RESTAURANT GOES UP IN FLAMESA blackened hulk is all that remains of the McDonald's restaurant which opened almost overnight three months ago. It took five hours to put out the flames which raged through the former Little Chef building in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The alarm went off at midnight but a police patrol car which went to the scene found that everything appeared to be normal. Fire crews from Glastonbury and Street found the building alongside the Glastonbury relief road well alight when they reached it at 4:20am. Glastonbury fire station officer Ian Tucker said: "We had to call for assistance from Bridgwater and Yeovil, and had to use breathing equipment. It took an hour to bring the fire under control."
McDonald's area manager David Wyne said that the 35 employees would be found jobs in other outlets. "It is the sort of thing that happens to somebody else. I was a bit surprised", he added. As a safety measure, firemen sprayed a water barrier between McDonald's and the adjacent Fina garage.
Fina cashier Sue David, from Street, said she was shocked when she arrived for work at 6:30am. "I got permission from the fire officer to get into the premises. There was no danger", she said. McDonald's press spokesman Peter Warlow said the alarm was probably tripped by the fire, which was caused by an electrical fault. He said: "there was no evidence of a break-in".
He added that a new building would take four weeks to rebuild at a cost of £750,000. The one stumbling block to overcome is that the former Little Chef does not belong to them. But it is not a question of if we will open but when. This is a very successful restaurant", he said.
McFETUSIn the hope that you're never too young to have a "Mac Attack", McDonald's has now entered the womb. The fast food chain recently ran a 30-second commercial on US Spanish- speaking TV stations showing a fetus tugging on the umbilical cord in an effort to encourage mom to get a Big Mac and fries. Bound by a maternal desire to please, she promptly obeys her prodigy's request. In the final scene, as she lovingly consumes the burger, the caption reads "what a craving".
TOP TIPSSave McDonald's advertising agency the trouble of flicking through Viz to get their ideas by sending your Top Tips to them. Experiewnce suggests that the Sloan wankers don't actually pay, but send them your ideas anyway. Write to Leo Burnett Limited, 60 Sloane Avenue, London SW3 3XB. Or you can offer them your tips down the phone on 0171 591 9100.
[Article about success story of Bologna, Italy - having buoyant economy without succumbing to global market forces]The formation of a US-style urban underclass and the contrast between low-paid service workers and comparatively high-paid workers in manufacturing was avoided in Bologna with the philosophy that government must help all workers share in prosperity, meaning a government that supports militant trade unionism.
The local council guy says "You know that McDonald's franchise across the street. The guy who holds that franchise is an Italian-American. He came here in the 80's, thinking he was going to run it American-style with low wages. It was a hard struggle but we disabused him of that illusion. The Bologna McDonald's workers are paid the scale earned by every other worker represented by the commercial workers union. It's a wage scale that's three times what the Manhattan fast-food counterparts earn. [ie. McD's workers get paid three times the wage in Bologna over their equivalents in New York.]
NEW DELHI GETS AUTHENTIC TASTE OF McDONALD'S MUTTON BURGERA holyman sips a soft drink at the opening of the first McDonald's restaurant in India at New Delhi yesterday.
It's the first McDonald's in the world with no beef because 80 per cent of the population is Hindu, a religion whose devotees eschew beef and hold cows sacred. Mutton is served instead and prices at 50 cents (33p) for a burger are comparable with most Indian outlets. Other foreign restaurants, including Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken, have been targeted by demonstrators and vandals, who insist on self-sufficiency.
There were no protests at McDonald's as the mutton for the Maharaja Macs came from Indian sheep, potatoes for French fries from Indian farms and Coke from an Indian bottler.
IT'S MAC TIME NOW AT TAFEThe art of making hamburgers - but not just any hamburgers - is now being taught at TAFE.
In what is believed to be a unique move, McDonald's has gone outside its own programs to use an external trainer. New South Wales TAFE will offer the new Certificate in Food Retailing - McDonald's from today.
The 12-month course will be offered only at the Western Institute of TAFE based in Orange, west of Sydney. It will be funded jointly by McDonald's, TAFE NSW and the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Training.
