McDonald's Murals

Some McDonald's offer up some tasty murals that depict either a theme or their local beauty.Here are two examples:The first is a recent submission from a McChronicles field reporter.This shot was grabbed in the Cincinnati, OH airport. It reflects the "old school McDonald's" theme.The second is a picture we've shared in the past - another old school theme, this time it depicts a nostalgic view of historic Johnstown, NY.The McChronicles thinks these...

Read More

McDonald's Advertisement in Foot Locker Store

While grabbing up some post-Christmas sales in a local mall, a McChronicles reporter walked by a Foot Locker store. Unbeknownst to us, McDonald's had bought ad space on Foot Locker's in-store video network. Imagine our surprise! Not that this is a new development.This is a good way to reach very specific demographics. A quick Google search gave us the background we craved.An interesting Business Week article on the general topic (from last year - we're kind of out of it on this one) includes this quote:"McDonald's now devotes a third of its U.S....

Read More

Happy Holidays!

To McDonald's Crew people worldwide - Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa - from The McChronicles.Thanks for caring, for all the hard work, and for the great times we enjoy - all because of you.The McChronicles: A blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Images:top: Canastota, NY McDonald's Christmas Tree: The McChronicles.middle: The Official Kwanzaa Websitebottom: Wikipe...

Read More

Reader's Digest Magazine Gives "Thumbs Up" To McDonald's

The current issue (January 2006) issue of Reader's Digest Magazine gives McDonald's a "thumbs up" rating (p.24). The positive nod was given to, "McDonald's for saying it'll add nutritional info to packaging for most menu items. Might be better to add it to the actual menu, but this is a good step toward biting into our obesity woes."Elsewhere on the RD site, there appeared this amusing and related joke:As my five-year-old son and I were heading to...

Read More

McDonald's Opens First Drive-Thru In China

Great news on PRNewsWire.com:"McDonald's celebrates 15th anniversary in China DONGGUAN, Guangdong, China, Dec. 10""McDonald's China today announced the official Grand Opening of its first Drive-Thru restaurant in China. The all new 645 square meter McDonald's Drive-Thru is located in heart of the central business district of Dongguan Guangdong Province. With over 50 parking spaces and many new features it represents the next generation of McDonald's restaurants in China, providing customers with an entirely new and exciting dining experience."Cool!The...

Read More

McDonald's Arch Card (part 2)

The McChronicles has blogged about the McDonald's Arch Card before, and we bet we will do it again. It's a good thing. This time we are commenting on the pervasivness of the promotional activities.A contributor to The McChronicles delivered a small "memo" and a complimentary arch card to our offices. They received it as part of a promotional mailing from their American Express credit card account manager. Wow! This card is being promoted at McDonald's...

Read More

McDonald's Crew: Behind The Scenes

For those who think that the McDonald's crews of the world are not into their jobs, please take a look at the "McDonald's Talk" community in LiveJournal.According the the site's Community Information page, "Anybody who has had an encounter with the McDonald's Corporation, whether as an employee or a customer, is invited to comment in this community. This community was started as a place for both workers and customers to gripe about McDonald's, but...

Read More

Winter Haven, Florida McDonald's Re-Arched

Whenever the actual "Golden Arches" are involved, it is really cool. A friend of The McChronicles files this exciting report:The local McDonald's was just rebuilt and they were putting up the arches today... the store opened tonight and when I drove by they weremissing part of one of the arches.The local owner has always been very progressive, i.e. he had touch screen ordering for at least 4+ years and they use wireless handhelds to take orders in...

Read More

NO SOUP FOR YOU!

McDonald's offers hearty warm Campbell's soup for those people in winter climates. The McChronicles has two comments:a soup-craving McChronicles field reporter has been denied soup two out of two attempts. Once they were told that there was no more soup. The second time they were denied due to "trouble with the soup well". NO SOUP FOR YOU!quick quiz: What is the #1 most-popular Campbell's soup? According to the Campbell's website, "Our two most popular...

Read More

McDonald's Bloggers Fear For Safety

Last winter The McChronicles blogged about the safety conditions outside of the New Hartford, NY McDonald's. This year looks to be a repeat of the same situation. We literally take extra care when visiting this store.Here is an image taken today at lunch time. It hadn't snowed for about 24 hours, and it was partly-sunny and warm all morning. At the time of this image it was about 36F (and had been above freezing for a couple of hours).McDonald's...

Read More

McDonald's Blog Reports Service Is Too Slow

The McChronicles has been plagued by frequent "slow service" experiences while visiting McDonald's. Today is a good example.With only three customers ahead of us, and with an apparent full crew on duty, it took way too long to get served. Here's how it played out:Store: #825, New Hartford, NY, USATime: 1:35PMOrder: Big Mac Value Meal, regular, for insideLine Wait: 3.5 minutes (that's too long, but it depends on the people in line)Order Wait: 3.5...

Read More

McDonald's Arch Card (debit card)

McDonald's has rolled out their Arch Card, just in time for the holidays. It's a great idea.The McChronicles received our first Arch Card attached to a Premium Chicken sandwich (see image). Sweet!First of all, they're giving away free money (in the form of a debit card that can only be used at McDonald's - if anyone doesn't like that, please send your cards to The McChronicles, we'll use them plenty fast!). Secondly, they are nice little "gifts"...

Read More

Appreciate This

Today The McChronicles went out on a rare solo mission. The Clinton, NY McDonald's served as the laboratory today.Clinton, NY: store # 2499Line Wait: 4.0 minutesOrder Wait: 1.0 minutesOrder: one hamburger, one medium CokeQuality: GoodService: PoorCleanliness: nothing noted, seemed fineThere were 3 people in line as I entered the counter area, with two lines/registers and, seemingly, a full crew in action. The line moved very slowly and there was...

Read More

McChronicles McDonald's Blog Featured in US News & World Report Magazine

The McChronicles McDonald's blog is featured in the current US News & World Report magazine. This issue includes a story on "customer evangelists" and features The McChronicles as one example. The story appears online, be sure to read all 3 pages The McChronicles appears on page 2 of the US News & World Report story).An interesting quote from the story is, "Look how many companies seem befuddled about how to deal with pro-company bloggers...

Read More

McDonald's Banner Ad

The McChronicles dragged itself out of bed this morning (after a hard day of recovering from Thanksgiving) to find an interesting banner ad on Weather.com.We don't recall ever seeing such an ad from McDonald's, so we were a bit intrigued. The ad was tied to our PC's internal clock so it knew what time it was at our office - and told us so in the ad. Cool! Curious (hungry) the ad led us to a tantalizing (a matter of taste, we know) web page promoting...

Read More

Black Friday at the Sangertown Square McDonald's

The Sangertown Square Mall (New Hartford, NY) is THE place to shop in Oneida County - especially on Black Friday. The McChronicles spent a little time observing the activity at this restaurant, trying to see how they were handling this special day, and this special opportunity.Kudos:The crew was well-staffed up (we were there around 3PM). There were many more people than we are used to seeing working behind the counter , and they did keep the line...

Read More

Old McDonald's Theme Song

And speaking of McDonald's Commercials, The McChronicles has unearthed these performances by some of yesterday's stars. They are all singing the "You, You Are The One" jingle from the old days (These take a minute to download. Best if you right-click and open in a new window):Main Street Singers (version 1)Main Street Singers (version 2)Latin Rhythm InstrumentalJose FelicianoPeggy LeeStylisticsGladys Knight & The PipsOld school is cool. We even...

Read More

Awesome McDonald's Commercial

Go ahead and name a cool McDonald's commercial that you've seen lately.Yeah, us neither. The McChronicles gang thought about it for a while, then, when stumped, turned to the internet. It seems that the last really great ad from McDonald's was way back in 1993. The ad, called "Showdown", pits Michael Jordan against Larry Bird in an outlandish game of "HORSE" (or "PIG", depends on where you come from, or how much time you've got). Videolink compliments...

Read More

Jackie Huba Mentions McChronicles McDonald's Blog

Media Maven Jackie Huba of the Church of the Customer blog named The McChronicles McDonald's blog as one example of citizen marketing.This time she discussed us on the TomorrowConnecting.biz website. We have also been the subject of discussion on her site, Church of The Customer, not once, but twice. Okay, three times.Media pundits feel that average citizens, like us, like you, like the regular Joes that enjoy a handy, warm McDonald's value meal,...

Read More

Clinton McDonald's Shines

How do you shine when the weather is abominable? Ask the staff of the Clinton, NY McDonald's .Line Wait: 0 secondsOrder Wait: (Two Cheeseburger Value Meal, no cheese, no pickles): 1 minute 40 secondsQuality: Very GoodService: GoodCleanliness: GoodTime: 11:57AMStore: 2499While the winds were gusting at up to 40 mph, the rain was coming down in buckets, and the temperature was plummeting, The McChronicles led an international focus group of 5 people...

Read More

McDonald's Straw & Napkin Dispensers

The McChronicles recently vented on the topic of unappealing condiment presentation, cup tops, etc. We'd now like to make amends by offering up a few more suggestions for improvement - and to share some things we like.Napkin Dispensers: There is more than one kind. The older wooden style is not as good as the newer pop-out type. The wooden style (see below) gets jammed up easily when too many napkins are put inside. We have even had the entire front...

Read More

McDonald's China Website Is Cool

The McChronicles was noodling around on the web and decided to re-explore the McDonald's China website. It is certainly festive and fun. It offers up rap, trendy images, and lots to do. It is certainly a "destination" site for Chinese teens.Be sure to crank up the sound to enjoy the music.Image: McDonald's China websiteMcChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald...

Read More

And Speaking of Self-Service ...

Yes, we delved into the subject of customer self-service in a previous McChronicles post. And here is more info on that same subject.Our friends over at Fast Food News just reported that McDonald's (and other fast food purveyors) are preparing to introduce customer self-service. They cite a story from WFAA.com that includes this info:"It shortens the customer wait and improves order accuracy because it removes the language barrier (an NCR machine...

Read More

FAST FOOD: "It's Not Life or Death"

Some criticize The McChronicles for taking fast food (McDonald's in particular) too seriously.Our friends at FastFoodFever pointed out a funny video that reminds us to lighten up a little. Have some fun with "FAST FOOD".McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald...

Read More

McChronicles Needs To Vent (just a little)

The McChronicles recently encountered a situation that we complained about before. It rekindled our feelings for this issue and set us off. Here goes.It's OK that we customers have to self-serve our drinks, condiments, straws, napkins, etc. (depending on the store). And we even appreciate why (costs, speed, etc.). It's OK. But just remember a few things. For example:We have been trained by multiple sources, for decades, that cleanliness counts. The...

Read More

Very Bad Service in Endicott

A small contingent of Team McChronicles dropped into the Endicott, NY McDonald's (store #4860) for an early-evening snack.We were hoping to dart in, grab something light, something quick, then get back on the road. The exterior seemed nice - a very quaint English Tudor style treatment. This was feeling good.Upon entering we saw a very small crowd at the counter so it looked like we would receive speedy service. Then it all started.After our eyes...

Read More

Whitney Point, NY Handles It

The Whitney Point, NY McDonald's (store #23622) sits alongside Interstate 81, a major north-south highway that serves the Upstate region. The first reaction is, "this is one of THOSE McDonald's" (spoken in a slightly-snobby tone), the kind that is attached to a convenience store. They just have a lower-class feeling when compared to a stand-alone McDonald's (limited seating, riff-raff bleeding in from the beer/cigarette/gas crowd, limited menu? -...

Read More

McDonald's Coupons

One of us dragged this coupon sheet (it appeared in our local paper) into The McChronicles Central Command the other day. Stuck it on the wall.Another McChronicler said that several had been brought in already - or were presented to us by friends. So, people are aware of the coupons.We know that coupons are a great tool to drive awareness, temporarily increase traffic/revenue (at reduced profitability), and segment the market (targeting certain regions,...

Read More

Hurricane Katrina and McDonald's - Aftermath

The McChronicles has been receiving reports from a McDonald's owner who has been volunteering to assist those affected by Hurricane Katrina. See an earlier posting on Katrina and McDonald's.First, let's learn a little about the person:"I check your site (McChronicles) every so often because I’m in the second generation owner/operator program""I just returned from Gulfport, Mississippi, where I was helping the stores down there with a major staffing...

Read More

McChronicles in Aruba

Okay - well our SHIRT made it.Here is the globe-trotting Jan-Willem sporting The McChronicles sport polo, complete with our designer McChronicles logo. No word on whether or not he was wearing The McChronicles thong. Let's keep that a secret.Contributed Image: Jan-WillemMcChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald...

Read More

Ashlee Simpson Visits McDonald's

Our good friends at FastFoodWeblog have an interesting post of an alleged entertainment TV story on Ashlee Simpson visiting a Canadian McDonald's in the wee hours of the morning. At least that's what it seems to be - we can never really be sure in this digital media age.The person in the video sure seems to be a bit strange-acting. We won't attempt to guess why. The things that the McDonald's crew has to put up with!You can check it out at FastFoodWeblog....

Read More

To Improve McDonald's Customer Satisfaction ...

The McChronicles received this comment to a posting today, "As a Manager for quite sometime now, I really believe that we are not given the best resources to give 100 percent total customer satisfaction as we once did. The ops managers are more concerned about labor costs than service times and quality of a customers visit. "As consumers, and as people who are very interested in seeing McDonald's attain greatness, we wonder what could be done to empower the crew to deliver great customer satisfaction. What do you crew members out there think? Remember,...

Read More

McDonald's Monopoly Game Concludes

Here's the official McChronicles Monopoly game board on the wall of McChronicles Central Command.Let the record note that we won nothing but a drink. And that was after our over-enthusiastic team spent an inordinate amount of time, money, and calories seeking gratification.As you can see by our game board, some of us believed in putting only ONE game piece on each space, while others among us wanted to put every piece collected onto the board. If...

Read More

The McChronicles Has Mail

You may remember when The McChronicles filed the comment with Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.Our issue was, they have no McDonald's!Well, we received a reply. Their letter was nice, and they promised they'd look into it. The Concessions Assistant Manager might be contacting us soon!The great thing is that they have a working system for dealing with comments. Hats off to the Atlanta airport team. The McChronicles hopes to enjoy...

Read More

McDonald's Gift Card

The McChronicles has been experimenting with/using the McDonald's gift card lately. We are all finding it easy to use - though the occasional new McDonald's crew member isn't too sure how to process it. According to the company's website, "McDonald's Cards are currently available in limited test markets."In a previous experience/post, we had some difficulties with a transaction and an uncertainty as to how our card was debited. So, we used the toll-free...

Read More

McDonald's Crew Feedback: BE NICE

In a comment to a previous McChronicles posting, a McDonald's crew member shared some thoughts and suggestions.Interestingly," Tiz" has little to remark about regarding management or the company. What seems to weigh on the mind of this crew member is the way (s)he is treated by us - the customer.Tiz said, "For the most part, if I could only get one and one thing ONLY across to customers..it would have to be that being nice gets you a long way as...

Read More

Feedback On Drive-Thru Disaster

So, after the experience with the previous post we revisited an old subject, McDonald's online feedback form.In the past, this form didn't work for us. Using our old link from the previous post, it still didn't work. We think that the link is to an old page. So, we searched for McDonald's current form and easily found it. We proceded, hoping for an improved experience.First we completed their form: Then we submitted it, and it seemed to work perfectly....

Read More