Fast+Food

= Fast Food  = __Introduction__: As my topic is Fast Food I thought that a definition of what Fast Food is would help this wiki page. The best definition I found online is, "foods that can be prepared quickly, such as hamburgers, frankfurters, and fried chicken." This page will highlight McDonald's, and therefore I will give a brief overview of the company. "McDonald's Corporation operates one of the world's largest chains of fast-food restaurants. McDonald's has more than 31,000 restaurants in about 120 countries. McDonald's was founded in 1955...A clown named Ronald McDonald serves as a spokesperson for McDonald's" ( []) The specific topic of my blog is discontinued and seasonal Fast Food items. P rofitable corporations have learned that it is important to update menus with new items. Companies use different techniques to advertise their products, such as using billboards, TV commercials, jingles, and offering coupons. Sometimes a new item does well, while others fail within the year they are released. The reasoning for the items failure varies every time, but many discontinued items have similarities among Fast Food restaurants. __Fast Food Games:__ Fast Food companies use prizes and games to bring customers into restaurants. One of McDonald's seasonal games is Monopoly, in which customers get Monopoly properties with their meals. The properties can later be redeemed for cash, with more valuable properties being more rare. When I went to McDonald's on October 30th, the game was still going on. I ordered a Big Mac, and when I saw the two game pieces on the box of my sandwich I was kind of pumped. I peeled the first sticker off,and there in front of me was Park Place. I was shocked, as completing this monopoly with a Boardwalk piece is worth $1,000,000.  I, of course, later went online and checked it out. Supposedly two Boardwalk pieces had been released in an unspecified period of time, and the chance of getting one was 1/350,000,000. I found a website where people were offering to trade pieces to get a monopoly. More than 2 people had Park Place. Even if there were 10 Park Places, there were so few Boardwalks that many people just had pointless Park Places. I had hoped to find a match for my game piece, but I had a time problem. I got the Park Place on 10/30, and Monopoly at McDonald's ended on November 1st, so I had only a two day window. My feeling is that overall the game is really just a scam to get people to buy more meals and to get their hopes of up. Another issue with fast food is offering toys with meals, to make them more exciting for children. After Election Day, 2010. the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco actually banned Happy Meals from most McDonald's restaurants in the area. This was not a vote for the public people. __Seasonal Shakes:__ While you can buy most items at restaurants at all times in the year, some restaurants have seasonal items. The idea is that people will come to their restaurant more during the season to get that item, because it is so rare and so unique. The Shamrock Shake is McDonald's limited time shake during St. Patrick's Day. It is a minty green shake that is delicious. I would always go to McDonald's on St. Patrick's Day to get the shake. The green color, because it is so unique, makes the shake appetizing. The shake was first made in 1970, and since then a lot of other seasonal drinks have come out at different shops. The success of this first seasonal item led to many other companies copying this idea. Ex: Starbucks has many seasonal coffees. The seasonal drinks that you can buy sound very fattening but very delicious. The 8 drinks include, Caramel Brulee Latte, Peppermint Mocha, Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latte, Peppermint White Hot Chocolate, Peppermint Hot Chocolate, Caramel Brulée Frappuccino and Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino.

__Discontinued Items:__ The next two items were discontinued, but most people have not heard of them, because they were discontinued so long ago. Burger King hot dogs.

I was looking around a bit on Google to see if they indeed did sell hot dogs at BK. The main thing that people remembered about BK's hot dogs was the containers in which they were sold. They were in little Styrofoam boxes. People online said that the hot dogs were sold until at least the mid 80's and started in the 70's. As to why they stopped, there are a couple of reasons that I could find online. One reason is an opinion, but many people agreed that they were disgusting. The other reason is because large packs of hot dogs are available at supermarkets for extremely cheap prices. There are also some restaurants that sell very good hot dogs. Because of this Burger King was not able to compete with the cheap prices of store bought hot dogs, or the quality of a hot dog at a restaurant. They must have just realized selling hot dogs was not profitable enough, and discontinued the item. The other item was a McDonald's product. The Arch Deluxe was a typical burger, with a slightly different patty taste. This might have been one of the most failed items that McDonald's has ever produced. The idea behind the Arch Deluxe was that it would be a burger for adults. They wan ted to spread fast food out to a wider range of people, to make more money. McDonald's spent around $300 million on advertising this burger. It was first released in 1996, and there are several speculations as to why it failed. One is that it was more expensive than any other item on the menu. Another reason is that it was extremely unhealthy, and that's saying something because everything at McDonald's is extremely unhealthy. Looking at the calorie facts, the arch deluxe was as bad for you as a Whopper or Big Mac. The last reason is that the ads were unconventional. This item is still available in France, but it failed in Japan.  The next two items are more well known than the previous two. This one is easily the best known discontinued item. The super-size was discontinued from the McDonald's restaurants after "Super Size Me' was released. After its release, a lot of people pressured McDonald's into discontinuing the items. McDonald's originally took super-sizes off in March 2004; they came back in the summer of 06, and then were discontinued again in December 09. Super-size was really unhealthy, but it's a shame that it was discontinued. The super sizing originally started in 1993 as the Dino Size for the promotion of Jurassic Park. They kept the new size, and renamed it the super-size after the movie was out of the theaters. The logic behind the super size is that people feel greedy buying 2 medium fries or drinks. This way they can only buy one larger size, and it is more tempting for the consumer. Also the super size spread to other fast food restaurants. Their way of discontinuing the item was by getting rid of their small size, and making the super size the new large. The delicious Big N Tasty meal at McDonald's has also been discontinued. This was one of my personal favorites. I'm not sure why they did it, and I know a bunch of other people who like all that fat a lot too. But McDonald's reasoning is they have to make room for "newer, tastier, awesomer Angus Burgers". The burger was discontinued on September 1st 2010. Looking around the world it seems as it had been discontinued in other countries earlier. It is said it was removed from Denmark for unknown reasons, and in Sweden it comes back on the menu occasionally as a promotional item. Also it is available in the UK seasonally. They have it in the summer and the winters, and the reason for this is, is to have it when they don't have the Monopoly event running. Here are just a couple more of items that have been discontinued in McDonald's history to get an idea of failed items. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Hula Burger (1963): A normal burger, but with a large piece of pineapple in the middle instead of a patty. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">McFeast (1980s): The burger has the normal parts, but a modified mayonnaise sauce that had lemon juice in it. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">McDLT (1984-1991): This burger is pretty unique. The bottom bun and the meat are cooked, while the rest of the burger is not. Then the two halves are packaged in two pieces of Styrofoam, and then the buyer would put it together when they ate. It was discontinued because of the Styrofoam and how bad it is for the environment. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Beefsteak Sandwich (1980s): This was not served until after 4:00 P.M. It was made of better quality. Also there were packets of steak sauce to put on. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Mickey D (1993): 1/3 pound of beef on a crusty roll. It was 5.3 ounces compared to 3.2 of the Big Mac. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Onion Nuggets: Pieces of union were cut up into small pieces. This was released with the beefsteak sandwich on the dinner menu. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Torta (2000): A Mexican sandwich, as far as I know the only attempt they've had of that. <span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Roast Beef on a Roll (1968): A roast beef sandwich, copied from Arby's

__Interview:__ (My mom) Q: What was it like working at McDonald's A: It was not fun. I worked there one summer between junior and senior year of college. I worked night shifts, because I had day job as well. I often closed the restaurant, which involved staying there until 2am. I had to wash the greasy floors. I had to pour the French fries fat into a big vat. During breaks I was required to watch videotapes training me in making burgers, fries, shakes, and treating customers properly. I was paid minimum wage as well. Once, though, I was complimented for my smile. Q: When you worked at McDonald's, what food was popular? A: Fries and shakes were very popular. Fish sandwiches were popular back then, along with big macs, cheeseburgers, burgers, and apple pies. Q: Since you have worked there, what food has been added? A: Salads, ice cream, seasonal specials and special sandwiches. I'm not sure if they had chicken nuggets back then. There used to be no bacon either. Q: Since you have worked there, what food has been discontinued? A: They changed from using lard for the fries to vegetable shortening. Besides, that I'm not sure what food was discontinued.

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