Fast food rumors
 

Comment: McDonald's was caught shipping beef between NY and PA (or OH)
about 12 years ago using BFI garbage trucks.... can't find any
news articles about it. Is this true or false?

Does McDonald's even ship their own beef? I would think that the distributor would do that, but I may be wrong.

Shipping
 

Yes McDonalds does ship their own beef, they have an entire fleet of rigs that carries their food stuffs, paper products, etc. from store to store. They have massive central ware houses where items are stored and shipped from according to orders placed each week by the individual location managers.

Like all major fast food companies, Mc Donalds is highly vertically integrated, the control the the design and packaging of all their products, the manufacture of those products and the delivery of those products.

They do not I belive have their own cows, or meat processing plants, so the meat they receive is already in patty form shipped from a subcontractor to their ware house.

I cannot imagine given all this, that they would ship anything in a garbage truck, especially one that wasn't owned by them.

it's like...

mcdonalds transformers...
(beef-carrying robots IN DISGUISE)

or something...

and on delivery they morph into giant robotic scary clowns

Even if McD's did ship it's own beef, a tractor trailer would be much more efficient than a garbage truck. They could carry so much more at a time.

Why McDonald's doesn't sell onion rings
 

Comment: I heard that McDonalds does not sell onion rings because because
there are not enough onions to supply the milions of chains that they
have. Is this true? It doesn't seem as though it could be.

Then what's the deal with all the french fries? There's no potato shortage even though McDonalds is famous for them.

I have always wondered why McD's never served onion rings. I thought maybe Burger King has exclusive rights amongst the fast food industry. If you think about it Wendys,Arby's,KFC do not serve them either.

No, but White Castle does.

My guess is they are more trouble to cook and prepare. And because the rings are all different sizes, quality control on cooking time may present a problem.

Pogue

Quality? McDonalds?

I got it...:fish:

McDonalds has great quality control. You are pretty much guaranteed to get the exact same meal in any McD's you walk into.

ETA: The sad thing is that there are way too many people who think this is a desirable thing.

I don't think there's any such thing as exclusive rights to a type of food.

They could always do a the processed kind where the onion is chopped up and molded into a ring. Any sorts of fillers could be used. Then size and cooking time could be as standarized as anything else they serve. Not sure about quality.

Sonic has onion rings too.

In theory, yeah. I've been to some really crappy McDonald's. I did work there in high school and the owners who care about their business really keep up with the quality control.

BTW Arby's sells onion petels.

But Carl's Jr. does, although they aren't a national chain.

- snopes

WENDY'S seems to be leaning toward more healthy menu choices like salads, baked potatoes and fruits.

I did find site that mentioned Onion Rings on the summer menu of the UK McD's. Can anyone across the pond confirm that?

http://snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=0607131520fah

I think it has to do with the temperature for the oil. Reaching way back into my memory banks, I think McDs are set up so that they have one fryer for Filet O'Fish, one for Chicken and Chicken Nuggets and the remainder for fries (my McD's had IIRC 4 fryers, so 2 for french fries) and you couldn't fry the other things in the other fryers and have them turn out right. The french fry fryers actually had two temp settings one for hashbrowns and one for fries, which is why hashbrowns aren't available after breakfast. IIRC the griddle also has two temps one for the breakfast foods and one for the lunch foods.

Anyway, I think the other restaurants that do onion rings have their oil set at a temperature that would not cook McDonald's fries the McDonald's way.

I was wondering the same thing; guess I better get in line for the :fish:

I found the UK site.
http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/?f=y

They do have onion rings on the menu.. So why not the US?

No, no, no...haven't you guys heard this before? Ray Kroc's first beloved sweetheart was killed when a huge burlap sack full of onions fell on her and smothered her. From that day forward he vowed never to support the onion industry and only reluctantly allowed chopped onions to be added to McDonald's burgers. My grandmother's friend's daughter had a boyfriend whose sister's friend worked at McDonald's.

Thanks for clearing that up Buckleupp! :lol:

Burger King manages to have onion rings though, and have had them for at least 20 years. Their onion rings are all between one and two inches across, and they don't seem to have any problem obtaining them.

It is possible that McD's tried offering Onion Rings in test markets at one point but they didn't do well enough to make it a permanent part of the menu.

And as for the UK offering Onion Rings. I think it is a regional thing too. My folks were travelling in upper Michigan and they stopped at a McD that also offered Brats with Sauerkraut on a bun. And I have heard that depending on the country your version of dipping sauce(i.e. ketchup) for your fries may vary. Some places I have heard that the ketchup is more like tomato paste.

Mmmm, actually onion rings are starting to sound pretty good right now. :)

I just saw a McDonalds advert on the TV and there was indeed onion rings featured alongside the burger and fries.

McDonalds does have regional specialties. I usually get an All American Meal, which, I found I could not get in Kentucky.

And yes, it varies by country too. In the Netherlands, they have a special fry sauce. Also, you get mayo with your fries as well, which is standard. Ketchup, you must ask for. It's more than dipping sauces though - in the Netherlands, you can get a McKroket (which, is quite yummy!). Most countries have at least one menu item that is an off take of the regional cuisine I have been told.

regional difference
 

Also if you go to Canada you can get poutine!

oh, and I think the reason McDonalds doesn't do onion rings is cost.

Due to the extra layers of processing required onion rings are inherintly less cost effective then french fries.

Stores like Burger King, Arby's or White Castle (all offer some kind of onion side dish) make those offerings even though their food cost is higher because they are chasing McDonalds and need a differntiated product.

McDonalds, holding the larger market share can be more choosy in what they offer.

Like Avis, Burger King is #2 and so they have to try harder (hence have it your way, and other non cost effective ways to get you in the store).

In the UK or Canada for example McDonalds may not be the major player in the market and need a unique offering to intice customers. Likewise, regional tastes may be such (as with poutine) where McDonalds must offer the product because it is traditional.

In America nearly everyone sells french fries not because it's a particularly good side dish, but because it's our regional taste. We might prefer something else, but we would still be shocked to order a burger and not have the option of fries with that.

Speaking of regional--the McD's on Oahu sells pineapple with their meals--breakfast and lunch meals. You can get fries AND pineapple with your combo lunches and get pineapple with those big breakfasts they sell...


(which makes sense since the Dole plantation is on Oahu)...

~~EB

This seems to make the most sense. Probably like their McPizza idea. It just didn't fly so it was never introduced nationally.

I'm wondering just how much of this is a tradition predating McD's (or others) and how much is just habit from decades of fast food meals. I realize that diners serve (and probably used to, but that's before my time ;) ) fries with burgers and similar meals, but I suspect McD's, Big Boy, and others served to reinforce the "need" to have fries with a meal - or at least made them far more popular than they might have been otherwise.

These aren't really onion rings. They are onion flavored rings.

Burger King onion rings are not actually onion rings, though. They are dehydrated onion made back into a paste and extruded into onion ring shapes, of several different sizes so that they don't look like the nasty disgusting fayke fuude (tm) that that actually are. Ew. Ick. I'm sure it makes it much cheaper and easier to cook them, which of course is much more important that other factors such as, oh, say, TASTE.:p

Sonic onion rings, on the other hand, are next to heaven, and are genuine, real slices of actual onion. Mmm, I want some Sonic onion rings and a cherry limeade just THINKING about them. Sonic also takes a lot longer to serve your food (despite the name) than BK or McD's but it's worth the wait.

I don't know why Mcd's doesn't make onion rings, but if they did, I imagine they'd be that disgusting fake shaped onion paste extruded product that Burger King offers instead of actual onion rings.

I will take A&W's onion rings any day. (Although, they might have changed recipe's in the last 5 years.)

Morrigan

What's poutine?

Michigan "sounds like poultry" Girl

Oooooh...how I hate you right now.

*Sigh* I miss Sonic. :(

You don't have Sonic in California??!!? Oh, the horror!!!:eek:

I was going to suggest Rally burger as an alternative, but I think the closest one to you would be in Tustin or Anaheim too.

http://www.checkers.com/index.html

It is an artery clogging extravaganza!

You take your fresh hot fries, add a good handful of cheese curds, and pour gravy on the whole thing, YUM-O!
It's a french thing.

Since Burger King's onion ring do not have a ring of onion in them. Should they even be aloud to call them a onion ring. They are onions that have been ground up prossed and them shapped like a ring. Did I mention that I hate the taste as well.

Dairy Queen has great onion rings. I know Jack-in-the-Box use to have good onion rings as well. Since I have not eaten their onion rings in years, I do not know how they are now. I'm thinking about jumping in the car right now and finding out if they have changed.

McDonald's used to sell something close to an onion ring as a side ... they were just little pieces of deep-fried onion, not in a ring, called "onion nuggets" or something along those lines (google search turns up nothing). I can remember eating them there as a kid, along with the McPizza, shamrock shake and other items that seemed to have later dropped off the menu.