In September, we told you that McDonald’s was mulling over a plan to hedge on the whole Dollar Menu thing by breaking the dollar barrier on some items while adding more expensive offerings and renaming it “Dollar Menu and More.” Now the fast food mega-chain has confirmed that a dollar just doesn’t buy you what it used to at the Golden Arches. [More]
fast food
Study: Low-Paid Fast-Food Employees Cost Taxpayers $3.8 Billion A Year
By 10.16.13
As McDonald’s own suggested employee budgets indicate, it’s not easy to support yourself or a family on just a job behind the counter of a fast-food restaurant. And a new study claims that the 52% of non-management fast-food workers who take home some sort of federal subsidy are costing taxpayers around $4 billion a year. [More]
McDonald’s Franchisees Having Trouble Competing With Sports Bars For Wing Market
By 10.15.13
McDonald’s is spending all sorts of money, hiring celebrity endorsers like Russel Wilson and Colin Kaepernick (and erecting poo-like sculptures) to market the fast food giant’s Mighty Wings. But some franchisees say they just can’t compete on price with less expensive wings available at your local sports bar. [More]
Meet The Cheeseburger With An Egg… And A Rib Patty, Shrimp Patty, And Much More
By 10.11.13
No, this is not another joke secret menu item. With at least nine different layers incorporating multiple types of meat, greens, cheeses, and an egg, this monstrosity from Japanese fast food chain Lotteria truly lives up to its name. [More]
Son Of McDonald’s Franchisee Says Dad Made Employee Send Texts To Prostitutes
By 10.10.13
In one of the more bizarre stories I’ve come across in recent memory, the son of a McDonald’s franchisee in Pennsylvania has accused his father of indulging in various forms of sexual harassment, including telling an employee to help him text prostitutes. [More]
McDonald’s To Fill Happy Meals With What Kids Really Want: Books About Healthy Eating
By 10.9.13
I have two young nieces, and every year for Christmas they plead, “Dear Uncle Chrisso (yes, they call me that; shut up), don’t buy us toys or clothing! We crave illustrated books about the virtues of eating healthy!!” Well, McDonald’s has just made my holiday shopping a lot easier, as it plans to pack those kinds of books into future Happy Meal offerings. [More]
21 New Fast Food Secret Menu Items Uncovered (None Of Which You’d Want To Eat)
By 10.9.13
Just when we think everyone has stacked every burger on top of every breakfast sandwich, or wrapped a waffle around every available form of meat, a whole new world of secret menu items is uncovered. [More]
Just How Much Chicken Meat Is In Your Chicken Nugget?
By 10.4.13
Chicken nuggets remain a source of mystery for many fast food customers (who often don’t hesitate to chow down after briefly pondering why that one piece looks like a boot), as they generally don’t come from unprocessed cuts of white or dark meat. And so researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center performed an “autopsy” on some nuggets to see what they came up with. [More]
Some People Actually Believe Burger King Changed Its Name And Are Really Angry About It
By 10.3.13
We’re constantly being told that we are a jaded and cynical people who are unwilling to believe anything at face value and read signs of predatory marketing attempts in even the most innocent of gestures. But leave it to social media and one of the world’s largest fast food chains to show that some folks will be taken in by even the most blatant marketing gimmick. [More]
Everyone Honk At Guy Responsible For Slowing Down Drive-Thru Lane With His Fussy Order
By 9.30.13
“Give me a greasy wax paper packet of french fries and a beef patty slapped between two buns or give me death,” a wise consumer once said. But now that’s changed to “Give me something maybe in a wrap form, with a side salad instead of fries and a gourd-flavored spice latte.” The second order takes a lot longer to make, causing the drive-thru lanes at fast food joints to become clogged and slow. [More]
Morning Talk Show Hosts Will Probably Never Get Sick Of Eating McDonald’s On TV Every Day
By 9.26.13
Coffee mugs branded with your morning TV show’s logo are so… how shall we put this? Stale. Unsatisfying. The new thing to do, apparently, is open a teeny tiny McDonald’s location in the TV studio so you can feed your guests Egg McMuffins before they go on camera to chat about whatever currently interesting thing is being discussed. [More]
McDonald’s Switching To Paper Cups For Hot Beverages At All Restaurants
By 9.26.13
After decades of selling coffee and other hot beverages in polystyrene cups — and 23 years after it stopped using that material for its sandwich boxes — McDonald’s has decided to make the switch to paper in all of its restaurants. [More]
Jack In The Box Serves Up Burger With Grilled Cheese Sandwich For Bun, 3 Years Late
By 9.25.13
A burger with grilled cheeses for buns was once a little-known, very-unhealthy regional specialty in the South and Midwest. Friendly’s took it nationwide in 2010, making us hungry and just a little confused. You can’t get the Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt anymore, but Jack in the Box has brought the concept back to mass-market glory. [More]
Don’t Get Too Excited About McDonald’s Chicken & Waffles Just Yet
By 9.24.13
Last week we told you about a McDonald’s eatery in California that was testing out a “McD’s Style Chicken & Waffles” dish with questionable waffle content. Since then, the folks at HuffPo got the lowdown from McDonald’s HQ that this is “simply one franchisee who experimented with a limited time offering of his version of chicken and waffles,” which explains why it looks like a few Mighty Wings with a pancake. [via HuffPo] [More]
McDonald’s Testing Chicken & Waffles In California
By 9.20.13
Chicken and waffles can be a divisive menu item, with some people smacking their lips at the prospect while others maintaining that chicken is not a breakfast food and should not be consumed with a traditional breakfast item. Were the nation’s largest burger chain to suddenly unleash such a product nationwide, it might rip this country in two. Perhaps that is why McDonald’s is merely testing the idea in at least one California eatery. [More]
“No Sagging Allowed” At Some McDonald’s
By 9.17.13
McDonald’s is the latest battleground in the ongoing war over saggy trousers. The owner of several Golden Arches franchises in Texas recently began posting signs making it clear to all that there will be “No Sagging Allowed in This Restaurant.” [More]
McDonald’s Customers Almost Kicked Out For Trying To Use Their Own Cutlery
By 9.16.13
A silly stunt at a McDonald’s in England has become much more popular than it ever should have after a staffer at the fast food eatery threatened to throw out customers who brought their own plates, tablecloth, candles, and cutlery to the restaurant. [More]
Yelpers Divided On Recent Management Change At Los Pollos Hermanos
By 9.16.13
As you may have heard, Albuquerque-based fried chicken chain Los Pollos Hermanos has recently undergone a change in management after the departure of longtime company figurehead Gustavo “Gus” Fring, and some shakeups at corporate parent, Madrigal Elektromotoren GmbH. Now some Yelp reviewers claim the restaurant hasn’t stopped dishing out some addictive eats, while others say it just isn’t the same anymore. In related Albuquerque news, folks seem pleased so far with the new owners of the A1A car wash across town. [More]
