Tag: McDonald’s

All the Top Fast Food Burgers Got an F on Their Meat. Don’t. Care.

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Yahoo –  There could be harmful chemicals in your burger, at least according to a new research report released by the Consumers Union, an advocacy division of Consumer Reports… Only 2 of 25 U.S. burger chains were issued “A” ratings for serving beef that has not been raised with antibiotics. Both Shake Shack (SHAK) and BurgerFi strictly serve antibiotic-free beef to customers…A stunning 22 of 25 burger chains in the US received a failing grade of “F” for not disclosing any intent to stray away from purchasing beef products from antibiotic-free sources. Among those “F” rated restaurants were some familiar names such as McDonald’s (MCD), Burger King – whose parent company is Restaurant Brands (QSR), Jack in the Box (JACK) and Sonic Drive-In (SONC).

Look I don’t go to McDonalds or Burger King or Wendys or Five Guys or any one of the other fast food joints because I am looking for a quality piece of meat. If I wanted that I’d go to a steak house. So when this story came across my desk it seemed like another gigantic waste of time and money so scientists can prove something we already know; fast food burgers are trash.

Now what? The last moderately useful breakthrough in these food science experiments was seedless watermelons.

It is pretty disheartening to see one of the all-time great cheeseburgers In N Out being grouped with the likes of White Castle. That one hit close to home considering it’s literally the first place I hit when I go to Vegas or LA.

This is slanderous really.

Shoutout to Shake Shack though for getting an A on this test. Burger Fi also got an A, but that place was open on Comm Ave for approximately 6 months before getting shut down. Sooo I can’t say I’m super confident in that franchise as a whole.

All these “breaking news” food studies always do the exact opposite of what the nerds with the test tubes intended anyways. You think I’m going to stop eating McDoubles now?

HA!

Literally every time I see Supersize Me, the OG “stop eating fastfood” initiative, the first thing I do is drive straight to McDonalds and crush a Big Mac.

So to the nutritionists and the vegetarians and the scientists looking to take down fast food, I leave you with this:

The Big Mac Economy is Here! Introducing the MacCoin

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USA TODAY – It’s not exactly pennies from heaven, but McDonald’s is planning to make it rain coins to celebrate the Big Mac’s 50th anniversary.

Starting at the lunch rush on Thursday, customers can receive a MacCoin with the purchase of a Big Mac at 14,000 participating restaurants across the United States, McDonald’s announced Sunday. 

And what’s the coin good for? Another Big Mac.

Customers can redeem the new currency for a free Big Mac starting Friday and running throughout the rest of 2018.

A+ move by McDonald’s once again. These MacCoins are going to turn the #1 into the adult Happy Meal and they are going to be hunted down like McDonald’s Beanie Babies in 1999. In 1999, though, I had to convince my mom to take me to McDonald’s. This time around I’ll be able to eat as many Big Macs as it takes to collect all five MacCoins.

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I’ll bet these MacCoins will be hoarded like those Beanie Babies, too. More than six million MacCoins will be distributed, but how many will actually be redeemed? Why redeem it for a free Big Mac now when I can put it into a change jar for 14 years and then sell it on eBay for $28?

It would be really cool if they didn’t have any expiration date, like cash. McDonald’s could create its own shadow currency, backed by the full faith and credit of Ronald McDonald. What better way to put the Big Mac Index to the actual test? How many MacCoins would it take to buy a house?

Just make sure to watch out for the Hamburglar. That guy would turn into Vito Corleone in the new Big Mac Economy.

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But with an expiration date of December 31, these coins will turn into MBTA tokens pretty quickly. Maybe if we’re lucky, someone on Etsy will turn them into cuff links next year. No way you can run a McDonald’s if you’re not rocking Big Mac cuff links.

So it looks like I’ll be heading back to the McDonald’s I got my Big Mac sauce from last year for lunch on Thursday. Maybe dinner too.

Uber Will Now Deliver a Big Mac to Your Front Door

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Uber, you sly sonofabitch! Look I knew UberEats was a thing because they email me about it reminding me its a thing, but I’ve got GrubHub to handle that. I don’t really want the modern day cab driver handling my food delivery. Stay in your lane, Uber. But, today I get this Woj Bomb about UberEats??

“Prepare your tastebuds! McDonald’s is now at your fingertips with UberEATS. In just a few taps you can have the McDonald’s you love, delivered to you at Uber speed, whenever you’re craving it.”

They’re going to deliver McDonalds? To my house? And I don’t have to take the 10 minutes to hit the drive through? Sign me the fuck up.

GrubHub, you have officially been put on notice. Uber already put the cab industry out of business and they’re shedding dead weight left and right (read: they fired their CEO) so who’s next? Oh GrubHub, you’re a business that relies solely on people’s laziness and other people driving for them? Welp, as Jon Taffer would say, shut it the fuck down. We’re coming for that ass. The fact that I can order a Big Mac from my couch and I don’t even have to put the PS4 sticks down is a gamechanger. Bulking season can’t start back up soon enough.

What the Frork?

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USA Today – The days of getting your fingers dirty while sopping up toppings with fries are over. 

McDonald’s unveiled a “uselessly useful” utensil called a “frork” Monday in a hilarious infomercial hosted by McDonald’s Chef Mike and pitchman Anthony Sullivan. The frork is essentially a fork, but with French fries. 

The frork was released as part of the rollout of McDonald’s new Signature Crafted Recipe Sandwiches… The frork will be available while supplies last at participating restaurants on May 5 with the purchase of a Signature Crafted Recipe sandwich.

The frork is only the fourth most outrageous thing in this infomercial. As a matter of fact, I think it’s pretty damn clever. I’m not one to waste the lettuce and sauce that falls out of my Big Mac. That’s Big Mac Salad. The frork will help me eat my Big Mac Salad in a more civilized manner.

The most outrageous parts of this infomercial are the Signature Crafted Recipe sandwiches. I’m sure they’ll be delicious, but I’ll be damned if I can think of a good reason why they need to be on the menu in the first place. Chef Mike seems like a good guy, but McDonald’s doesn’t strike me as the type of place to go to for Pico Guacamole or artisan bacon. That’s why I loved the Mac Jr. and Grand Mac – stick to your strengths and play to your base.

If I have to buy a Signature Crafted Recipe sandwich to get a frork, so be it. But the frork is definitely more useful than the sandwich.

 

PS – Good thing this infomercial dropped on May 1 and not April 1. Definitely would not have believed this a month ago.

 

’90s Food Crushing it on eBay

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TIME – A 20-year-old dipping sauce from McDonald’s sold for nearly $15,000 after a mention in the show Rick and Morty.

A listing for the Szechuan sauce, which was released as a promotional product for the Disney movie Mulan, closed with a winning bid of $14,700.
Back in January I said “the hassle to mail a bottle of salad dressing didn’t seem worth the fifty-odd bucks I’d probably pocket after fees and shipping,” after scoring a bottle of Big Mac sauce. I may have misunderestimated.
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I’m reluctant to buy groceries on eBay. I can’t forget what happened to the dude who drank the 20-year-old bottle of Crystal Pepsi. But after all the research that’s been wasted conducted on McDonald’s burgers and fries that don’t rot, I’d be comfortable making an exception for McDonald’s food on eBay.

All that being said, $15k on McNugget dipping sauce is asinine. I’ve got a half empty bottle of teriyaki sauce in my fridge right now that I’d be happy to part with for $4500. I could even draw the golden arches on it with a Sharpie if you’d like. I’m sure my grandmother has some sugar packets hanging around from the late ’90s too. I’ll throw a few in just as a bonus.

But the bottom line is that any food product that was even halfway decent in the ’90s will get brought back at some point. Wonder how this guy will feel about coughing up $15k when this stuff hits stores again next fall. And I thought the Weymouth McDonald’s charging 25 cents for sauce was a crime.

Episode 003 of The 300s Podcast: Countdown to Super Bowl 51, the First Annual NBA Jam Tournament and the Hunt for Big Mac Sauce

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In episode 003 of The 300s Podcast we touch on our Super Bowl 51 Preview, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick going for GOAT status, Introducing the First Annual 300’s NBA Jam Tournament and the Hunt for McDonald’s Big Mac Sauce:

No. 1 Offense vs No. 1 Defense? “I’ll take the No. 1 defense every time.”…”Is Atlanta a crappy sports city? They’ve lost two hockey teams.”…”How about Bartolo Colon? He started the same year as Turner Field. Dude outlasted a ballpark.”…”You know how many Super Bowls Bill Parcells won after Belichick left? Zero.” …”To get the fifth ring with this supporting cast of castoffs is even more impressive”….”NBA Jam – If we have 8 guys and 7 games, maybe 6 of them end in a buzzer beater. Down by 12? Don’t worry you’re gonna hit 6 shots in a row”…”There is no reason to have any kind of post game in NBA Jam. LeBron you are nothing more than a decoy”….”These are mouth breathers. Go to McDonalds and just ask for Big Mac Sauce, it’s free.”

Liquid Gold in a Bottle

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I take the fast food beat at The 300s seriously. Very Seriously. I was planning on heading over to my local Taco Bell yesterday to get my hands on the new Naked Chicken Chalupa that I wrote about earlier this month. That plan was placed on hold, though, when I heard McDonald’s was planning to give away 10,000 bottles of Big Mac Sauce.

[Nice job stealing the spotlight away from Taco Bell yesterday, McDonald’s! I didn’t see Taco Bell on the NBC Nightly News!]

Unfortunately for my Boston colleagues, Boston was not selected as one of the locations for this giveaway. Thankfully, a McDonald’s not too far from my undisclosed location was selected.

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Here’s the part where I’d love to tell you about what a zoo it was. But it wasn’t. I got there 20 minutes early,  was 21st in line, and they gave out approximately 100 bottles. The line was cordial, respectful and honestly painless. The line got going at 1 pm, and I walked out with my bottle at 1:02. Good work McDonald’s!

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When I got home, I fought the urge to put this puppy on eBay. Curiosity got the best of me, though, and all of the hassle to mail a bottle of salad dressing didn’t seem worth the fifty-odd bucks I’d probably pocket after fees and shipping.

The verdict? Pretty good. It’s impossible to recreate the Big Mac in your kitchen, but this sauce makes a homemade version a little more believable than Thousand Island dressing does. You won’t make many, though. At 11.4 ounces, I feel like my bottle is almost half gone after one night.

Of course this giveaway is also meant to highlight the new Grand Mac and Mac Jr. that McDonald’s recently introduced.

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The Grand Mac (aka McKinley Mac) has been a secret menu item for years, but now I won’t need to speak in code to order one. Seems like a no brainer; it’s basically a Double Quarter Pounder with Big Mac Sauce swapped in for ketchup. The original Big Mac is a bit skimpy, to be honest. I probably won’t be trying the Mac Jr. any time soon for that reason, but the Mac Jr. could be a solid late-night menu option for some.

Like any new fast food menu offering, it’s for a limited time only. We’ll see how long that is, but it’s a moot point. McDonald’s won the day, again. Sorry, Taco Bell. You gotta beat the champ to be the champ. But you’re a competitor, and I look forward to your next crazy concoction. It’s a great time to be in the fast food game.

 

Fast Food Follies

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Cook County Record – A Des Plaines man has brought a consumer fraud class action against a suburban Chicago McDonald’s franchisee, alleging the restaurant group should be made to pay for allegedly false advertising on its menu, as the group’s pricing of its two cheeseburger “Extra Value Meal” causes customers to pay 41 cents more than they would if they just ordered their two burgers, fries and drink separately.

I like to consider myself a fast-food connoisseur. I make In-N-Out my first stop every time I travel to the West Coast. I wait in line for my free taco (and nothing else) during every Taco Bell “Steal a Taco” promotion. I savor every McRib like it’s my last. Five Guys and Qdoba are a little too rich for my blood. So I blog today to commend this Des Plaines man for doing God’s work.

We’ve all been squeezed by the cumbersome regulations associated with the McDonald’s “value” menus. Who among us hasn’t wandered into a McDonald’s after dark only to find the once-familiar Dollar Menu replaced with the infamous late-night menu? At the McDonald’s on my college campus, McNuggets could only be purchased in multiples of 10 after 11 PM. No wonder the freshman 15 also comes in packages of 25. They must have to put away the four-piece McNugget boxes after dinner.

Occasionally, these regulations could be avoided. I was known to order three four-piece McNuggets off the Dollar Menu to get 12 McNuggets for $3 instead of the standard 10-piece McNugget for $3.69. But the Dollar Menu could be wildly inconsistent. Years ago, you could find the Big N’ Tasty on the Dollar Menu in Weymouth, but only ketchup packets on the Dollar Menu at North Station.

Enough is enough. McDonald’s has long been lauded for its consistency. A Big Mac in Boston tastes the same as a Big Mac in Bismarck. Isn’t it time the menu replicate that same consistency? Isn’t it time the consumer be rewarded for simplifying the ordering process by ordering one meal? Rather than five individual items in one transaction that would almost certainly be fouled up?

I hate to say it, but it’s not about the money. It’s a moral issue at this point. Do better, Ronald and friends. Do better.