Free Smoothie Samples at McDonald's *Cancelled*

McDonald's will be promoting their new Real Fruit Smoothies with free samples today and tomorrow (Friday & Saturday July 23-24).


Free samples of Wild Berry or Strawberry Banana Real Fruit Smoothies will be available at McDonald's 14,000+ locations in the US.


“The addition of McCafe Real Fruit Smoothies to the McCafe beverage line reinforces McDonald’s as a convenient destination for a variety of quality, great-tasting beverages at a value only McDonald’s can offer,” said Ashlee Yingling, supervisor of U.S. media relations for McDonald’s.


Prices for the smoothies vary by market and start at a suggested $2.29 for a 12-ounce serving.

We thought we were giving you a 'cool' heads up about the free smoothies, but it has been brought to our attention that McDonald's felt that sales of their new smoothies were just fine, so the promotion was cancelled:

“The McCafe Real Fruit Smoothies are an absolute hit with our customers, and we’re experiencing unprecedented demand for this delicious new choice on our menu,” said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer for McDonald’s USA. “Due to the overwhelming popularity and to ensure continued supply to meet our customers’ needs, we will not be executing the national in-restaurant sampling event … as previously communicated. However, all other national promotional activities, including coupons, will be accepted at participating restaurants.”

We're sorry about the error. (But we also think McDonald's can afford to honor their promotions once they've been announced!)

Chick-fil-a Tops 'Best Drive-Thru' List Again

QSR Magazine's annual "Quick-Service Drive-Thru Performance Study" has ranked Chick-fil-a in the top spot for the 5th consecutive year. McDonald's came in at number 2, followed by Burger King and Wendy's.

The fast food drive-thru rankings are based on speed of service, order accuracy, menuboard appearance and speaker clarity. (the links take you to these individual rankings)

In individual categories Wendy's ranked best for speed, Krystal's had the best menuboard appearance, and Chick-fil-a was the most accurate and had the best speaker clarity.

Here are the overall rankings:

1. Chick-fil-A
2. McDonald's
3. Burger King
4. Wendy's
5. Del Taco
6. Krystal
7. Taco Bell
8. Carl's Jr
9. Jack in the Box
10. Checkers
11. Bojangles'
12. Arby's
13. KFC
14. El Pollo Loco
15. Culvers
16. Long John Silver's
17. Hardee's
18. Rally's
19. White Castle
20. Church's
21. A&W
22. Whataburger
23. Captain D's
24. Dairy Queen
25. Popeyes

---
In related news, The Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) has released their 2008 Wait Time Survey. One of their 25 categories was 'limited service restaurants.' Here are their rankings for best (shortest) wait times in this category.

1. Dunkin Donuts
2. Panera Bread
3. Chick-fil-a
4. Arby's
5. Carl's Jr.
6. Starbucks
7. Sonic Drive-In
8. Chipotle
9. Dairy Queen
10. Burger King

Fast Food Snatch prank video

A new phenomenon? Probably not, but I saw my first video of a Fast Food Snatch just today.

The concept: Hide near a fast food drive-thru and be ready to sprint when the hand starts passing the fast food out the window to the waiting driver/customer... and grab that bag of food and keep running.

The video I just saw is below, but there are more on Google Video.

Reminder: This is a crime! Don't do it!

UK McDonald's parking fee

From the Guardian Unlimited in the UK, it appears that McDonald's restaurants are fining customers who stay in their parking lot too long.

And it is no small fine either: £125 (about $255). Cameras in the parking lot take photos of license plates and a bill is sent to the car's owner.

(The sign shown isn't an actual one. We made it at Ronald McHummer.)

"The question of just how long it should take to eat fast food is being answered by the burger giant McDonald's, which is making customers finish within 45 minutes or face a charge of £125.

"Motorists who care to linger over their McMeals for any longer at some drive-throughs are receiving demands from a private company that manages car parks for the burger chain."

from Guardian Unlimited via BoingBoing
custom McDonald's sign made at Ronald McHummer

Fast food speed & accuracy survey

QSR Magazine has published 2007 edition of their annual "Best in Drive-Thru" report. (I wrote about the 2006 report last year.)

There's a lot to read in the various sections of the report, so here's the meat. Three ranking lists (starting with the best performing fast food restaurant and going down) that I'll call "Accuracy," "Speed," and "Friendliness."

Speed (found here) is based on the how long it takes to get your fast food drive-thru order. The same 4 chains are in the top 4, but in a different order. Wendy's moved to #1.

Accuracy (found here) is based on how often the chain gets your order right. Chick-fil-a holds onto the #1 spot again this year and Burger King enters the top 5.

The friendliest drive-thrus, based on the use of "please" and "thank you" and smiles, eye contact and an overall pleasant demeanor, can be found here.

Fast food and keeping 'green'

The Green Piece Blog is "a reminder of the piece we often forget when traveling, eating, voting, and building; the green piece."

Yesterday, Green Piece wrote a list of 3 things you can do to make it easier on the Earth when your fast food cravings set in. Here it is:

1. Park and walk: While you're sitting in your car with the engine running and the A/C blasting, you are getting 0 Miles/Gallon. You are just burning fuel and polluting the air. Park your car, walk inside the restaurant, and reduce your carbon footprint.
2. Reject Excess Packaging: Fast food restaurants are famous for piling on the unnecessary packaging. There's the bag, the excess napkins, the extra ketchup packets, the lid, the straws, etc. All that stuff ends up in the landfill eventually. Order your food "for here" even if it is "to go." You'll get just what you need and nothing you don't. If you're getting a lot of food, just toss it in your cloth grocery bag. Avoid anything made of Styrofoam or plastic too.
3. Bring Your Own Utensils: If you're getting a salad, avoid taking the plastic utensils you're offered. You're just taking the salad with you back to work or home. Utilize re-usable utensils.

I've thought about the first one before. All those cars spewing all that pollution in all those drive-thru lanes all around the world...that's a lot of CO, CO2 and other nasty stuff that could be avoided by simply parking and turning off the car (or even just turning the car off while you're waiting in line.)