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Tag: McDonalds

  • Heroin Happy Meals: Twice In One Month

    Heroin Happy Meals: Twice In One Month

    Heroin is not exactly what you’d like to see when you open your kid’s Happy Meal box from McDonald’s, but apparently, that is what was being used to sell the drug out of a McDonald’s drive-thru in Pittsburg, PA.

    Shania Dennis, 26, was busted by undercover agents for selling heroin at work, where she would instruct her “customers” to say, “I would like to order a toy” while she was working her shift at the drive-thru, and she would then pass them the drugs in the Happy Meal boxes.

    Dennis then proceeded to deny any wrong doing to gathering reporters as she was led away in handcuffs. Police say they found 10 bags of heroin in a Happy Meal box and got another 50 bags of the drug off of the suspect.

    According to the AP, the owner of the restaurant didn’t have any idea what was going on and wasn’t involved.

    “We have no indication the owner knew of this and neither suspect has, to this point, implicated the owner or anyone else at either restaurant,” said Mike Manko, who is a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney’s office in Pennsylvania.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EZ7C9QbwYk

    This is the second time this month that a McDonald’s employee in Pennsylvania has been busted for selling drugs at work. According to ABC, Theodore Levon Upshaw, 28, was also arrested when an informant bought drugs from him at the restaurant just off of Route 22 in Murrysville.

    Upshaw was fresh off an early release from a three-year prison sentence after he was convicted of possession with intent to deliver. He was living in an alternative housing facility.

    The same man, Iftikhar Malik, owns both of the stores busted for heroin sales. He has issued a statement saying,

    “As an employer and a member of the community, the safety of our guests and employees is our first priority. The allegations related to this employee do not represent acceptable behaviors and are not consistent with my values. As such, we take these charges very seriously and we are fully cooperating with the authorities. We are also conducting our own thorough internal investigation.”

    Investigators don’t, however, believe the drugs sold at either of Malik’s restaurants are linked to fentanyl-laced heroin that are being blamed for 22 fatal overdoses in Pennsylvania in recent weeks.

    Image via youtube

  • Heroin Happy Meal- Drug Dealer Gets Creative

    Heroin Happy Meal- Drug Dealer Gets Creative

    McDonalds worker ShanTia Denni was arrested for dealing heroin. The shocking part of this story is the method in which she was dealing the drug. District Attorney Narcotics Enforcement received information that Denni was dealing drugs through Happy Meals at the McDonalds where she worked.

    According to investigators, Denni would sell heroin through the drive thru to customers who said, “I’d like to order a toy.” That phrase was the code word for buying heroin and it is unknown exactly how many people Denni was dealing to through the drive thru.

    Denni was arrested on Wednesday night but denied the allegations. Iftikhar Malik owns the franchise where the heroin deals occurred. He also owns another McDonalds a few miles away, where another employee was caught dealing drugs earlier this month. Investigators do not think the McDonalds franchise owner was aware of Denni’s drug deals.

    Malik released a statement through a McDonald’s corporate office saying, “As an employer and a member of the community, the safety of our guests and employees is our first priority. The allegations related to this employee do not represent acceptable behaviors and are not consistent with my values. As such, we take these charges very seriously and we are fully cooperating with the authorities. We are also conducting our own thorough internal investigation.”

    There have been 22 fatal heroin overdoses in Pennsylvania over the last few weeks. Police are working to determine where the fentanyl-laced heroin is coming from, but do not believe that either of the McDonald’s dealers are connected to the lethal batches of heroin.

    Denni has been charged with criminal use of a cellphone and four drug counts: delivery of heroin, possession with intent to deliver heroin, and possession of heroin and marijuana. She is currently in jail.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons.

  • Hot Coffee Once Again Lands McDonald’s in Hot Water

    Hot Coffee Once Again Lands McDonald’s in Hot Water

    Nearly 20 years after Stella Liebeck won compensatory and punitive damages from McDonald’s after spilling hot coffee in her lap and sustaining serious injury, another woman is suing the fast food giant over a similar injury.

    Los Angeles resident Paulette Carr has filed a suit against McDonald’s after she spilled hot coffee on herself at a drive-thru on January 12th, 2012. According to the LA Times, Carr claims that the lid was improperly affixed to the cup, and that’s what caused her to be injured by the spilled coffee.

    “The lid for the hot coffee was negligently, carelessly and improperly placed on the coffee cup…resulting in the lid coming off the top of the coffee at the window, causing the hot coffee to spill onto the plaintiff,” reads the lawsuit.

    As you probably know, there is precedent for winning damages for spilling hot coffee on yourself. In 1994, an Albuquerque, New Mexico woman named Stella Liebeck was awarded $160,000 in compensatory damages and $2.7 million in punitive damages (later reduced to $640,000) when she successfully sued McDonald’s for serving her super-heated coffee in 1992.

    The case, one of the most famous civil cases in recent history, sparked debates about tort reform and quickly became a pop culture phenomenon. Many at the time held the case up as the epitome of the country’s “sue anyone for anything” culture – but as time passed and the full story came into focus people began to change their minds about Liebeck and the validity of her suit.

    Liebeck suffered third-degree burns on her inner thighs from the spill and was forced to spend 8 days in the hospital where she underwent skin grafts. Her rehabilitation lasted for years after that. Liebeck and her representation claimed that the coffee must have been super-heated to an unsafe temperature (likely 180+ degrees F) to cause such injuries.

    A 2011 HBO documentary on Liebeck’s case helped make believers out of a lot of skeptics:

    Obviously, the two cases share a similar thread but appear, at least on first glance, to accuse McDonald’s of a different style of negligence. While Liebeck argued that the coffee was simply too hot, Carr seems to suggest that the vessel wasn’t properly sealed – and that’s what resulted in her injuries.

    Injuries – the severity of which have yet to be revealed.

    This isn’t the first time since 1994 that McDonald’s has faced lawsuits over spilled coffee.

    Image via Thiago Martins, Flickr

  • Science Teacher Loses 37 Pounds on McDonald’s Diet

    Science Teacher Loses 37 Pounds on McDonald’s Diet

    Remember the Super Size Me documentary with Morgan Spurlock that showed the side effects of eating nothing but McDonald’s for one month? Spurlock gained 24.5 pounds in 30 days, proving that eating McDonald’s for every meal probably isn’t the best idea. As an answer to that documentary, a science teacher from Iowa ate nothing but McDonald’s menu items for 90 days and actually lost weight.

    Science teacher John Cisna decided to teach his students that it doesn’t matter so much where we eat, but what we eat. Cisna put together his own documentary that detailed the food choices he made for breakfast, lunch and dinner at a local McDonald’s for three months “The point behind this documentary is we all have choices,” Cisna said. “It’s not McDonald’s that makes us fat, it’s our choices.”

    Before Cisna started the project, his cholesterol was at 249, which dropped down to 170 by the end of the 90 days. Not only did the science teacher cut his cholesterol, he also saw a decrease in his waist size–Cisna lost 37 pounds during his 90 days of eating at McDonald’s.

    Check out Cisna’s before and after pictures below.

    To prove that you can eat healthy at places like McDonald’s, Cisna restricted himself to 2,000 calories per day and let his students pick out his menu by using McDonald’s online nutritional information. Lest you think Cisna only ate selections from McDonald’s salad menu, that wasn’t the case here. “So this isn’t something where you say, ‘Well he went to McDonald’s and he only had the salads,’” Cisna said. “No, I had the Big Macs, the Quarter Pounders with cheese, I had sundaes, I had ice cream cones.”

    Cisna didn’t eat Big Macs and hot fudge sundaes at every meal, either. If his dinner plans included eating a burger, he made sure to eat a reasonable breakfast and lunch. “A typical breakfast would be two egg white delights, a bowl of their maple oatmeal and a 1 percent milk. I can eat any food at McDonald’s I want as long as I’m smart for the rest of the day with what I balance it out with,” Cisna said. Cisna also started walking for 45 minutes every day, something that certainly factored into his weight loss and lowered cholesterol.

    While it’s easy to say that the science teacher’s diet was nothing more than applying common sense, it may certainly make people think twice about saying that eating at fast food restaurants is bad for you. Now that Cisna’s success has made headlines, will McDonald’s steal a move from Subway and use Cisna to promote a McDonald’s diet?

    Image via YouTube

  • McDonald’s Bank Deposit Accidentally Handed To Customer

    McDonald’s Bank Deposit Accidentally Handed To Customer

    McDonald’s employees at a Tennessee location were horrified to learn recently that a bag full of cash had accidentally been handed to a customer instead of the breakfast they’d ordered.

    “My husband opened the bag and discovered the money inside,” said Stacye Terry. “He said, ‘You are not going to believe this.’ Sure enough, it was their bank deposit money.”

    In many businesses, the person responsible for taking the deposits to the bank will often put them in one of the store’s bags to hide it from plain view; the downside to this is, obviously, that someone will mistake it for a customer’s bag. The Terrys said they were on their way to take it back to the store when the employee showed up at their doorstep, having followed them when they realized what had happened.

    The second that he said it was their deposit, my first thing was let’s get in the truck and take it back,” said Stacye. “There is no other way to have it. I couldn’t live with myself.”

    The couple did have time to post a photo of all that cash on their Facebook page, and say they’ll be back to their local McD’s. There’s no word yet on whether anyone will face a punishment for the incident, but the store’s owner released a statement thanking the Terrys for their honesty.

    “We are grateful for this customer and the action they took upon realizing our error. We are looking in to why this mistake happened, but what is most important to us is knowing that we are part a community with the values that were evidenced by this person’s actions,” Phil Gray said.

    NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather

  • Frozen McRib: Does This Gross You Out? [IMAGE]

    Frozen McRib: Does This Gross You Out? [IMAGE]

    Let’s face it–we all know that there are very few menu items McDonald’s offers that are good for us, but sometimes we can’t quite pass up the temptation of a Big Mac or McRib (when available). Unfortunately for McRib fans (and we know the sandwich has developed something of a cult-like following), someone posted a picture of a frozen McRib patty online, and it looks nothing close to tasty.

    A lot of people who eat the sandwich when it makes its return each year probably already figured that the “before” version of the McRib was less than appetizing, if they ever allowed themselves to think of the McRib in that way. Now McRib fans have a nice little visual thanks to a friend of a McDonald’s employee posting the picture.

    Here is the McRib sandwich we all know and love:

    (image)

    And here is the frozen McRib, a photo you will probably want erased from your memory Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind style if you like to hit up McDonald’s when the sandwich is available:

    (image)

    That doesn’t look so appealing, does it? To be fair, not many foods looks super yummy when they’re frozen, but it’s doubtful that most look like flavorless slabs of misshapen ice. The question now is, will this affect McDonald’s McRib sales? Probably not. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen what fast food looks like before it is cooked (or doused in sauce)–remember the pink slime chicken nuggets? It’s probably safe to say that parents are still buying such nuggets for their kids by the truckload.

    At any rate, the gross factor never seems to hang around to keep us away for long. And for those of you who aren’t deterred by the image and are mainly wondering whether this means the McRib is back, sightings of the sandwich have been reported.

    Will you eat the McRib now or stay away for a while? Respond below. It looks like some Twitter users have seen enough.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • Dad Refuses to Take His Kid to McDonald’s, is Deemed an “Unfit Parent”

    Dad Refuses to Take His Kid to McDonald’s, is Deemed an “Unfit Parent”

    Heads up parents–the next time your kid is whining about going to McDonald’s and you say no to stopping by the Golden Arches for a Happy Meal, you just might find yourself in some legal trouble. Okay, maybe that isn’t terribly likely for most of us, but that’s the situation one divorced dad in Manhattan found himself in. David Schorr, a lawyer, found himself deemed an unfit parent after he refused to take his 4-year-old to McDonald’s.

    Schorr and his wife have been divorced for a couple of years and he has partial custody of his son. After Schorr picked up his son to take him out to eat at the end of October, the child didn’t want to go to their usual spot and begged for McDonald’s. The corporate lawyer put his foot down and said no.

    “Normally not a very strict father who rarely refuses his child McDonald’s,” Schorr said, but he was firm about not going to McDonald’s “because his son had been eating too much junk food.”

    Once his son started having a tantrum, Schorr then gave his son the option of going to eat anywhere else he wanted–just not McDonald’s. After Schorr told his kid that he wouldn’t get anything to eat if he didn’t choose somewhere other than McDonald’s, you can probably guess what the kid’s decision was, especially if you have small children–“no supper.”

    “The child, stubborn as a mule, chose the ‘no dinner’ option,” Schorr said. “It was just a standoff. I’m kicking myself mightily.”

    Once the child went back to his mom’s for the evening, he told his mom about the incident, and she promptly took him to McDonald’s and had a chat with court-appointed psychologist Marilyn Schiller. Schiller wasted no time in telling the court that she was concerned about Schorr’s parenting and asked a judge to reduce or eliminate his visitation rights. The psychologist said she found him “wholly incapable of taking care of his son.” Schiller did all of this without talking to Schorr to hear his side of the story.

    Schorr has since slapped Schiller with a defamation lawsuit and now says he wishes he would have given in to his son. “I wish I had taken him to McDonalds,” Schorr said, “but you get nervous about rewarding bad behavior. I was concerned. I think it was a 1950s equivalent of sending your child to bed without dinner. That’s maybe the worst thing you can say about it.”

    Assuming Schorr’s parental rights aren’t taken away over the incident, will he give in to his son the next time he begs for McDonald’s? “He probably knows that I now have to take him to McDonald’s. These kids are smart,” Schorr said.

    Do you think Schorr was right to deny his son supper over the McDonald’s battle? Respond below.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • McDonalds Thinks About Using In-Store 3D Printers

    McDonalds Thinks About Using In-Store 3D Printers

    Tell me if you’ve been in this scenario before. You rush out to McDonalds because you hear the Happy Meals contain My Little Pony toys and you really need that Rainbow Dash to complete your collection. Upon getting there, you find out that the My Little Pony toys have been replaced by Polly Pocket. It’s a massive disappointment, and your 24-year-old self begrudgingly eats your Happy Meal in silence.

    That scenario must have played out countless times in the past, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. However, it may not be the only future for McDonalds as the company is thinking about making its Happy Meal toy selections more flexible.

    The Register reports that McDonalds’ UK IT Director, Mark Farbes, has publicly stated that the company is looking into whether or not 3D printers could be used in McDonalds’ restaurants. The reason being that the above scenario seems to happen all too often, and McDonalds wants to have the capability to print you that Rainbow Dash even if the toy promotion has already ended.

    It sounds great and all, but Farbes clarifies that it’s only a thought at this point in time. For starters, the cost of outfitting every single McDonalds location with a multi-material 3D printer would cost millions, if not billions, of dollars. There’s also the little problem that health departments might not look kindly upon a restaurant having a machine that smelts plastic so close to where the food is prepared.

    While it may not satisfy health department requirements, McDonalds could very well place the 3D printer in a separate part of the store. Upon ordering a Happy Meal, the child would receive a ticket that can then be used on the 3D printer to create the toy of their choice. It prints during their meal and then they pick it up on the way out. Of course, 3D printers must become faster before that can become a reality unless children want to wait four to five hours for their toy to be printed.

    Still, it’s a really cool idea and a rather forward thinking one at that from a company like McDonalds. It will be interesting to see how the restaurant chain executes such an idea if they ever decide to go through with it.

    [Image: thepasswordisfail/YouTube]

  • McDonald’s Pumpkin Pie Faces Harsh Criticisms

    McDonald’s Pumpkin Pie Faces Harsh Criticisms

    The world is kookoo for their nuggets, and in love with their apple pies, but did you know that McDonalds has a new treat on their menu?

    (image)

    That’s right, ‘tis the season for delicious pumpkin pie (well, they’re actually turnovers). One bite and you’ll taste the “smooth, rich pumpkin filling baked in a tender and flaky pastry crust dusted in cinnamon sugar.” Yes, that’s exactly how McDonald’s describes their tasty treat.

    Though it’s been going on since earlier September, and the product isn’t new, fast food connoisseurs are now sinking their fangs in McDonald’s seasonal concoction, which is part of the company’s latest and limited “sweater weather sweetness” line up.

    Charles Lam of OC Weekly typed, “If you’re getting one of these looking for a semi-competent pumpkin pie experience, you’re going to be disappointed.” Lam notes that while he does like McDonald’s apple pies, he believes the mushy pumpkin counterpart is no good.

    “Now, exactly what kind of flavor these pies are bursting with I’m not sure, but it sure as hell ain’t pumpkin. The pies barely taste like anything distinct, forgoing America’s favorite seasonal gourd for a plain, generic sweetness that’s unassuming, unoffending, but also unappealing.”

    “It’s like the disastrous pumpkin spice M&Ms. Only you don’t expect something with most of the components of an actual pie (flour, shortening, some actual pumpkin) to just taste vaguely sweet and cinnamony,” said Laura Northup at Consumerist.

    Check out the nutritional facts and ingredients:

    Nutritional Info – McDonald’s Baked Pumpkin Pie (73g)
    Calories – 240 (from Fat – 110)
    Fat – 12g (Saturated Fat – 7g)
    Sodium – 150mg
    Carbs – 29g (Sugar – 10g)
    Protein – 3g

    Ingredients: Milk, Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Shortening (Palm Oil, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Flavor, and Beta Carotene [Color]), Pumpkin, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Contains 2% or less of: Cinnamon Sugar Topping (Sugar, Cinnamon), Yeast, Salt, Spices, Dextrose, Cellulose, Potassium Sorbate (Preservative), Cream of Tartar, Natural and Artificial Flavors (Plant Source), Annatto & Turmeric (Color), Hydroxylated Soy Lecithin, Enzyme, L-Cysteine (Dough Conditioner).

    CONTAINS: WHEAT, MILK AND SOY.

    Apparently, McDonalds has had a lot of different varients of their pies over the years. The following picture below shows a selection of pies that were released in America back in 1985:
    (image)

     

    A McDonald’s in Hawaii has taro, haupia, and banana pies. In Mexico and Guatemala, McDonald’s has cheese pies all year round.

    Japan? They have a bacon potato pie.

    (image)

    (Images via McDonalds, GrubGrab.com, BrandEating.com, MemoryGlands.com)

  • McDonald’s Bagged Coffee: Will You Buy It?

    McDonald’s Bagged Coffee: Will You Buy It?

    McDonald’s bagged coffee will soon be coming to a grocery store shelf near you. McDonald’s McCafe specialty coffee went national in 2009, and just four years later, the chain has announced plans to sell bagged coffee in grocery stores.

    Fans of McDonald’s coffee will reportedly be able to purchase ground and whole bean coffee in 12 ounce bags for around $7, plus they will also sell single cup servings. On the plus side, this means McDonald’s coffee fans can enjoy their morning coffee without having to actually wait in a never ending line. On the downside, well, there doesn’t appear to be one, aside from McDonald’s once again expanding its reach.

    The fast food chain is working with Kraft Foods to release their coffee in the U.S. sometime next year. McDonald’s began selling bagged coffee in Canada last year, so the grocery store version must have done fairly well north of the border.

    McDonald’s bagged coffee will be competing with coffee from other national restaurant chains, such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. According to The Christian Science Monitor, the bagged coffee industry does around $5.6 billion in sales each year, with 56 percent of Americans reporting that they bought coffee in the supermarket in 2011. It will be interesting to see how the McDonald’s bagged coffee does against the competition. Green Mountain, Folgers and Dunkin Donuts rank as America’s favorite three bagged coffee brands.

    What do you think about McDonald’s selling bagged coffee? Respond below. Let’s just say that most Twitter users were less than enthusiastic about the announcement:

    And in other McDonald’s related news, the burger chain has dropped Heinz ketchup after they hired former Burger King CEO Bernardo Hees.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • McDonald’s Coffee Will Be on Store Shelves Next Year

    McDonald’s Coffee Will Be on Store Shelves Next Year

    If you’re one of the many huge fans of McDonald’s coffee out there, you now have a reason to celebrate! McDonald’s will begin sellling a variety of ground and whole bean bagged coffee in some retail and grocery stores beginning next year, according to Reuters. This little experiment will also include single cup servings.

    McDonald’s said in a statement it was “building on the momentum of our McCafe beverages in our restaurants by expanding these options.” McDonald’s has enjoyed an enormous shot in the arm since its fairly recent introduction of McCafe beverages, which include coffee and espressos. Coffee chains like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts sell packaged coffee and K-cups through their shops and other retailers, and have been immensely successful, but can McDonald’s hold their own in the bagged coffee business?

    McDonald’s has already been selling McCafe pre-packaged coffee in Canada since last year. They came in 12 oz. bags and cost around $7. They will be teaming up with Kraft Foods Group, Inc. as their distributor. “We want to work with McDonald’s to help consumers enjoy McCafe premium coffee in the comfort and convenience of their own homes,” Kraft Foods CEO Tony Vernon told analysts on a conference call.Kraft got back into the U.S. premium grocery coffee business in August 2011, with a deal to sell Gevalia coffee in supermarkets which was very successful.

    The company, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, didn’t release any other details or say how extensive it’s initial rollout, but if there are enough die-hard McDonald’s coffee fans out there to make it work, then good for them!

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • McDonald’s Ketchup: Who Will Be Next Supplier?

    McDonald’s Ketchup: Who Will Be Next Supplier?

    Move over, Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom. There’s a new divorce of the decade. Your favorite fries will no longer be served with your favorite ketchup. Soon, Heinz ketchup will no longer have a home at your friendly neighborhood grease factory.

    McDonald’s has announced that it will no longer be partnering with Heinz, nor will it be serving their ketchup in their restaurants. The reason is that Heinz is now run by the former chief of rival mediocre burger franchise Burger King, Bernardo Hees.

    The switch will mostly go unnoticed by consumers, as sauce packages handed out at McDonald’s restaurants in the United States often say only “fancy ketchup”, and most in-store sauce dispensers are not branded, according to Reuters.

    “As a result of recent management changes at Heinz, we have decided to transition our business to other suppliers over time,” McDonald’s said in a statement. “We have spoken to Heinz and plan to work together to ensure a smooth and orderly transition.”

    Heinz has declined to comment on the situation. The company spokesman for Heinz, Michael Mullen, said, “As a matter of policy, Heinz does not comment on relationships with customers.”

    However, the switch will be much more apparent in countries outside the United States. In the US, Heinz ketchup is surprisingly really only still used in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis.

    The rumor is, now that McDonald’s, which has more than 34,000 restaurants around the globe, will be in the market for a new ketchup source, the big split could possibly benefit sauce rival, Hunt’s, which is owned by ConAgra Foods, or another company like Del Monte. So, who will the next partner be? Who will be able to provide the perfect dip for McDonald’s delicious fries? That remains to be seen…

    Image via youtube

  • McDonald’s Dropping Heinz Ketchup Due to New CEO

    McDonald’s Dropping Heinz Ketchup Due to New CEO

    McDonald’s is dropping Heinz as its ketchup supplier due to the advent of a new chief executive officer at H.J. Heinz Co. Bernardo Hees, the new CEO at Heinz, was formerly the chief executive for one of McDonald’s biggest competitors: Burger King.

    “As a result of recent management changes at Heinz, we have decided to transition our business to other suppliers over time,” McDonald’s said in a statement.

    The decision will mostly effect Heinz’ international markets, since its ketchup was served at McDonald’s in only two US markets: Pittsburgh – where Heinz is headquartered – and Minneapolis.

    Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital Management purchased Heinz for $28 billion earlier this year. Hees was named CEO shortly after the acquisition. He remains Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Burger King Worldwide Inc.

    Heinz has refused to comment directly on McDonald’s decision to phase their ketchup product out of its empire, which includes a total of 34,000 restaurants world-wide.

    Michael Mullen, senior vice president of corporate and government affairs at Heinz had this to say: “All our food-service customers globally remain valuable to the company and are an important part of what has made the H.J. Heinz Co. what it is today. We continue to operate respecting every customer while upholding the high level of confidentiality and business ethics that the H.J. Heinz Co. has built with our business partners over the years.”

    The two companies have had a rocky relationship in the past. In the early 1970s, Heinz couldn’t meet McDonald’s demand for ketchup due to a tomato shortage, and the chain took much of its business elsewhere. Since then, Heinz has worked hard to regain ground with the fast food heavyweight.

    Pittsburgh residents aren’t happy about the McDonald’s announcement:

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • McDonald’s: Not Paid Enough?  Get Food Stamps.

    McDonald’s: Not Paid Enough? Get Food Stamps.

    McDonald’s loves to see you smile–just not their employees. When full-time employee Nancy Salgado called McResources, McDonald’s employee help line, and said she need a raise to help cover the cost of groceries and her heating bill, she was told to she could apply for food stamps and other public assistance. The mom of two has been working for McDonald’s for 10 years and is still making $8.25 an hour, just a dollar over minimum wage, which puts her below the poverty line.

    Check out parts of the conversation below:

    “You would most likely be eligible for SNAP benefits,” the operator says after Salgado says she needs help with groceries. “You know it’s a federal program, the federal money comes down the states, and the states administer it.” In addition to telling Salgado that she could get on food stamps, when Salgado inquired about medical care, the operator told she could apply for Medicaid, another federal program.

    Salgado, who got in trouble last month when she told the company’s president that she couldn’t afford shoes, wasn’t satisfied with this answer. “Do you think this is fair, that I have to be making $8.25 [per hour] when I’ve worked for McDonald’s for years?” Salgado shouted at the McResources operator. “The thing is that I need a raise. But you’re not helping your employees. How is this possible?”

    In fairness, it doesn’t appear that Salgado was directing her angst over her paltry pay to the right person, since McResources isn’t HR–the program is available to simply to help employees get help making ends meet when their paychecks aren’t enough (the existence of the program says a lot about McDonald’s pay). “We can be a good program,” the operator said. “We can do a lot of the leg work that takes a lot of the stresses off of you making a million phone calls trying to find services.”

    When McDonald’s was asked to respond to the situation, they released the following statement: “This video is not an accurate portrayal of the resource line as this is very obviously an edited video. The fact is that the McResource line is intended to be a free, confidential service to help employees and their families get answers to a variety of questions or provide resources on a variety of topics including housing, child care, transportation, grief, elder care, education and more.”

    Do you think McDonald’s should be advising employees to sign up for food stamps? Respond below.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • McDonald’s Dollar Menu to Offer Items That Cost More than $1

    McDonald’s Dollar Menu to Offer Items That Cost More than $1

    You know how McDonald’s Dollar Menu gets a little skimpier with each passing year? There was a time when you could get two slices of cheese on that double cheeseburger for a buck instead of that McDouble with its lonely slice of cheese. Well, McDonald’s Dollar Menu is about to get revamped and better items will be added. The catch? You’ll have to pay more than a dollar.

    McDonald’s confirmed that it will be adding some new items to its Dollar Menu, such as a 20-piece nugget and burgers with more than a single patty or cheese slice. Don’t get too excited, though–those items won’t cost a dollar. These items will be added under McDonald’s new Dollar Menu & More starting in November.

    According to a spokesperson for McDonald’s, the fast food chain will change “some elements of the dollar menu, [while] adding two more tiers for our customers.” In addition to the traditional Dollar Menu staples, the new menu will include items for $2 and $5.

    With the introduction of the Dollar Menu & More, McDonald’s will do away with the Extra Value Menu, which was introduced in 2012 and hasn’t done so well. Since the Dollar Menu was introduced about ten years ago, it has accounted for “13-15% of sales,” according to Consumerist. During the recession, McDonald’s was one chain that saw its profits increase, as more people looked to the cheap offerings the Dollar Menu provided at mealtimes.

    What do you think about McDonald’s changing its Dollar Menu? Respond below. A few folks on Twitter are quite distressed:

    In other McDonald’s-related news, if you have kids (or buy Happy Meals for reasons of nostalgia), you’ll notice another change rolling out at McDonald’s soon–books will be added to Happy Meals beginning November 1 for a limited time. Some customers are still getting over the renovations that attempted to make the fast food chain look more upscale (but just felt weird), and now McDonald’s is rolling in Dollar Menu and Happy Meal changes in the same month? Oh, boy.

    Image via YouTube

  • McDonald’s Dollar Menu Getting Big Changes

    McDonald’s Dollar Menu Getting Big Changes

    McDonald’s will soon be following in the footsteps of rival restaurant Wendy’s by making some big changes to their Dollar Menu, and that includes cutting some old favorites.

    While the new menu hasn’t been unveiled yet, the company says the nationwide changes will go into effect in early November and will see prices from $1 to $5, and will also include a name change to the Dollar Menu & More. The new menu will include three price tiers, starting with $1 sandwiches and going up to a $5 20-piece chicken McNugget.

    The company has been rolling out new items–such as the fairly new Mighty Wings–over the past several months and say this new menu is consistent with their efforts to create flexibility where both food and price are concerned. However, the wings, which were brought out in conjunction with the NFL season, haven’t seen the sales that the company had hoped for.

    “One dollar per wing was still not considered to be the most competitive in the current environment. The other thing we saw, and it’s a very slight modification, the flavor profile is slightly spicy for some consumers,” CEO Don Thompson said.

    The fast-food giant is also making changes where healthy eating is concerned, announcing in September that they will now allow customers to order a salad or fruit with their meal instead of fries. However, it’s not known if any of the “healthier” options, like snack wraps, will be included in the new dollar menu.

    Image: McDonald’s

  • McDonald’s Happy Meals Will Include Books?

    McDonald’s Happy Meals Will Include Books?

    McDonald’s has announced that they will start putting books in their happy meals. This is an interesting change for the fast food conglomerate to make, after just giving away plastic toys for much of their company’s history. McDonald’s is hoping to increase literacy with children with the action, but it is probably too late at this point, and especially with the customers who typically eat at the restaurant. However, this could also be looked at as an attempt to make nice with parents that have criticized them for their unhealthy food, coming way too late to actually make a difference.

    Fast food has often been used in order to give kids a quick, cheap meal, but after all the attention that has been put on McDonald’s for the lack of nutrition in their food, many people have chosen to steer clear of the establishment. In an attempt to improve its image among those who despise the company and the way they conduct their business, McDonald’s has been aggressively trying to improve its menu and last month announced that it would start to offer more fruits and vegetables. They are certainly not going win over the public immediately, but could this be enough to get some new business from people?

    Corporate Accountability International, a group that brought a 9-year-old girl to McDonalds’ shareholder meeting in order to scold CEO Don Thompson in May, is being very critical of their new literacy campaign. The group has accused McDonalds of “trying to earn undeserved goodwill from the growing number of parents and health advocates who are calling on them to stop marketing to kids.”

    The campaign is set to launch on November 1st, during National Family Literacy Week, but it is only scheduled to last for two weeks, unfortunately for the McDonald’s happy meal book campaign. Parents should not expect to see their child opening up the Happy Meals and finding books that they are familiar with or had previously read, wanting to share with their child either. McDonald’s has said that they will partner with advertising firm Leo Burnett, and create their own books, four titles specifically designed for the customers of McDonalds. This will include characters like a voracious goat who struggles to eat right, and a diminutive dinosaur who grows tall with good nutrition.

    On November 1st, they will also launch a new interactive digital book, and will release one each month until the end of 2014, as they mention in an article published on their website. The story also goes into detail about each of the original books that will be distributed. McDonald’s happy meal’s including books in an effort to help with literacy, is a long shot, but they are probably willing to do anything in order to get new customers.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO2QohcqDWA

    Image via Youtube

  • McDonald’s Announces Big Menu Changes

    McDonald’s Announces Big Menu Changes

    McDonald’s made an announcement late Thursday that, Yahoo finance reports, will silence their critics while simultaneously keep the risks to the business incredibly minimal. Here’s what McDonald’s announced the company will do:

    It will now allow customers to get a side salad, fruit or vegetable instead of fries with value meals. They also promise to promote water, milk and juice as the drinks for Happy Meals on its menus and in ads, but of course, you are still allowed to buy a Coke for your kid if you choose. This is still America.

    They also say they will use Happy Meal packaging “to generate excitement for fruit, vegetable, low/reduced-fat dairy, or water options for kids.” Messaging on Happy Meal bags and boxes will talk up smart food choices and good health, and ads aimed at young people will do the same.

    Previously, healthy eating initiatives haven’t been on the front burner for the golden arches, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying. Before McDonald’s automatically included apple slices in its Happy Meals, it had offered them for many years as a substitute for fries, but parents rarely chose them. When McDonald’s tested a Happy Meal version that didn’t contain fries, it didn’t go over well.

    Also, and I speak from first hand experience here, suggesting your kids “make a healthy choice” and order apples and milk instead of fries and a coke gets the same reaction as “Hey, let’s go to the dentist!”.

    Some may say that wackadoo menu placement of these items makes ordering them difficult. It’s probably fair to say millions of McDonald’s customers aren’t ending up with fries in the bag because they couldn’t find a salad on the menu.

    Now, while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with children or adults eating well, if you think this is what McDonald’s is about, check out the menu section of its website and look at what’s listed first. The very best way to see for yourself is to sit near a store counter at lunchtime and listen to what people actually order.

    McDonald’s has listened to concerns, treating it’s animals better and fitting it’s menu with greens, as well as, trying out “healthy” things such as egg whites and grilled chicken. This is all fine, but it doesn’t exactly bring the cash rolling in for McDonald’s, whose stock price has quadrupled in the past decade, about five times the advance in the stock market overall.

    The only thing that’s changed since the highly critical “Super Size Me” came out in 2004, are McDonald’s system-wide sales numbers. They have steadily gone from $51.3 billion that year to $88.3 billion in 2012. That isn’t mediocre salad rolling those sales in.

    McDonald’s is still in line to make a profit of more than $5 billion this year, and to open hundreds more units on top of the more than 34,000 it already has globally, even though competition has been more fierce than ever. Wendy’s and Burger King have upped the fight, just as so-called fast-casual chains such as Panera proliferate.

    However, these changes aren’t even taking place immediately. According to McDonald’s, the plan will be rolled out to 30% to 50% of the markets that are affected within three years of the announcement, and in every one of the markets by 2020. Because it takes that long to buy lettuce(??).

    Of course, the company will sell some of this healthier stuff, but it’ll be largely incremental to revenue. Even if it proves to be a disaster, the costs are probably going to go relatively unnoticed. The power move in this is getting its critics to shut their yaps for a bit, yet keeping the brand protected. Their business isn’t veggies, and it never will be.

    Their business is undoubtedly McRibs. And burgers, fries, chicken sandwiches, of course. Health advocates might tell themselves they’ve won a round, and in a way, they have. But, what’s really happening is that McDonald’s will now just get back to selling burgers by the millions and watching that money roll in.

    Image via wikipedia

  • McDonald’s Wings To Be Introduced Next Month

    McDonald’s Wings To Be Introduced Next Month

    McDonald’s is looking to expand their menu a bit, and they’re going to do it in a way that also takes aim at their less obvious competitors.

    The fast-food company says they’re planning to roll out a bone-in chicken wing next month that will be available through November, and while other burger joints–like Wendy’s–have also introduced new chicken items recently, experts say McDonald’s has a new spin on it that sets them apart and puts them in line with KFC and Popeye’s.

    “Anyone can do nuggets or tenders and almost all burger chains do, but Mighty Wings are different because they’re bone-in chicken,” Scott Hume of Burger Business said. “They’re also tougher to source in large numbers but McDonald’s has the clout to do it.”

    The move comes after some testing in limited locations and may be related to one many fast-food companies are making lately–to freshen up their menu and offer more varied choices–but it also could have something to do with the time of year.

    “They’re being more innovative, and they’re being more aggressive with the changes on their menu,” Peter Saleh, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, said. “This is good news because it’s in conjunction with the football season.”

    Of course, it wouldn’t be McDonald’s without a decent price, so the 3-piece version starts at just $2.99. There’s also a five and ten-piece option; the wings are seasoned with cayenne and chili pepper and come with sauces including creamy ranch, honey mustard and tangy barbecue.

    The news is the latest in a string of changes made to the fairly sizable menu; in May, the company announced they would be doing away with the Angus burger and introducing three new quarter-pounders. In June, they added breakfast items to the “After Midnight” menu.

    Image: McDonald’s

  • McDonald’s Franchisees are Furious About Costs of Doing Business

    McDonald’s Franchisees are Furious About Costs of Doing Business

    A showdown of capital proportions is taking place in the fast food world, as if the constant striking by workers were enough for the industry: McDonald’s franchise owners are alleging that McDonald’s costs are too high, citing rent, remodeling and training fees among other complaints.

    According to a letter sent to Bloomberg News, franchisees have reported a deteriorating understanding between the corporation and its store owners.

    Franchise owners remember a time not too long ago (the mid 1990’s) when McDonald’s Corporation’s desire to expand was greater than its desire to properly manage franchise-owned restaurants. Former McDonald’s owner Dick Adams of San Diego said that while franchisees are upset and morale is not quite as low as in the 1990’s, “we’re getting there again.”

    One of the McDonald’s franchisee’s biggest complaints revolves around the rent and royalties they pay to the company. Bloomberg cites the notes from an April 23 meeting attended by store operators as revealing that some franchisees pay 12 percent of store sales in rent alone.

    In response to this complaint, McDonald’s spokeswoman Ofelia Casillas said in an email to Bloomberg, “Across the country, the rent owner/operators pay for their McDonald’s restaurants is determined by local market real estate costs, as well as the cost of doing business in a particular market… The range for rent has historically varied based on these and other regular business variables.”

    Business Insider notes that the goal of becoming a franchise owner is way out of reach for most Americans. The McDonald’s corporation would “require a minimum of $750,000 of non-borrowed personal resources to consider you.”

    When it comes to customers, all this discussion of what franchise owners want seems to overshadow the effects on average Americans who purchase the food every day. The costs that a franchise might incur could mean financial ruin for its managers. High-rent McDonald’s franchises often find themselves in need of remodeling, which is a high cost activity for McDonald’s. Bloomberg cites Slater-Carter as quoting a McDonald’s renovation as costing at least $800,000; By comparison, Burger King franchisees can get a renovation done for about $300,000.

    Although Burger King and Taco Bell’s remodeling may seem cheap, acquiring a Taco Bell of your own would require you to be sitting on a cool $1 million, while BK pushes it even further at $1.5 million.

  • Fast Food Workers Strike For Higher Wages

    Fast Food Workers Strike For Higher Wages

    Fast food is an intrinsic part of modern American life; most citizens eat or work at a various chain or franchise, and many wind up doing both. Despite the backlash targeted at fast food companies concerning health, obesity problems, and cruelty towards livestock, the industry is majorly successful and going strong. Today, however, backlash against such fast food giants as McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King is taking a new turn that may just change the game; employees have staged walk-outs in many large cities, including New York City, Chicago, and Detroit, in order to strike for a higher minimum wage and the right to form unions.

    The employees are currently demanding that the minimum wage be raised from the current $8.25 (or less, as is the case in New York City, where it is $7.25) an hour to a solid $15 an hour. The demand for change from a “poverty wage” to a “living wage” stems from a long history of mistreatment, underpaid work, and corporate greed. Workers claim that there is no way to earn a livable income from such low wages; as Joseph Barrera, a KFC employee from New York City puts it, “We help them earn those billions of dollars that give them the lifestyle that the CEOs get. They earn million-dollar paychecks, so why can’t they give us something that we can live on?”

    There has been support for the strikes popping up on twitter with hashtages such as “#iamfastfood” and “#imnotlovingit” starting to trend as people nationwide add their voice to the cause.

    There has also been negative feedback aimed at the employee’s protests, however; some claim that fast food wages are fine as is, and that change is not needed. Among those who ascribe to this train of thought are, oh-so-surprisingly, CEOs and other higher ups associated with fast food franchises. Burger King officials have come out as saying that front-line positions provide “launching pads” into more lucrative career opportunities, but the evidence to back up such a claim simply doesn’t exist; of the nearly 4.1 million people employed by fast food companies, only 2.2% are in higher-paid positions, such as managerial, technical, and professional.

    Others have argued that fast food jobs are mostly held by high school and college students who do not require living wages, since these jobs are supposedly temporary and mostly for spending cash. However, according to Johnathan Westin, founder of Fast Food Forward (the group organizing these strikes), a large amount of employees are “not teenagers working after-school jobs… [they are] adults with families that are trying to take care of their kids and can’t put food on the table. They can work here for 10, 15 years, and are still making the same wages as when they started.”

    The strikes are set to continue this week, but there is yet to be any indication of how effective they will truly be at bringing about change to minimum wage laws and the fast food industry.