visited Munich and files this report.I believe this is Germany's oldest McDonald's. It is located on
Tegernseerland Str., Munich. I used to hang out here, smoke cigarettes, and drink Loewenbraeu bier inside. Pretty cool place.
The glitz, the glamor, the disappointment.
gain energy from the synergy. When visiting a location with a strong theme (like San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury) or ... say ... Las Vegas, we HOPE for a McDonald's with a really cool local theme. Alas, it was not to be.
Khamzat Khasbulatov's Pushkin Square, Moscow, McDonald's (the 2nd-busiest in the world) seats about 900 people at one time, and he still can't handle the crowds!
From the customer point of view, this must be a problem. The article goes on to state:As for the persistent crowds, many customers remain indifferent. "Our country's a country of lines," says Andrey Shatskiy, a 40-year-old soap-opera cinematographer, while eating lunch at the Pushkin Square restaurant. "We all got used to it."Walt Riker, McDonald's Vice President, Corporate Media Relations shared these photos of a trip he made to Moscow this past summer - depicting the throngs of customers crowding a different McDonald's. Thanks, Walt!
The McChronicles was fortunate to stumble upon a real STAR recently. We briefly enjoyed the company of Yanna Deng, McDonald's Changan Branch STAR.The McChronicles: What is the role of a McDonald's STAR?
Ms. Deng: We organize social activities, events held at our restaurants. We especially focus on childrens activities.
The McChronicles: How long have you been here?
Ms. Deng: I have worked at this store for 2 years and have been with McDonald's for over 7 years. Many employees at this store have been with the company for a long time.The McChronicles: Describe McDonald's MOM'S PROGRAM.
Ms. Deng: We have special "Happy Family Ambassadors" who emphasize a good experience for families while in our restaurant. The specially-selected employees must truly enjoy children and have a great sense of customer service.
The McChronicles: How is McDonald's keeping abreast of the huge changes occurring in China?
Ms. Deng: One big effort, and success, is keeping up with inflation. Even with this pressure, we have managed tokeep our prices steady.
The McChronicles: What is exciting at this store?
Ms. Deng: Our new manager really emphasizes QSC (quality, service, cleanliness). Their focus has really improved our store tremendously.
The McChronicles: What is your favorite part of working at McDonald's?
Ms. Deng: I enjoy the collegial atmosphere, the happy environment, and the great team with which I work.
The McChronicles has experienced this before. Still, we marvel at it, and want to report on it again.
important to satisfy everyone's basic human needs (enjoying a satisfying meal is one of them). This exhibition offered a pop-up Pizza Hut, a pop-up Chinese food choice, and a McDonald's. The McDonald's clearly had the longest lines of all the options.
A cautious McChronicles tentatively bit into the piping hot dessert for a first taste of McDonald's Pineapple Pie.
The McChronicles enjoyed the (much) larger than life glowing sidewalk billboard depicting the awesomeness of the McDonald's Big Mac while walking along a Shanghai street last week.
The McChronicles snapped this image a couple of days ago. It depicts a countdown (days to go) to the Summer Olympics in China.
Olympics Fever is really heating up in China. The McChronicles wonders how the country will manage to keep a lid on the excitement for another year.You'll find this promotional piece on your tray should you dine at a Chinese McDonald's in the near future.
- Yao Ming (basketball) NBA fame
- Liu Xiang (hurdles) hot off a big win in Osaka two days ago
- Guo JingJing (diving) sexy sports star
The McChronicles has noted that McDonald's workers seem to be required to wear corporate shirts and hats, along with some non-descript, non-corporate-issue pants.
The McChronicles went on a breakfast jag last week and started consuming Egg McMuffins nearly every day.
Well, the name certainly doesn't roll off the tongue, now does it? But the concept is intriguing. The McChronicles just read this on the QSR Magazine website:"McDonald's customers have shown strong support for the new Angus Third Pounders that debuted in Southern California last March. Positive customer feedback has prompted McDonald's marketing co-ops in New York and Central Ohio to introduce the newest line of hamburgers to its customers. "
"Angus Third Pounders are made with 100-percent USDA-inspected Angus Beef, with red onions, sauteed mushrooms, iceberg lettuce and sliced red tomatoes, served on a bakery-style sesame seed roll. The hamburgers come in three varieties: Angus Deluxe, Angus Mushroom and Swiss, and Angus Bacon and Cheese, for a suggested retail price of $3.99 each."
McDonald's Moon Man spearheaded the company's "Mac Tonight" promtional campaign years ago in the USA when they were introducing the concept of late- and all-night McDonald's service.
There are ads on TV, on the video screens in-store, on the doors, and even on flyers. Here's one such flyer that depicts 30 of the many stores here in Shanhgai that offer 24-hour service. This makes tons of sense as this city seems to never sleep.
According to information The McChronicles recently received from the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association:McDonald's is currently working with Oddcast to create an avatar-based viral email campaign. At www.MySnackTime.com, users enter basic information about a friend or co-worker who they want to tell about the Chipotle BBQ snack wrap.
This generates an email, which leads recipients to a personalized,
snack-wrap-evangelizing avatar that knows just a little too much about them.
According to Oddcast, people who receive emails from friends are 60-65% more
likely to open them and are 30-35% more likely to pass the email along to yet
another person, making this effort one that is full of viral potential.Learn
more:http://www.womma.org/womnibus/010133.php
Here is an example of a long-outdated practice that is (sadly) still in effect today in some locations.
McDonald's is a proud partner of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. With a year to go until the big event, McDonald's (in China) is really promoting the event.
Typically it is The McChronicles visiting various locales, commenting on this and that, but today the tables were turned. The McChronicles hosted a lunch in Upstate New York with two visitors from Mexico.The McChronicles: Have you ever experienced a "theme" McDonald's before?
2/year: No. In Mexico they are all the same.
The McChronicles: Please explain why you visit McDonald's so infrequently.
2/year: I prefer a local fast food restaurant that specializes in chicken sandwiches.
The McChronicles: Do you know that McDonald's offers several chicken sandwiches?
2/year: I do, but the Mexican restaurant serves very fresh chicken. I also think that McDonald's doesn't offer enough (sandwich) choices.
The McChronicles: What is your opinion of this McDonald's experience?
2/year: This store is untidy and needs to be picked up. It is messy. As for the design, I like their use of colors, the decorations. the theme.
1/week: I'd like to see some Mexican McDonald's adopt local themes. Some good ideas would be the ocean, the forest, Mariachi, ParÃcutin with sandwiches in molcajete packaging. Many people have children's parties in Mexico. These themes would help make the parties more special.
As you know, The McChronicles first discovered the double filet-o-fish in Singapore. Then fell in love with it back home. Since then we've been ordering it with abandon.
One big global story is the massive recall of lead paint-tainted toys from China. According to Ian Williams (on NBC Nightly News, tonight) 80% of the world's toys are made in China. Mattel, alone, is recalling over 10,000,000 toys.McDonald's Corp., one of the world's largest toy buyers, says the problem of lead paint is so widespread in China that the company has developed a system to monitor paint all the way through the supply chain back to the paint suppliers. The company requires its Chinese toy makers to agree to use only those suppliers.
"We never go on the open market, so we know exactly who we're dealing with," said Walt Riker, vice president of corporate communications.
McDonald's will launch its newest Olympic Games program, McDonald's Champion Kids, on Aug. 9, 2007 in Beijing.
The program will enable up to 300 kids from around the world to travel to the 2008 Olympic Games to share their stories and experiences with their local communities and hometown news outlets. Through this once-in-a-lifetime journey, the children will have the chance to see the Games, meet Olympic athletes, visit cultural sights, and interact with kids from across the globe.
The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: PR Newswire website (press release).
According to a story in this week's QSR Magazine:"Kids don't just ask for food from McDonald's," said Thomas Robinson, MD, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Packard Children's and associate professor of pediatrics and of medicine at the School of Medicine. "They actually believe that the chicken nugget they think is from McDonald's tastes better than an identical, unbranded nugget."
... researchers studied the taste preferences of 63 children between the ages of 3 and 5 who were enrolled in six Head Start centers in San Mateo County, Calif. The children sampled five foods: chicken nuggets, a hamburger, french fries, baby carrots and milk. The chicken nuggets, hamburger and french fries were all from McDonald's; the carrots and milk were purchased from a grocery store. Robinson and his colleagues chose to specifically study McDonald's because the company is the largest fast-food advertiser in the United States and most study subjects would likely be familiar with the brand.
Each food sample was divided into two identical portions, one wrapped in a McDonald's wrapper or placed in a McDonald's bag, and the other in similar wrapping without the McDonald's logo. The children were randomly asked to taste first one and then the other of the five identical, differently packaged, pairs of food samples and indicate whether they tasted the same or which they thought tasted better. With four out of the five foods — chicken nuggets, fries, carrots and milk — significantly more children pegged the McDonald's product as tastier, despite the fact that the foods were exactly the same.
The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: QSR logo from qsrmagazine.com.
The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Q: How long have you been a fast food aficionado?
Maven: From the first moment I got my hands on a Taco Bell Taco Supreme in my teen years. Boy, I just loved the sour cream in those things. These days, I've definitely upgraded my tastes. I go for Fresh-Mex whenever I can.
Q: What is your first fast food memory?
Maven: Not sure if this is a "first" memory. But, this one has stuck with me forever. I remember hurling profusely after eating a 99-cent Double Bacon Cheeseburger at Jack in the Box -- forcing me to swear off that chain for years. I later asked my friend, Brian, a former Jack in the Box cook: "What happened to me?" He replied: "Nance, it was the mayo."
Q: What comments do you dread most when people become aware that you are a FAST FOOD MAVEN?
Maven: Aren't you worried you're going to get fat? (That's mostly from women, though.)
Q: "Maven" is a Yiddish term. Is there Jewish fast food?
Maven: Sorry. This Hispanic gal from sunny Southern California is unaware of most Yiddish lexicon. Interesting, though. I picked the "Maven" because I want people to know that I'm a trusted expert on this topic.
Q: As a FAST FOODIE, where do you fit in the OC Register pecking order?
Maven: I love fast food because it's convenient. And, it's not as bad to eat as some might think. My 7-year-old daughter loves Del Taco bean and cheese burritos, and McDonald's Happy Meals. I have no problem giving her those in moderation.
I love getting a load of El Pollo Loco chicken at the drive through that will feed my family over the course of three days.
Fast food is unavoidable in our fast paced world. I get paid to cover the industry. How sweet is that?
Q: You go to restaurant conferences. Is that purely for your blogging or do you have another connection?
Maven: I hit conferences because it helps me meet sources on my beat. I cover the Southern California food industry, which includes writing about fast food, as well as sit-down restaurants, food manufacturing and grocery stores.
Q: Any plans to expand your blog's scope beyond the OC?
Maven: Of course.
Southern California is the birthplace of America’s most enterprising
industry: Fast food. Yet, fast food -- culture, news, trends -- goes
beyond this region. Obviously I have to cover my bases here in Southern
California. That's my job. But don't be surprised if you see me writing
about Five Guys when I go to Virginia next month. (FYI: I'm told this
burger joint rivals my Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger. So bring it on.)
McChronicles note: Our In-N-Out Burger t-shirt is one of our most prized possessions - and a reminder of an awesome fast food road trip on the US west coast.I hope to engage people in conversation about trends. Just because I write about Angus burgers coming to McDonald's in Orange and Los Angeles counties, doesn't mean someone from Upstate New York wouldn't be interested in that. It could mean, one day, you get Angus burgers, right?
Q: Any advice for The McChronicles?
Maven: I love it. Keep up the good hustle. And, keep McDonald's on its toes.
The McChronicles recently posted on something intriguing going down in Singapore, the DOUBLE FILET-O-FISH. Turns out it isn't all that unusual.
"Big Mac: Inside The McDonald's Empire" will premiere on Wednesday, July 25th at 9PM and 12AM ET. The show repeats on the following dates:
* Monday, July 30th at 9PM and 12AM ET
* Sunday, August 5th at 10PM and 1AM ET
* Tuesday, August 7th at 9PM and 12AM ET
* Tuesday, August 28th at 9PM and 12AM ET
* Sunday, September 2nd at 10PM and 1AM ET
China is understandably proud of the Olympics which are coming soon. One of the hottest sports in these games will be basketball, thanks in no small part to the popularity of Yao Ming.
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