The McDonald's Thread: All things McDonald's

[MFS62]

Must be a McDonald's thing. My local one hands out napkins like they're the secret to eternal life. You have to go over to the place where they give out the take-out orders. At least the sugar substitute is in the same place. Their coffee is the best of the national fast food places.

Later

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Had lunch at McDonald's this past weekend. The experience was so bad, I might never go back again. Really. First of all, my favorite McDonald's was totally re-designed. They took out the self-serve unlimited soda refill station, which was my favorite part of the whole deal, and the only reason I even go to this particular McDonald's, which is not the closest one to me. But it has the soda refill station and I like that. To be fair, I knew that was coming. I'd read a few months ago that the self-serve unlimited soda refill stations were being phased out. Still, they're gone. Next -- there are no more cashiers. The only way to place your order is through those automated computerized "kiosk" thingies. That wasn't so hot. You'd figure that an outfit like McDonald's, a multi billion dollar a year company, with all of its decades of experience, and all of the resources available to it, could design a reasonably logical ordering system. But they didn't. The system was flawed, and somewhat illogical. I'm certain that it took me about three times as many clicks to submit my order as it should have. Some items were unreasonably hard to find and the program logic just didn't make any sense to me. Also, how the hell am I supposed to tell the person filling up my soda not to fill it all the way up with ice? A little, little bit of ice is all I want. There was no option for that at the stupid kiosk.

Then the fun really started. I checked my order after I finally got it and saw that my large fries box was half empty. When I finally got somebody's attention to ask them sarcastically --"This is large fries?" the cashier person said "Yes, that's large fries.", with a whole lot of attitude and hostility. I told her that it wasn't large fries, and I'd never, ever seen a picture of large fries advertised where the box was so stuffed that the fries weren't hanging over the top of the box . Like on the stupid ordering kiosk that I just used to place this order, for example.



She finally took my fries box, and very grudgingly, put some more fries in there. But not to the top. The box was now only about 80% full. I let it go. Next I noticed that I didn't get any ketchups. The old soda refill station also had ketchup buckets from where you could pump out as much ketchup as you like. Those were gone with the soda refills. Truth be told, I prefer the ketchup packets. I like that I can make the ketchup come out in a really thin line with the packets, instead of those thicker lines of ketchup that are like ropes that come out of the ketchup pump buckets. Ropes of ketchup that drown my skinny delicate McDonald's french fries. With the ketchup packets, I can maintain the right ratio of fries to ketchup. So I asked for ketchups. Seven ketchups, to be precise. I know how many ketchups I'm gonna need for what I ordered and it was seven. So she gave me four ketchups. Four. Not seven. So then I asked for six more. When I asked for six more, she reminded me that I asked for seven the first time and she'd already given me some. So I asked her why if she knew that I asked for seven ketchups the first time around, why did she give me only four? She was stymied and so grabbed a handful of more ketchups and gave them to me. It was more than the six I asked for the second time around. Now I had about a dozen ketchups. What happened was that she got so annoyed that she just ending up grabbing a handful of ketchups without even counting just to get on with it. You'd think they do an inventory head-count of all of the ketchup packets at the end of the day, matching it all to the surveillance video and then divide the missing ketchups by the number of Big Macs sold to see if anybody gave out more ketchups than they're supposed to give out. Ketchup misers. It took me more than five minutes to get a seat because the place was kind of packed. When I opened my bag to eat my meal, I noticed for the first time that they didn't give me any napkins. Not one. I wasn't going back because who knows how long it'd take me to find a seat again. No way was I gonna try and hold my table by leaving my food on there, unattended. So I ate my meal without any napkins and wiped my hands on the table.

What can you share about the main course? I think the Chicken Big Mac is new there. What about the Big Arch?

[batmagadanleadoff]

The Big Arch isn't out yet. And I didn't get a Chicken Big Mac. Sorry.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Can you share more about the main course?

[SteveCohenStan]

I love those kiosks. I usually just order on the app like a normal person, but in a pinch it works. It's got all the things right there, in a list. I can take my time. I can double check my order myself. I don't have to try to translate through a speaker. They're redoing the one by me. Not that I ever go inside. Gimme those nuggs.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Can you share more about the main course?

Quarter-Pounder with Cheese meal, large (diet coke) and a McDouble, all pictured below. Notice the large fries box filled to the top of the box and overflowing.








My large fries were initially half empty, like in the pic below. What a disgrace. I can't believe the workers are trained to give out half empty large fry boxes. And if this is a thing, I can't believe it's not a big deal on the web.




I've been getting the quarter pounder with cheese pretty much every time I've gone for a few years now. It's now their best sandwich, I think. The quarter-pounder meat was upgraded from frozen to fresh and the improvement in taste was obvious to me immediately, when I first got a new quarter pounder. I have no illusions about what I'm eating. It's still fast food and nowhere near as good as a decent pub or restaurant burger. But I've been eating McDonald's since I was a little kid. It's a guilty pleasure. My doctor would be very disappointed in me if he knew I was eating that even once a year.

[G-Fafif]

[batmagadanleadoff]

What can you share about the main course? I think the Chicken Big Mac is new there.

From today's Washington Post:

McDonald’s new Chicken Big Mac is a bland, beige mess
The Golden Arches debuted a new chicken riff on its iconic burger that falls well short of the competition.

The Big Mac is unquestionably McDonald’s marquee item. And in a sea of fast-food sameness, an iconic, standout product is as golden as those famous arches.

So it’s understandable that the chain, when tasked with developing more chicken sandwich options to satisfy customers’ insatiable hunger for white-meat burger alternatives, would look to its star player. But this strategy, which produced the new Chicken Big Mac, was about as wise as sending an MVP quarterback in to kick a clutch field goal.

To begin with, the sandwich doesn’t seem like the product of much serious R & D. The younger Big Mac sibling simply swaps in chicken patties — that resemble chicken nuggets in disc form — for the beef ones and calls it a day. Even the name, the Chicken Big Mac, keeps the relationship to the Ur-McDonald’s item clear. (At least they didn’t try to get too creative here, like Burger King did with the awkward, short-lived Ch’King.)

But the concept should have given pause to the burger wizards toiling away back at McDonald’s HQ in Chicago. The Chicken Big Mac is a bad idea even on paper. See, a big knock on the otherwise-delicious Big Mac has always been that its club-sandwich structure, with a third bun bisecting the layers of burgers, lettuce, sauce, onion, cheese and pickles, incorporates too much bread. So the new item, with its duo of tempura-coated chicken patties, essentially means you’re staring down a sandwich with seven layers of bread.
🥂
Just getting the sandwich into one’s mouth is a challenge, thanks to engineering flaws. Whereas the usual burger patties smoosh down, the crunchy chicken resists (and slides around), resulting in a messy mouthful. Which you’ll probably regret anyway — or at least I did.
Because, folks, this is one bland bird. Without the beefy minerality that burger patties lend, the overall impression here is flavorless, bready beige-ness. The chicken discs are devoid of any actual chicken taste, much like the nuggets on which they are based. But at least those childhood favorites typically get dunked in zesty barbecue or honey-mustard sauce, unlike the patties here, which have only the sweet, creamy Mac “secret” sauce (spoiler alert: It’s basically Thousand Island dressing) and a few pickles to lend them any zip. The chicken version has more calories than the beef, too: 700 to the original item’s 590.

And after tasting the Chicken Big Mac ($7.49 a la carte at my nearest D.C. location; 10 cents more than the regular Big Mac) and wondering why it didn’t have the same pleasing balance as the original, it dawned on me — the new sandwich doesn’t include onions, which add complexity and bite. A member of McDonald’s culinary team told food website the Takeout that the minced alliums were deemed unnecessary: “For this particular Chicken Big Mac, it doesn’t really fit the whole flavor experience,” he told the publication.

Count me unconvinced.

The chicken patties are flawed, too. They’re different than the other two patties available at McDonald’s — far less seasoned than the one found in the original McChicken, and flatter and more processed than the McCrispy’s, which has a discernible chicken-meat texture. While the new patties probably start out crunchy, any part of them that comes into contact with the Big Mac sauce quickly turns mushy, and bits of the breading can peel off in unappealing layers, revealing a sticky undercoat.

The Chicken Sandwich Wars among fast-food brands might have dominated headlines in 2019, but the battle has been quietly raging ever since. (Just this week, Popeyes introduced a ghost-pepper version of its wildly popular spicy sandwich.) McDonald’s — which remains the top dog in the overall fast-food category — has been slow to the draw at every step. It tried to counter Popeyes in 2019 with an unconvincing barbecue-sauced version that was assembled from items already in its pantry. And after agitation by franchisees frustrated by a lack of a premium poultry offering that could compete with Chick-fil-A, the company in 2020 introduced a knockoff of its own, the McCrispy.

The Chicken Big Mac has been tested in the United Kingdom and in Canada, along with a limited domestic market, where it has been met with mixed reviews. It quickly sold out in the U.K., and since debuting late last week, has found some fans among American consumers. Others, like me, though, are unimpressed with this chicken-in-name-only Big Mac riff: “I literally don’t taste the chicken,” complained one TikTok reviewer. “Tasted like i was basically eating a bread and lettuce salad with mac sauce as dressing,” a Redditor wrote.

McDonald’s might be trying to capture the magic of its signature burger to compete in the ongoing poultry skirmish, but this bird clearly isn’t the big gun the brand was looking for.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/202 ... ac-review/

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Breaded chicken with 3 buns-- what a disaster.

KFC just this week declared the chicken sandwich wars over

[kcmets]

I had an unusual, for me, battle with constipation in September
due to some medication I had to take for 14 days and some de-
hydration issue side effects. I was miserable.

Finally, the all-knowing KB says, "Why don't I go get you some
McDonald's?" So she brings me home a $15+ bag of stuff and I
was 'oh boy' and then there was no ketchup. And I was like of
course there's no ketchup. You have to tip the lady behind the
counter a buck if you want ketchup. How could KB know that? I
said nothing and scarfed it all down.

I was Mayor McPotty four hours later. The lady is a genius.

[whippoorwill]

Breaded chicken with 3 buns-- what a disaster.

KFC just this week declared the chicken sandwich wars over

Your first sentence was my first thought

[kcmets]

I miss Roy Rogers here. No idea if they still exist.

They had a Fixins Bar. Horseradish ketchup, all you wanted...

[MFS62]

I miss Roy Rogers here. No idea if they still exist.

They had a Fixins Bar. Horseradish ketchup, all you wanted...

And my favorite, packages of honey for the fired chicken.
I miss them, too.
Later

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

There were 23 McDonald's outlets at Skydome, employing 1600 kids and serving Italian sausage, hot dogs pizza and donuts

[batmagadanleadoff]

Even Hitler knows to fill the large fries box to the top:





Trump serves up McDonald’s fries, but dodges question on minimum wage

Trump didn’t answer a question on pay, instead focusing on promoting his unsubstantiated claim that Kamala Harris never worked at the burger chain.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... imum-wage/

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I miss Roy Rogers here. No idea if they still exist.

They had a Fixins Bar. Horseradish ketchup, all you wanted...

And my favorite, packages of honey for the fired chicken.
I miss them, too.
Later

My first job was working at the Roy Rogers in the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa. The roast beef was much better than what they serve at Arby’s.

[Frayed Knot]

Sweepings off the floor of the local pet shop were better than whatever Arby's was serving.

[Fman99]

Even Hitler knows to fill the large fries box to the top:

Oh good, I was wondering how you'd make McD's any more disgusting than it already is.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

https://nypost.com/2024/10/22/business/ ... r-pounder/

[batmagadanleadoff]

Is McDonald’s Quarter Pounder Too Big to Fail?


After an E. coli outbreak, McDonald’s stopped selling the Quarter Pounder in 12 states. The burger might take a hit for now, but its hold on customers will prevail, experts say.

It’s bigger than a regular burger and easier to eat than a Big Mac. It’s venerated in “Pulp Fiction,” a symbol of American gluttony in Morgan Spurlock’s “Supersize Me” and a source of endless hacks on TikTok.

Now, the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burger is off the menu in 12 states after an E. coli outbreak linked to the raw onions on the sandwich killed one person and hospitalized dozens.

Could the deadly outbreak dampen Americans’ appetite for the Quarter Pounder? Not for long, experts say, because hunger for the iconic burger, which has been on the McDonald’s menu for over 50 years, will prevail in the end. The 4-ounce patty with slivered onions and pickles on a sesame seed bun is one of the chain’s most enduring items.



For now, you won’t find the Quarter Pounder in Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Onions were removed from all menu items at an undisclosed number of locations.In 1971, Al Bernardin invented the Quarter Pounder while managing a McDonald’s franchise in Fremont, Calif., The Oakland Tribune wrote after he died in 2009. Since then, after generations of marketing, the sandwich has become “iconic,” said William Hallman, a psychologist and a distinguished professor at Rutgers University.

“It’s been the same burger for forever, so it becomes sort of a comfort food for people,” Professor Hallman said.

The Quarter Pounder has nearly twice as many calories as a regular McDonald’s hamburger but is less indulgent than a Big Mac, he explained. It also has a leg up on the Big Mac because it’s less messy and can be eaten with just one hand — ideal for people on the go, Professor Hallman said.

“The Quarter Pounder is extremely important to the McDonald’s product line,” John A. Gordon, a chain-restaurant analyst, told Business Insider.


He said a hit to the Quarter Pounder’s reputation could negatively affect sales — and pose a challenge for the McDonald’s brand in the short term.

The Quarter Pounder also has a special place in popular culture. Vincent Vega, the smooth-talking hit man played by John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, famously ranted about how the metric system renders the name “Quarter Pounder” meaningless in Paris.

“They call it the Royale with Cheese,” Vega told Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Jules Winnfield. “The Big Mac’s a Big Mac but they call it ‘le Big Mac.’”

There was even a Quarter Pounder Fan Club. Someone somewhere owns a heart-shaped locket with photographs of the burger inside and candles that smell like the Quarter Pounder’s ingredients. McDonald’s even sold stickers that said “I’d rather be eating a Quarter Pounder with Cheese.”

A&W, a competing fast food brand, tried taking on the Quarter Pounder in the 1980s and learned that their one-third-pound patty was less popular because Americans believed a quarter was bigger.
“The ‘4’ in ‘¼,’ larger than the ‘3’ in ‘⅓,’ led them astray,” The New York Times wrote.

Famous Quarter Pounder fans include the financier Warren Buffett, who once said he prefers McDonald’s burgers over a $100 meal, and, of course, Donald Trump.

At a CNN Town Hall in 2016, he lauded the chain’s cleanliness.

“I’m a person that — I like cleanliness, I like clean,” he said. “One bad hamburger, you can destroy McDonald’s.”

Well, about that …

McDonald’s success and the Quarter Pounder’s legacy will not be greatly impacted by the recent, deadly E. coli outbreak, said Jay Zagorsky, an economics professor at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. The burger’s importance to customers and its place in popular culture has made it a billion-dollar product and one of the company’s best sellers, he said.

“I don’t see this as really affecting McDonald’s dramatically,” Professor Zagorsky said. “And I think Wall Street agrees to me because the stock is only down about 5 percent.”

Other sandwiches use onions — some are listed as chopped instead of slivered — but fresh slivered onions are primarily used on Quarter Pounders and not other menu items, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In response to an email seeking more clarity, McDonald’s provided the company’s previously issued statements, but said that it was following the C.D.C. and Food and Drug Administration experts for information on the slivered onions.

“Serving customers safely in every single restaurant, each and every day, is our top priority and something we’ll never compromise on,” an earlier statement from the company said.

The Quarter Pounder has grown and shrunk over the years, and gained sidekicks like strips of bacon and a second patty. But its essence — a consistently tasty, filling burger — endures.

After McDonald’s made the switch from frozen to fresh beef, which boosted sales by 30 percent, even a Food & Wine critic was impressed.

“The Quarter Pounder, if you’re asking, was pretty good, in the muted way that Quarter Pounders generally are — a classic, simple thing, with enough heft to make you feel like you’ve had a meal, without having to order fries or guzzle sodas,” David Landsel wrote. “Sometimes, simple is good.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/us/e ... break.html

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

If you're into fast food and/or strange people, you have to watch this guy do his 15-minute fast food reviews.

[metirish]

OMG , a devastating takedown of the Chicken Big Mac , haha , he's great, never saw him before