Important Things To Understand About McDonald’s Before Your Next Drive-Thru Visit

McDonald’s had to make a lot of strategic decisions to help them succeed, and this included getting creative and forward-thinking with their business practices. Don’t be fooled – McDonald’s is much more than just a fast-food chain. Here is a rundown of some of the most interesting facts about the ubiquitous restaurant. By the time you reach the end of the list, your eyes will be opened to what really goes on behind the scenes of this fast-food empire.

The extra sweetness and reduced caffeine content allow people of all ages to enjoy McDonald’s Coke. But, how do they do it? Well, McDonald’s receives Coke in syrup form and then post-mixes it in-store with soda water.

McDonald’s experts created it alongside independent health experts. The vegetable went through rigorous testing to determine whether it would meet the important criteria of being healthy and tasting good. Sadly, kids found it far too weird, so this experiment never made it past the lab.

McDonald’s knows how to adapt to changes in every country, and for this one, they leveled up their game. The main McDonald’s mascot is known as Ronald McDonald in most countries, but in Japan, they changed it to Donarudo Makudonarudo. This is written in Katakana and translates to Donald McDonald.

The abandoned McBarge remained anchored in Burrard Inlet from 1991 to December 2015, tucked away between industrial barges and an oil refinery. Today, you can see the old barge docked at a private property on the Fraser River.

To continue selling Happy Meals, McDonald’s began charging 10 cents for the toy in San Francisco. The revenue goes to Ronald McDonald House, the company’s children’s cancer charity. It permits them to continue selling unhealthy foods to youngsters in the face of a growing obesity epidemic.

By 2000, most restaurants had stopped serving pizza because a pizza takes 11 minutes to prepare, and McDonald’s wanted to preserve its reputation for rapid service. As of 2021, McDonald’s pizza is only available at the Orlando, Florida McDonald’s.

This restaurant, which serves both fine dining and quick cuisine, is highly recommended by travelers visiting Buckinghamshire for various reasons. Due to its popularity, it has become a major tourist attraction. Don’t forget to drop by McDonald’s if you happen to visit Buckinghamshire.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the famous playwright, was also once an employee of McDonald’s. Let’s not forget about Pharrell Williams, the voice behind the song “Happy,” who was fired three times while working in McDonald’s. Being a McDonald’s crew member was clearly not the ideal role for him! 

In the ‘90s, McDonald’s added Szechuan sauce to their dips, burgers, and pizzas. After the Disney movie Mulan was released; however, McDonald’s removed the sauce from their menus shortly after. A few years later, an episode of Rick and Morty mentioned McDonald’s former Szechuan sauce. It went viral and triggered a campaign, with fans asking McDonald’s to bring back the sauce. Eventually, McDonald’s brought it back briefly once more.

Richard and Maurice McDonald designed Speedee as their first mascot. They named him Speedee because they wanted to promote their Speedee Service System. Speedee, unfortunately, resembled the Alka-Seltzer mascot named Speedy, patron saint of upset stomachs. That affects their marketing, which is why they changed it. 

One scammer cost McDonald’s about $24 million. It’s a story with so many twists that a documentary series title McMillions$ was created to depict the deception. Furthermore, a film directed by Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon is also set to release in the future. All this real-world drama ended with an FBI sting.

Ronald has to be of a height and weight that make him seem uniform, no matter where in the world you encounter him. Anyone with unique proportions need not apply. If you win the role, you will be paid well, but this is on the condition of anonymity – you must never reveal that you play Ronald McDonald as a job. It’s almost like being a spy!

It was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA in December 2003. The single peaked at number 1 on both Billboard Pop Songs and Adult Contemporary charts. The song also received a Grammy Award nomination for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.”

The Hula Burger consists of grilled pineapple on a bun with cheese. However, it started getting hot competition when the Filet-O-Fish burger arrived. Eventually, McDonald’s stopped making the Hula Burger altogether since it was clear that its replacement, the Filet-O-Fish, was gaining a lot more momentum.

Their move of changing their menu to fit with the changing times helped them solidify their presence in the market. Now, people are used to McDonald’s having burgers, shakes, and fries. However, thanks to their quick reactions to societal changes, these core offerings are constantly evolving. Now that we think about it, though, a peanut butter sandwich would be delicious. 

The ban persisted until the mid-to-late 1960s, when franchisees began insisting on a gender-balanced workforce. Even back when the ban was lifted, Kroc insisted that female employees be “flat-chested” and not operate the grill since they lacked the “stamina” for such hard work.

You may also remember from earlier in the article that this location is the only one in the world that still serves pizza. Since it is so large, the restaurant can seat 700 people. It makes it possible to serve lots of customers quickly. It is less than three miles away from Disney World, so it gets thousands of tourists visiting daily.

There were conflicting reports about how Bobby Darin felt about the use of his music, but his widow says he would have been horrified at the character. In other words, there was no basis for using the work in the first place since Darin never permitted McDonald’s to use it and never would have agreed to it.

North Korea has officially banned McDonald’s since 2013. This country has a social system that only allows people to eat with their family or at restaurants with the government’s approval. They have never let foreign companies enter North Korea to do business, including McDonald’s.

Esther Glickstein, an employee at McDonald’s Corporate, suggested using Big Mac instead of The Aristocrat. The Big Mac received such a positive response from customers that it was made available nationwide in 1968. A center slice of bread is used to support the contents and avoid spilling.

Despite offering a quarter pound of beef, lettuce, tomato, American cheese, onions, ketchup, and a secret mustard and mayonnaise sauce, the Arch Deluxe Burger did not catch people’s attention. It was a tragic flop, but this incident made McDonald’s more careful about the product they planned on introducing in the future.

Rob Lowe is another one of the lucky few to have a golden card. The actor was popular for his role in the 80’s movies St. Elmo’s Fire, The Outsiders, and Porky’s. He spoke about his card during his TV guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2015.

He had more on his mind than just health issues. Donald Gorske also claims that children who eat McDonald’s are more likely to get obese and develop diabetes later in life because they lack an appreciation of foods like kale. For this reason, Donald wanted to teach children about healthier options by quitting his 30-year Big Mac habit. However, Gorske did achieve the Guinness World Record for most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime.

Grimace’s uncle, Uncle O’Grimacey, was once used to promote Shamrock Shakes at McDonald’s, but he has since been phased out. McDonald’s first launched the Shamrock Sundae in 1980, and it was a blend of vanilla ice cream with minty green Shamrock syrup on top.

That’s not the end of the changes made by McDonald’s stores in India. They also tailored their menus to give respect to Hindu beliefs. Instead of beef patties, they serve chicken or veggie patties. They even change the spices and cooking methods used in most stores to accommodate Indian taste preferences.

McDonald’s was sued by H.R. Pufnstuf founders Sid and Marty Krofft, who claimed that McDonaldland was a copy of H.R. Pufnstuf. On May 17, 2007, Mayor McCheese was dropped, only to return years later with many changes to his appearance.

Most people preferred the McDonald’s quarter-pound burger because it was cheaper, bigger, and more convenient. Though the third-pounder was healthier, people found it unattractive and expensive. Apparently, many didn’t understand that a third-pound patty is larger than a quarter-pound patty. So, the price difference didn’t make sense. Perhaps A&W should have offered math lessons in tandem with their ad campaign.

Businesses are not allowed to use colors that clash with nature’s elements. In most cases, companies must use neutral colors such as white or brown, along with limited earth tones. To blend in with nature, McDonald’s had to change the color of their Golden Arches to turquoise blue instead of the traditional yellow that stands out against nature during sunset or sunrise.

McDonald’s reconstructed the property using the same designs after the previous shop was demolished in 1984. It’s decorated with an old-school single-arch, Speedee road sign, and according to reports, original 1950s kitchen equipment as well as a slew of mannequins dressed in vintage fast-food uniforms.

They brainstormed the idea at a very small meeting of JPL employees, discussing what an ideal partnership would be for both parties. Afterward, they presented it at a much larger meeting where all departments were present for discussion and voting. In the end, they canceled the project because it went over their budget.

The furthest location is in the Nevada Desert and South Dakota. No matter how far or near a McDonald’s store is located, people are still more likely to go there than anywhere else. It is because of the convenience, the taste, and the nostalgia. They can eat there any time they want without having to go very far.

Instead of catering to humans, there’s a McDonald’s in Sweden that caters to bees. That’s right, the “McHive” is a miniature model of a McDonald’s restaurant that is actually a beehive on the inside. This is to show McDonald’s support for saving the bees. Over five McDonald’s locations in Sweden now include beehives on their roofs to support the movement.

The Swedish McDonald’s was not planned as an attraction to draw tourists. Rather, it was built to service the employees of Lindvallen Ski Resort, which is operational 365 days a year. It has no indoor seating and is often inaccessible by car during wintertime.

In 1984, they changed the color scheme of their straws, and it caused turmoil in the Gulf of Mexico. Small fishing operations there had used the previous version of the straw to catch Spanish mackerel, but a simple change in color from McDonald’s was all it took for the fish to have no interest in the lures made from their straws. It’s so wild to think about how such a small choice could have such large flow-on effects.

The truth of the matter is that McDonald’s is indeed the largest distributor of toys in the world! They once considered handing out books instead of plastic toys, and if they’d made this move, they would have become the world’s largest book distributor. Amazing!

With any business, PR can be a nightmare. Even McDonald’s isn’t immune to horrible PR problems, and they were hit with a massive one involving the McDLT. The country was growing more environmentally concerned, and the double-container did double the damage. So, McDonald’s had no choice but to ditch it.

One McDonald’s restaurant did manage to sneak onto the island in 1985, opening at a US Naval Station. However, that station closed in 1995, and the sneaky McDonald’s went along with it. Now, Bermuda is back to being free of large corporate franchises. 

Since the cult rumors started circulating, they did an extensive review of all their franchises to ensure there wasn’t an underground satanic cult running away with McDonald’s secrets (a ridiculous idea). This is an excellent example of the destructive power of rumors.

Most people know that McDonald’s has begun changing its classic menus in response to growing customer demands for healthier options. Still, have you considered how this might affect your order? It may take more time to prepare some of the new menu items, which can affect your total wait time.

The meeting lasted only half an hour. However, within five years, Walt Disney had sold his company and retired while Kroc was at the top of his game, expanding McDonald’s into a multi-billion dollar enterprise with around 39,000 outlets in more than 100 countries around the world.  Both men carry an incredible legacy to their name.