Drive Thru Experience Blog

The McChronicles received a comment today from "Anonymous" (again!!!, that dude is everywhere) who made some good observations, and who then informed us that they had started a brand new McDonald's Drive Thru blog. Sounded cool!

So, we swung over to their site to check it out. We were disappointed as it is clearly intended to be a negative site. Their introductory paragraph reads as follows,

"This website is dedicated to all the people from all corners of the world who have ever visited a McDonalds (sic) drive-thru and all they received was a bad taste in their mouth."

Our only hope is that the negative postings that accumulate conclude with some positive thinking that will enable any necessary improvements. That would be a positive thing.

Best of luck.

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

McDonald's Photos

If you're interested in seeing what McDonald's restaurants look like in various countries, then check out this site, McDone's Flickr website.

Like a few others, McDone captures images of restaurants and posts them on the web. It is interesting to see the similarities and differences.

McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: McDone's Flickr site.

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.

I'm Wearin' It (not)

As usual, our good friends at Fastfoodweblog have tipped us off to something exciting. Seems McDonald's nostalgia has become one of this Spring's fashion "must haves".

According to an article in Pittsburgh's post-gazette.com, "One of the hippest designs showing up on must-have fashion lists for spring doesn't come from Prada or Marc Jacobs. Instead, it is a line of vintage T-shirts emblazoned with a McDonald's logo."

Well, The McChronicles was down with that until we read a bit further and learned that we'd all have to cough up US$55 per shirt. No way!

Of course, we learned that the target audience is high-income, fashion-conscious hipsters (not our crowd). The article quoted Mary Dillon, McDonald's global chief marketing officer, as saying, "It's just trying to find more-authentic ways to connect with this crowd".

A similar article appeared in the Wall Street Journal online. We grabbed this image from their site.

The McChronicles would love to see some retro McDonald's shirts available to the company's core market - people who spend significantly less than $55 on a t-shirt. We'd love that.

UPDATE: After a little online research, The McChronicles uncovered these online options for scoring a McDonald's t-shirt on the cheap:

• 80sTees.com
• Way2Be.com

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: The Wall Street Journal online website.

The McDonald's You Don't Know

Squidoo is a website that allows people to make "their own "lenses" on their favorite stuff and ideas". One of the coolest "lenses" is about, you guessed it, McDonald's!

This lens, called The McDonald's You Don't Know, is written by Steve Wilson, McDonald's Senior Director of Web Communications. He introduces the site as follows:

"The golden arches are a global icon and a familiar part of many local landscapes. Most of us have frequented more than a few of the restaurants during our lifetime and with 1.5 million working for brand McDonald's, many of us have worked there too. So it easy to believe that we know all there is to know about McDonald's but that would be just scratching the surface. This lens is dedicated to presenting a comprehensive, positive perspective. It is a work in progress..."

The McChronicles has communicated with Steve (briefly) and he seems like a very good guy. His lens on McDonald's minutia is very interesting in and of itself. We spent quite a while poking around, exploring the many links, and learning some cool stuff. One interesting tidbit: "Astronaut Dr. Leroy Chiao, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, and many other well-known leaders started working in McDonald's restaurants. "
We were flattered to find a link to The McChronicles. Thank you for that, Steve.

This site is worth a look. Have fun.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: Squidoo Home Page

Appreciation

Flickr is a great photo sharing tool. People use it for many purposes. One cool way that The McChronicles has seen it used is to share and enjoy images of various McDonald's restaurant designs.

The person behind this is named mckroes, and we suggest you check out their interesting collection of McDonald's store images. Most images are of stores in Europe, particularly The Netherlands (a truly beautiful country and people).

mckroes says, "McDonald's isn't all the same. Every McDonald's is unique in it's own way." The McChronicles shares this level of appreciation. Thanks mckroes!

A smaller but more international collection of McDonald's photos appears in francoishavard35's Flickr account. The McChronicles enjoys the comments on this site (not to mention the exotic locations, like Marrakesh and Paris) .

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: mckroes Flickr account.

McDonald's Global Casting Call

McDonald's Senior Director of Web Communications, Mr. Steve Wilson, reminds The McChronicles readers to check out the McDonald's Global Casting Call site. It is an opportunity for you to get your picture on McDonald's bags and cups next year.

Just direct your browser to http://www.mcdglobalcasting.com/ and let the creative juices flow.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: McDonald's Global Casting logo, from the McDonald's website.

The "Big Mac Index"

Did you know that economists use the local value of a McDonald's Big Mac as a guide for evaluating currency?

The Economist magazine's website reveals the details behind this intriguing fact. The Big Mac Index (a part of "Burgernomics") is explained on the site as follows:

"Burgernomics is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity, the notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Thus in the long run, the exchange rate between two countries should move towards the rate that equalises the prices of an identical basket of goods and services in each country. Our "basket" is a McDonald's Big Mac, which is produced in about 120 countries. The Big Mac PPP is the exchange rate that would mean hamburgers cost the same in America as abroad. Comparing actual exchange rates with PPPs indicates whether a currency is under- or overvalued. "

The McChronicles particularly enjoyed the video clip on the topic.

As this table indicates, you can buy a Big Mac in China for only US$1.30 but will have to pay nearly US$5.00 for it in Sweden. These values change daily as currency values fluctuate.

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

McDonald's Videos

Check out the McDonald's clips on Google Video. 118 at this posting.

This feature will likely explode as video on line burgeons.

The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: Screen grab from Google.

Fighting Through The Clutter

There is a ton of competition for a person's attention on the streets of China. The McChronicles grabbed this image while walking the streets of Shenzhen in southern China.

In this case, customers are guided as to where and how to cross the extremely busy street so they can get to the store.

The classic McDonald's red and yellow logo colors are extremely similar to the traditional Chinese red and yellow which are used in great abundance throughout the country. This really teases The McChronicles' subconscious as it seems like there might be a McDonald's at every turn. In this case, we were not disappointed.

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

The McChronicles Meets Its Waterloo

The Waterloo, NY McDonald's (store #3481) offers up a convenient, clean, and festive environment in which to eat. Additionally, it features a huge, outdoor Play Place. Parents and kids will really dig that.

Unfortunately, The McChronicles recent visit to this store didn't go too well. Here's why:

• Issue #1: We enquired as to the differences between the three salads. The crew person didn't know or couldn't articulate them. The manager, when asked to join in, did a great job of describing the differences.
• Issue #2: The salad and a Big Mac took several minutes to be delivered. We didn't time this experience (and we know that it always seems longer than the actual time turns out to be), but it seemed to take about 5 minutes. The crew was even complaining to the grill people about it.

When it all arrived the food tasted great, and was prepared perfectly.

This store features the previously-mentioned outdoor Play Place (a curious choice for the climatically-challenged Upstate New York region) and a few large, cheerful, McDonald's-themed murals on the walls. It was fairly clean, bright, and cheerful. The large flat-panel TVs are a nice touch.

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

Images: The McChronicles.

Singapore's Jurong Super Bowl McDonald's: Nice

When a person is out in the industrial west side of Singapore and hankerin' for a McDonald's meal, the Jurong Super Bowl McDonald's is the perfect spot to pick.

The McChronicles likes this store for its convenient location, the polite and capable crew, and for the clean dining room.

At first glance, there doesn't seem to be anything special about this store, but the details begin to grow on you after a while. Speedy, clean, friendly, bright ... just what we all expect and hope for. Not what we always get at McDonald's.

Count on the Jurong Super Bowl store to meet your expectations for a great spot to eat.

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

Chicago's O'Hare Airport International Arrivals McDonald's

The McChronicles remains puzzled as to why McDonald's doesn't spruce up their store that is situated on the traveler's right as they emerge from customs at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

This store ( not a restaurant - a walk-up only) always seems to look like it isn't quite done with construction. Maybe it's the color scheme, or maybe it is due to the airport property that is adjacent to the store front. Whatever it is, The McChronicles feels that this facility reflects poorly on the company's image.

That said, it is AWESOME to know that the minute you emerge from customs after a long flight, you can immediately grab a McDonald's meal. The location is completely awesome. Thanks for that!

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

Singapore's Tanglin Mall: Still Kind of Poor

Singapore's Tanglin Mall McDonald's is a very convenient store - and it exists in a fairly high-scale area. So why does it consistently disappoint?

As The McChronicles has noted in the past, the decor is uninspired, and the interior is very noisy (due to hard walls and glass). Additionally, the crew does little to keep the place sparkling clean. The service seems below average, too.

It wouldn't be too hard to benchmark some of the local stores that do it right. We wonder why they don't.

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

McTongue

Here is a meal encountered by The McChronicles while on a recent tour of China's McDonald's. If it were to appear at a McDonald's (and it most certainly did NOT), it would be called "McTongue" (and it is definately MUCH bigger than a Quarter Pounder!!!). Let's hope it never happens!

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