McBaby!

Thanks to The Fast Food Maven for making The McChronicles aware of this interesting story.According to a report from CBS News:"A baby was born in a Washington state McDonald's restroom and the mother didn't know she was pregnant."The story goes on to reveal that the mother :"... was working the night shift and ... suddenly ran into the restroom feeling ill."Wow!The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: screen grab...

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McSkillet Burritos: evaluated

The McChronicles mused about the new McSkillet Burrito. Then, Michael Schroeder gave us the 411 on how good they are. Moved to action, The McChronicles travelled to Sarasota, Florida to sample this promising breakfast fare.But first, the Sarasota McDonald's:Store #: 5983Address: 787 S. Washington Blvd, Sarasota, FL, 34239Owner/Operator: Bob & Joan DaviesStore Manager: Heidi MartinoTime: 7:54AMPulling into the parking lot it was fun to see the...

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McSkillet Burrito

The McChronicles was enjoying a "welcome home" lunch at McDonald's with a friend and noticed the ad (on the cup) for the new McSkillet Burrito.We have not, yet, had the pleasure of trying this sandwich. Any opinions to share out there?The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: The McChronicl...

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Voice of McDonald's Competition

McDonald's is doing something kind of cool - and you can get involved.Many countries/regions are now enjoying a TV show that pits wannabe pop stars against each other. Judges criticize, viewers vote - ahh, the drama! McDonald's has taken all that is good about this scenario and is staging a talent contest online. Introducing the Voice of McDonald's Global Singing Contest.According to the website, the competition is for crew and managers from around...

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A McDonald's Thanksgiving

Americans LOVE Thanksgiving. They bring the whole family together and gorge themselves on the traditional faire of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and more. At least most of them do.Then there is the group that dine at McDonald's for Thanksgiving.According to McDonald's -> Management Blog, a large group of people take their holiday meal at McDonald's. In their post, titled "Gobble, Gobble" they express their surprise with the amount of business...

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Europe's Most Visited and LARGEST McDonald's

According to this web page (http://www.munichx.de/essen/mcdonalds.php) this McDonald's is Europe's largest and most visited McDonald's.Located in Munich (Zentrum) this restaurant boasts 3 stories.The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: a friend of The McChronicles (thanks Anita...

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Germany's OLDEST McDonald's?

A friend of The McChronicles just visited Munich and files this report.I believe this is Germany's oldest McDonald's. It is located onTegernseerland Str., Munich. I used to hang out here, smoke cigarettes, and drink Loewenbraeu bier inside. Pretty cool place. Does anyone know if this really IS Germany's oldest McDonald's?The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: a friend of The McChronicles (thanks Ale...

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Vegas, baby!

The glitz, the glamor, the disappointment.The McChronicles was walking the Las Vegas strip last week - taking in all the opulence. Suddenly, amongst the Ferrari dealership, the waterfalls, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Eiffel Tower was this scuzzy little strip mall. And, shoehorned between FATBURGER and a tour agency, was a McDonald's.The McChronicles has long expressed its supreme satisfaction with "theme McDonald's" - stores that adopt a local...

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World's 2nd-Busiest McDonald's

Khamzat Khasbulatov's Pushkin Square, Moscow, McDonald's (the 2nd-busiest in the world) seats about 900 people at one time, and he still can't handle the crowds!According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, "On average, each (Russian) location serves about 850,000 diners annually -- more than twice the store traffic in McDonald's other markets."Mr. Khasbulatov jokingly complains about having too many customers. He qualifies that by saying, "When...

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Specialty Coffee & Premium Beverages at McDonald's

Earlier this month McDonald's announced that they will add specialty coffee and other premium beverages to the menus at its more than 14,000 U.S. locations in 2008.Has anyone seen this start happening yet?The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: Four Sizes of Coffee in Moscow McDonald's: Walt Riker, McDonald's Vice President, Corporate Media Relati...

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FREE is Good

This arrived in today's newspaper. Can't wait!The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Images: The McChronicl...

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McDonald's STAR Manager Interview

The McChronicles was fortunate to stumble upon a real STAR recently. We briefly enjoyed the company of Yanna Deng, McDonald's Changan Branch STAR.We don't know what "STAR" actually stands for, but it HAS to be good. Why? Because Yanna is. The Changan McDonald's (in Shenzhen, China's Futian district) is a true "neighborhood" restaurant. Nestled amongst small shops, and at the foot of housing blocks, the store serves students, families, and the neighborhood...

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Temporary McDonald's

The McChronicles has experienced this before. Still, we marvel at it, and want to report on it again.What is it? It is a temporary, pop-up McDonald's. A small McDonald's is set up in a special tent, wherever needed.In this case, the restaurant served thousands of conventioners in Shenzhen, China. When bringing people together from all parts of the world, it is important to satisfy everyone's basic human needs (enjoying a satisfying meal is one of...

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McDonald's Pineapple Pie

A cautious McChronicles tentatively bit into the piping hot dessert for a first taste of McDonald's Pineapple Pie.The verdict? Awesome! Very sweet and flavorful. An excellent comfort food.This great treat was found in Shenzhen, China.The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: The McChronicles (pie is missing - we gobbled it up too soo...

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What You See: What You Get

The McChronicles enjoyed the (much) larger than life glowing sidewalk billboard depicting the awesomeness of the McDonald's Big Mac while walking along a Shanghai street last week.After being duly influenced by the huge advertisement we decided to drop into the closest McDonald's to see if the sandwich could live up to the hype. Depicted here is what we saw, and what we were served.The sandwich was served up in sloppy fashion, with ingredients hanging...

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China Olympics Countdown in McDonald's

The McChronicles snapped this image a couple of days ago. It depicts a countdown (days to go) to the Summer Olympics in China.The sign sits right at the entrance to a Shanghai McDonald's.There is so much fervor building up in China for these games. The McChronicles wonders if the country will sustain the energy or if they will have an emotional melt down. We'll soon see.The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: The ...

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Coca-Cola China Olympics Torch Promo: McDonald's Tray Liners

Olympics Fever is really heating up in China. The McChronicles wonders how the country will manage to keep a lid on the excitement for another year.Coca-Cola is staging a very special event for the upcoming summer games. They are asking customers to vote for one of three favorite Chinese sports stars. The winner will carry the Olympic torch into the stadium and light the main torch.The choices are:Yao Ming (basketball) NBA fameLiu Xiang (hurdles)...

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McDonald's Uniform: Pants

The McChronicles has noted that McDonald's workers seem to be required to wear corporate shirts and hats, along with some non-descript, non-corporate-issue pants.The McChronicles has noted (reminded on a visit last week) that Chinese McDonald's staff wear corporate McDonald's pants.The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: The McChronicl...

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Egg McMuffin: China Style

The McChronicles went on a breakfast jag last week and started consuming Egg McMuffins nearly every day.The cool thing was that all the meals were consumed in China - Shanghai to be exact.Disregarding the localized wrapping, the food looked and tasted exactly like that in any other McDonald's in which we've eaten.The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: The McChronicl...

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McDonald's Angus Third Pounder

Well, the name certainly doesn't roll off the tongue, now does it? But the concept is intriguing. The McChronicles just read this on the QSR Magazine website:"McDonald's customers have shown strong support for the new Angus Third Pounders that debuted in Southern California last March. Positive customer feedback has prompted McDonald's marketing co-ops in New York and Central Ohio to introduce the newest line of hamburgers to its customers. ""Angus...

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McDonald's Moon Man Rises (again)

McDonald's Moon Man spearheaded the company's "Mac Tonight" promtional campaign years ago in the USA when they were introducing the concept of late- and all-night McDonald's service.Fast forward to today, and to China, where Moon Man has been called up for more duty.There are ads on TV, on the video screens in-store, on the doors, and even on flyers. Here's one such flyer that depicts 30 of the many stores here in Shanhgai that offer 24-hour service....

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McDonald's Personalized Word of Mouth Project

According to information The McChronicles recently received from the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association:McDonald's is currently working with Oddcast to create an avatar-based viral email campaign. At www.MySnackTime.com, users enter basic information about a friend or co-worker who they want to tell about the Chipotle BBQ snack wrap. This generates an email, which leads recipients to a personalized,snack-wrap-evangelizing avatar that knows just...

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McDonald's: In-Store Hygiene

Here is an example of a long-outdated practice that is (sadly) still in effect today in some locations.The McChronicles dropped into a McDonald's in Shanghai, China yesterday and saw something that it has reported on before. We remain dismayed to see unprotected (no paper wrapper) straws being dispensed from a box.While waiting for our order, The McChronicles observed customers dispensing bare straws, getting too many, rolling them out onto the counter,...

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McDonald's: China Olympics

McDonald's is a proud partner of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. With a year to go until the big event, McDonald's (in China) is really promoting the event.The McChronicles reports that the Suzhou, China McDonald's is curently sporting an abundance of Olympic rings throughout their restaurant. They're hanging from the ceiling everywhere.This is in addition to the flat screen video ads of the Olympics that are playing in the store....

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More On The Mega Mac

It's true, The McChronicles is a bit dazzled by the McDonald's Mega Mac. So here's a bit more:I like this guy's style (succinct):But this dude takes things too far (Go Matt!):The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Videos: YouTube....

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Mexican Commentary on US McDonald's

Typically it is The McChronicles visiting various locales, commenting on this and that, but today the tables were turned. The McChronicles hosted a lunch in Upstate New York with two visitors from Mexico.As the food was enjoyed, and as we watched people coming and going, we had time for a quick interview. Interestingly, one visitor frequents McDonald's almost weekly (he has a young son) while the other visits about twice per year (shocking!).store...

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Double Filet-O-Fish: Just What Is Up???

As you know, The McChronicles first discovered the double filet-o-fish in Singapore. Then fell in love with it back home. Since then we've been ordering it with abandon.As reported, the first time we ordered it, the front line person was confused. The manager stepped in, made it look simple, and all was well. After several visits to the same McDonald's, things were going quite smoothly. Until today.Today The McChronicles ventured crosstown, to...

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Chinese Toy Recall

One big global story is the massive recall of lead paint-tainted toys from China. According to Ian Williams (on NBC Nightly News, tonight) 80% of the world's toys are made in China. Mattel, alone, is recalling over 10,000,000 toys.McDonald's sources toys from China. In a recent Wall Street Journal article we heard this about McDonald's:McDonald's Corp., one of the world's largest toy buyers, says the problem of lead paint is so widespread in China...

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The McChronicles: Interviewed By The Orange County Register

As previously posted, the OC Register has an excellent fast food blog. "The Fast Food Maven" is written by Nancy Luna - and it covers all aspects the the industry in Orange County, California.Nancy interviewed The McChronicles and her report was released today.Read the OC Register interview with The McChronicles.The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.Image: Fast Food Maven websi...

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McDonald's CHAMPION KIDS Program

From PR Newswire:McDonald's will launch its newest Olympic Games program, McDonald's Champion Kids, on Aug. 9, 2007 in Beijing. The program will enable up to 300 kids from around the world to travel to the 2008 Olympic Games to share their stories and experiences with their local communities and hometown news outlets. Through this once-in-a-lifetime journey, the children will have the chance to see the Games, meet Olympic athletes, visit cultural...

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McDonald's vs. McDonald's: Winner? McDonald's!

According to a story in this week's QSR Magazine:"Kids don't just ask for food from McDonald's," said Thomas Robinson, MD, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Packard Children's and associate professor of pediatrics and of medicine at the School of Medicine. "They actually believe that the chicken nugget they think is from McDonald's tastes better than an identical, unbranded nugget."And:... researchers studied the taste preferences of 63...

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Fast Food Maven

The Orange County (California) Register has a really cool feature online. It is a blog about fast food, fast food culture, and fast food trends. It is called FAST FOOD MAVEN and it is written by Nancy Luna.We were e-introduced by a mutual friend (Jan-Willem, the prolific fast food blogger over at Fast Food Weblog - highly recommended) - THANKS, JW.The McChronicles recently interviewed Nancy and this is how it went:Q: How long have you been a fast...

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Double Filet-O-Fish TESTED

The McChronicles recently posted on something intriguing going down in Singapore, the DOUBLE FILET-O-FISH. Turns out it isn't all that unusual.Today we walked into our home McDonald's, flashed them a live view of The McChronicles website on our Treo and asked them if they could whip us up a DFOF. The register person had to ask, but the manager glanced at the image, smiled, and said, "Double filet-o-fish. Sure!" They even have a button for it on the...

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"Big Mac: Inside the McDonald's Empire"

According to the CNBC website:"Big Mac: Inside The McDonald's Empire" will premiere on Wednesday, July 25th at 9PM and 12AM ET. The show repeats on the following dates:* Monday, July 30th at 9PM and 12AM ET* Sunday, August 5th at 10PM and 1AM ET* Tuesday, August 7th at 9PM and 12AM ET* Tuesday, August 28th at 9PM and 12AM ET* Sunday, September 2nd at 10PM and 1AM ETThe McChronicles watched this special and enjoyed it considerably. We were a bit...

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China Basketball Promo

China is understandably proud of the Olympics which are coming soon. One of the hottest sports in these games will be basketball, thanks in no small part to the popularity of Yao Ming.As a major sponsor of the Olympiad, McDonald's is whipping up the roundball fervor by promoting the sport (and the NBA) with a special sandwich and special tray liners.The McChronicles was pleased to experience this promotion.The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated...

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