That's too many seeds for a normal McDonald's bun. Spotted in Taiwan, the "Grilled Chicken Multi Grains" demonstrates the fast food industry's attempt to make us healthier—and what better way than with big, fat seeds. The sandwich isn't currently available in the United States, where the closest alternative is a Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich on a "toasted honey wheat bakery roll." (No seeds involved.)
In recent weeks, anchors on KVVU, the Fox affiliate in Las Vegas, sat with McDonald’s iced coffees as they broadcasted the "news-and-lifestyle" portion of the morning show. But as reported by the New York Times, they weren't from an early morning drive-thru trip. In fact, the anchors hardly touched the cups.
It's part of a six-month product placement deal where the on-air cast will join their new iced coffee friends, but not during the "straight news portion," said KVVU news director Adam Bradshaw; just during the lightweight stuff between 7 and 9 a.m. Other stations owned by the Meredith Broadcasting Group may have logoed cups from the Golden Arches soon too. What if a report involves Big Macs or happy meals? During conflicting coverage, the ad agency promises to remove the cups.
Adieu to an old media era of generic mugs that made me picture a friendly coffee maker in the staff kitchen.
A McDonald's in Chicago is featuring a billboard of a giant egg that cracks open at 6 a.m. and stays open until 10:30 a.m. to represent the time that eggs are available on the menu. It's a cool way target early risers, but as for the post-breakfast crowd, they'll just see a giant white blob. [via BuzzFeed]
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In Videos: The Off-the-Menu McDonald's Brunch Sandwich
Brunch haters are few and far between, but McDonald's is one of them. That 11 a.m. deadline for breakfast foods is so strict, leaving absolutely no wiggle room between Egg McMuffin and Big Mac service. Is it so wrong to crave an egg sandwich at lunchtime and double meat patty at 9 a.m.? Or both at once? Don't they stock everything in the back anyway?
Two self-proclaimed "Internet Celebrities" Dallas Penn and Rafi Kam hopped into a fast food spaceship to another cosmos where McDonald's brunch sandwiches exist. Arriving at 10:55 a.m. just before the changing of the guard, they ordered breakfast then hopped back into line at 11:01 a.m.
The result: Canadian bacon, the "round eggy thing," fries, Premium Chicken Select Strips, and honey mustard, all inside the McGriddle bread. Yes, they went there. Because they call the shots, "not the clown." After the jump, watch the meal rebellion, but be aware, the language is NSFW. [via SoGoodBlog]
From left: God's beard, the Cockpit of Flight #815, and a beauty-marked Cindy Crawford, according to Top10Kid.
Evaluating the psyche should involve less ink blots, more chicken nuggets. What do you see in this amorphous blob? "God's beard? So you think God has facial hair, eh? Innnn-ter-est-ing." See what else the blog Top10Kid saw in an average 10-piece McNugget meal. Number two in the above series reveals a special love for the television series Lost.
What wacky shapes have you seen in your nuggets? (Not that you ever eat nuggets, or anything.)
"I make little kids happy and big kids mad." -New Wave Nigel
The iconic "energy dome" made famous by New Wave band Devo in its "Whip It" music video and various stage performances is a look you want to steal so badly, but take lessons from McDonald's—don't. As part of an American Idol–themed line of Happy Meal toys, McDonald's introduced New Wave Nigel. He may look so 1980s mod in his orange jumpsuit, fuchsia shades, and energy dome, but this Devo-ian imitation is not flattering the band, which is now suing the the chain.
"Plus, we don't like McDonald's," bassist Gerald Casale told Australian Associated Press. Casale designed the upside-down flower-pot hat, which is both copyrighted and trademarked. Watch the original "Whip It" video, full of New Wave Nigel predecessors, after the jump. [Via Metafilter]
Chris Coleson, before and after his diet. inRich.com
It's an oft-told tale: guy eats copious McDonald's fare—guy gets fat.
Chris Coleson, a Richmond, Virginia businessman, has a different story to tell. He told his wife "I could lose weight eating anywhere." He chose Mickey D's.
According to AdAge.com, he has lost 86 pounds since last December on an apple-walnut salad, snack wrap, and cheeseburger diet. His cholesterol is down, too. In recognition of his achievement, he replaced his "OLDNFAT" license plate to one which reads "MCFIT." He'll appear on Good Morning America later this week to ballyhoo his weight loss saga.
The Golden Arches and our mighty obesity epidemic are faithful accomplices, or so we are told ad nauseam. A media blitz has pointed to fast food in general, and McDonald's in particular, as culprit for our collective beefy circumferences. One might think that the folks at Mickey D's would be stoked to get some good press, but their reaction is lukewarm.
"There have been numerous success stories like this one, where consumers elected to follow a responsible diet with adequate exercise and incorporated McDonald's food in a very positive way," said McDonald's USA spokeswoman Danya Proud. Of Mr. Coleson's accomplishment, she did not seem especially proud.
Red Bull, Lipton, and Pepsi: coming to a McDonald's near you?
In January, McDonald's announced its entrance into the coffee specialty drinks wars. Now there's another way to get your caffeine fix under the Golden Arches.
If you're bored of the obligatory Coke with your Big Mac and fries, you're in luck—McDonald's is testing the sale of bottled and canned drinks in about 150 locations. The long lineup includes Red Bull, Diet Lipton Green Tea, and products from PepsiCo, archrival to McDonald's longtime fountain beverage bedfellow Coca-Cola. AdAge.com reports that the company is trying to lure customers who are going elsewhere for their energy drinks and VitaminWaters.
These tomatoes may be safe, but others may give you Salmonella poisoning. Beware.
Bountiful grape tomatoes still populate Mickey D's "premium salad," but you're out of luck if you want a tomato slice on your burger.
Reuters reported today that McDonald's and Wal-Mart stores have stopped selling certain tomatoes. Chipotle and Target are also nixing tomatoes to play it safe.
On Saturday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned U.S. consumers that the Salmonella outbreak—145 reported cases, including at least 23 hospitalizations since mid-April—is linked to raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes. The FDA says that it is safe to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, and tomatoes grown at home. (Salmonella is no fun—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the illness usually entails 4 to 7 days of diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps.)
The FDA first alerted consumers about the risk on June 3. It has not yet identified the source of the contaminated tomatoes, but it recognizes that the source of the contaminated tomatoes may be limited to a single grower or packer or tomatoes from a specific geographic area—which one remains a mystery. Still, it's advising restaurants and grocery stores to pull tomatoes off their shelves.
Let's hope the FDA finds the culprit before the fast-encroaching tomato season. Tomato slices at McDonald's might taste like crunchy water, but a tomato-free summer would be a small tragedy.
These advertisements might be meant to encourage Swedes to wake up from their absurd dreams with coffee from McDonalds. They might simply be the product of a deranged mind. Either way, Sweden could evidently use the caffeine. Video after the jump.
The McDonald's logo is hard to miss during WNBA games now. It appears on the players and on the court itself. Here's some evidence of the NASCAR-ification of WNBA players, as previously reported. It's not nearly as bad as one might imagine, but it does set a dangerous precedent.
McDonald's Southern-style chicken biscuit tastes like an oversized McNugget in a buttery, greasy biscuit that you've had so many times before.
It's too late to snag a free Southern-style chicken biscuit from McDonald's—the breakfast promotion lasted today between 7 a.m and 10:30 a.m—but if you missed out, don't worry; it wasn't totally free. As we mentioned before, there was a medium or large drink caveat, so the "freebie" cashed in at a minimum of $1.50. Overall, it wasn't the most mind-blowing experience since McDonald's already sells biscuits and chicken McNuggets, and together, they approximate this same taste concept.
But borderline mind-blowing is that you can eat fried chicken for breakfast without hauling to a less-accessible Chick-fil-A or sneaking in last night's leftovers. McDonald's only has the normal-sized sandwich, whereas Chick-fil-A also does an adorable mini version.
McDonald's sells the Southern-style chicken biscuit for $1.99 and $3.39 for the value meal with drink and hash browns. So again, today's "deal" wasn't a huge deal.
Throwdown: Chick-fil-A vs. McDonald's Southern Style Chicken
McDonald's today is giving away its Southern Style Chicken Sandwich. The offer starts at the breakfast-to-lunch switchover and runs to 7 p.m. at participating McD's. The sandwich, which apes Chick-fil-A's signature creation to good effect, is free with the purchase of any medium or large beverage. The chain is also giving away its Southern Style Chicken Biscuit breakfast sandwich—same deal, but I can't wholeheartedly recommend that product. Find a McD's here. (Limit one per customer per bev buy.)
And why not head on over to Dunkin' Donuts for a post-McMeal iced coffee? From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. today, participating stores are giving out 16-ounce cups of Dunkin's original or flavored iced coffee. Find a location here.
Throwdown: Chick-fil-A vs. McDonald's Southern Style Chicken
Artist's rendering of the future of sports, which unsettlingly resembles the extreme commercialism and marketing-controlled future depicted in comedy movie Idiocracy.
Looking at a WNBA jersey will soon make your subconscious crave a greasy Southern-style chicken sandwich. As part of an ad campaign for their Chick-Fil-A-ish creation, McDonalds is branding all fourteen WNBA team jerseys with the Double Arches. The iconic logo will also sneak up on pole pads, seat backs, on-court decals and other courtside signage during the league's season-opening week. When asked if other corporate sponsors could soon nab jersey space, WNBA President Donna Orender responded with the late McDonalds adage. "It could happen." [via AdAge]
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Throwdown: Chick-fil-A vs. McDonald's Southern Style Chicken
As the blog Midtown Lunch pointed out, one difference between Chick and Mick is bag vs. box.
McDonald's Southern Style Chicken Sandwich hit New York City recently, and since it's designed to compete with the Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, right down to the two—and only two—sliced pickles, we thought we'd grab both and do a head-to-head comparison. The results, after the jump.
At first I felt bad that I couldn't understand what the lyrics of this rap were, but then neither could the McDonald's employees on the other end of the intercom. So the customers rapped again. And again. At different speeds. Hopefully after those few tries, the order made sense. ("Extra salt on the frizzle," anyone?)
Watch the video, after the jump. It's not much visually, but it's funny to listen to the song interrupted by questions from the confused employees. [via Indablog]
It's with sadness that I write this post, as it's to inform you that the man who invented the Egg McMuffin has died. Herb Peterson, age 89, passed away Tuesday in Santa Barbara, California, where he operated six McDonald's.
The inspiration for Peterson's 1972 creation was the dish eggs Benedict, which he was very partial to, a company spokesman said. Interestingly enough, the now ubiquitous breakfast sandwich was first served open faced on a buttered English muffin.
Or, perhaps I should say, "I drink your shamrock ice-milk product." After the jump, and in honor of St. Patty's Day tomorrow, a blast from the past—even though you can apparently still get Shamrock Shakes at McDonald's today. Says Serious Eats writer Erin Zimmer: "I just had one yesterday. Disappointing."
Editor's note: This week, it's, like, omigawd, totally '80s for our daily In Videos segment. Big hair, breakdancing, and before-they-were-big celebrity commercial appearances to the max. So kick back your fat-laced high tops and take a chill pill. —The Serious Eats Team
If you wanted to make something cool in the '80s, all you had to do was add some rapping. Doesn't matter if you were pushing chicken nuggets, beer, or kid's cereal—make it rhyme and dance and you've got yourself marketing gold!
Check out the commercials after the jump, plus a few bonus videos that were too good to pass up—you don't want to miss watching the Fat Boys enjoying an "all you can eat" at Sbarro in New York City in the mid-'80s.
Stephen Colbert, in the segment "People Destroying America," interviews Susan Pagan, a mother who tries to "obliterate America's happiness" by denying her daughter a Happy Meal earned from a good report card in Seminole County, Florida.
Video after the jump.
McDonald’s stops sponsoring Happy Meals as rewards for students with good grades and attendance records in elementary schools in Seminole County, Fla.
McDonald's France takes a hyper-American approach in marketing its Big Tasty Burger to the French public by conjuring up classic images of the American west reminiscent of the Marlboro Man. "Rediscover the taste of liberty with the Big Tasty," the announcer declares in a husky voice. But don't ignore the note at the bottom of the screen to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day!
McDonald's has announced its entrance into the coffee specialty drinks wars. According to the Wall Street Journal, "McDonald's is setting out to poach Starbucks customers with the biggest addition to its menu in 30 years. Starting this year, the company's nearly 14,000 U.S. locations will install coffee bars with "baristas" serving cappuccinos, lattes, mochas and the Frappe, similar to Starbucks' ice-blended Frappuccino."
The French hate McDonald's. The notion of "fast food" clashes with their belief that meals should be long and leisurely; that they should be cooked carefully, with prized ingredients. It couldn't be further from the notion of terroir. But mostly they hate it because it is as shamefully hip-packed and loud-talking as those god-awful Americans, and Americans don't know how to eat.
Have you heard this before? Did you believe it? Well, then you might want to sit down for this one: In the first half of this year, combined sales at the chain's 6,400 European restaurants rose 15 percent, to $4.1 billion, compared with a 6 percent increase in the United States, where McDonald's has 13,800 restaurants and where sales totaled $3.9 billion. Every 12 months, one out of two French people visit McDonald's at least once. Annually, they consume 22 million McDonald's salads, 60,000 tons of french fries, 32,000 tons of beef patties, 12,000 tons of chicken, and 600 million buns. Oh, and these numbers are a little outdated.
Gordon Ramsay is the kind of man that has the words "temper" and "outburst" used in nearly every last thing written about him. The Independent's Jonathan Thompson interviewed Ramsay yesterday to get his reaction on the interviews his former mentor and now long-time nemesis Marco Pierre White's been doing in support of his new book, and of course both "temper" and "outburst" appeared in the piece's very first paragraph. White said "there is a time and a place for McDonald's" and naturally, Ramsay feels quite the opposite:
"Strip a Big Mac back of everything it's filled up with and you've got two bland basics: fat and fodder. When you think of how exciting it is to make a hamburger from a chef's point of view - with ground mince, ketchup, Tabasco and onions - and how easy that is, then why do you have to buy that crap?"
He's got something nasty to say about food critics as well—Frank Bruni of the New York Times, who gave his restaurant two stars but called it uninspired gets the brunt of it, but he's not a fan of the whole lot. [via The Food Section]
Photograph by by AYArktos
Marilyn Marter of the Philadelphia Inquirer says we might be in the middle of "a full-fledged breakfast war", with big companies fighting for portions of the $78 billion breakfast market. Ron Paul, president of a research firm that tracks the food-service industry, "estimates that 15 to 18 percent of breakfasts are currently being sourced from restaurants (compared with about 25 percent of dinners), with McDonald's, the largest restaurant chain, in the lead, feeding 27 million Americans daily." They've of course long had a serious breakfast menu, but the competition is trying to catch up: Burger King rolled out a ten item one last year, Dunkin Donuts is experimenting with gussied-up offerings, and even chains you would necessarily expect breakfast offerings from, like Starbucks and Subway, are getting into the action.
The market for at-home breakfast foods is no slouch either—projected sales for this year are $29.6 billion—so don't be surprised to see more and more breakfast items, of the healthy, organic kind as well as just the plain convenient, on the aisles and in the freezers every time you visit the supermarket.
It was buried under another story in the New York Times business section on Tuesday, but I thought it was worth noting that McDonald's has agreed "to pay a penny more a pound for its Florida-grown tomatoes to help increase wages for the migrant workers who harvest them."
A penny doesn't sound like much of an increase, but here's the kicker: "The extra penny a pound would nearly double their pay to about 72 cents a bucket."
First Wolfgang Puck, then Burger King, now McDonald's. Has the whole corporate world started to go humane? Have we reached the tipping point? I sure hope so.
Photograph from iStockPhoto.com
A three-week-old McDonald's in Saratoga Springs is a prototype for a new upscale, Starbucks-like redesign for the chain that could be making its way around the globe, featuring "trendy, upholstered booths, a stone fireplace, and comfy lounge chairs. Gone are the iconic Golden Arches. Instead, there's a short, modern sign on a tuft of grass outside. Instead of a cardboard cutout of the 'Hamburglar' next to the counter, there's a bowl full of Granny Smith apples and a glass display of salads. There are warm tones of sage green and brown, not the traditional bright yellow and red."
Love or hate McDonald's, you have to admit they usually do a good job of integrating local specialties into their menus. McDonald's restaurants in Hawaii have lots of custom items on their menus—the breakfast menu alone has two dishes with SPAM: a SPAM McGriddle and SPAM served with eggs and rice—and they frequently get limited edition delights too. Pomai of Honolulu food blog The Tasty Island recently tried the current offering, the Haupia Pie: "Similar to their familiar Apple Pie, this item uses the same crust and turnover shape, except with this, it has a filling intended to (loosely) replicate the traditional Haupia dessert offered at a Hawaiian Luau. Upon first bite, you ‘ll notice the light, golden crispy texture and mild salty flavor of the crust compliments the sweet, creamy coconut-flavored filling quite nicely."
Coffee drinkers, prepare to get jittery on someone else's dime—the NY Sun says you're "in for a lot of free coffee in the next couple of weeks":
The first freebie is tomorrow, when McDonald's will hand out free cups of the stuff to anyone who asks for it, at any location. It's in celebration of being named by Consumer Reports as having the best coffee for the price (compared with other fastfood chains).
Then next Thursday, Starbucks is celebrating its second annual "coffee break" by pouring free 12-ounce cups (tall, not grande or venti) of brewed coffee between 10 a.m. and noon.
And then finally, on Wednesday, March 21, Dunkin' Donuts will celebrate the first day of spring with a free 16-ounce cup of iced coffee all day long.
Our Alaina Browne called McDonald's to check if free coffee will be available at all locations tomorrow; She said, "They say since they're 85% franchise owned, it's up to the franchisees as to whether or not they are participating," so if you'll be stopping by a McDonald's for some coffee tomorrow, have a few bucks in your pocket in case your local franchisee is not feeling the free coffee love.
In response to the success both Burger King and Carl's Jr have had with their Angus burgers in recent years, McDonald's will be rolling out three new Angus burgers of their own next Monday to 600 restaurants in California as a test before possibly going national:
One of the creations McDonald's is debuting next week is the Angus Deluxe, a "backyard style" burger with crinkle-cut pickles and red ring-shaped onions, as opposed to chopped onions and flat pickles served on other burgers, Frisbie said.
A new sesame seed "bakery-style roll" was also developed for the burgers by Brea-based Fresh Start Bakeries Inc., a longtime bun supplier to McDonald's.
The other two burgers are mushroom and Swiss cheese and a bacon cheeseburger. All three burgers sell for $3.99, on par with other fast-food chains featuring premium burgers and about $1.60 more than a Big Mac.
"In 1962, Lou Groen was desperate to save his floundering hamburger restaurant, the first McDonald's in the Cincinnati area. His problem: His clientele was heavily Roman Catholic. In those days, most Catholics abstained from meat every Friday, as well as during Lent, the 40-day period of repentance that begins this week with Ash Wednesday. His solution: He created the Filet-O-Fish — a sandwich that saved his restaurant and eventually would be consumed at a rate of 300 million a year."
I've never really given much thought to the classic items on the McDonald's menu so it was a trip to discover that the Filet-O-Fish was invented by a franchise owner and not headquarters—the same is true of the Big Mac and the Egg McMuffin, as it turns out! And while it seems like a no brainer to me that Hawaii leads the US in weekly Filet-O-Fish consumption, I'm kind of surprised that Ohio comes in at number two, even if it is the Filet-O-Fish's home state!
Our Adam Kuban spills the dirt on one of his guiltiest pleasures, a McNugget-enhanced Cheeseburger, over on A Hamburger Today. He justifies it by saying it's "two distinct tastes, yet a whole new experience. The whole as more than the sum of its parts."
McDonald's Is Lovin' Chipotle: "McDonald's recently announced some incredible earnings: $1.00 per share. Stockholders are really excited about this, as they should be. Chipotle, a subsidiary of McDonalds, was responsible for a killer $0.39 of every share's earnings." (Chipotle was spun off and IPO'd last year, so you can now buy Chipotle stock without investing in McDonald's.)
Boy, have cars come a long way since my mom's old Toyota Previa, when we freaked out over the mesh seat pockets and retractable cup holder.
Check out the 2008 Chrysler minivan and its new Swivel 'n Go seating system, capable of seating five people around a removable dining table inside the car. Bobby Flay brandished a chocolate layer cake (meant to symbolize Chrysler) and a pork tenderloin with mango salsa (the embodiment of Dodge) at the car's publicity launch (I'm not kidding). Says John H. Zajac, senior editor at Car-Smart News, "It definitely has good McDonald-ibility."
That's not a joke, either.
Good ol' Slashfood alerts us to sneaky subliminal advertising on Iron Chef America; a one-frame-long McDonald's ad. I'm NOT lovin' it.
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