Give me hope, Johanna

Some depressing news just in: McDonald's has opened its fourth outlet in Johannesburg.

McDonald's gets its teeth into Durban

McDonald's has agreed to let the company Dax Prop continue operating its Durban-based Macdonalds outlet under its existing name, in exchange for a name change of its Macdonalds restaurant in Johannesburg. The out-of-court settlement between McDonald's and Dax Prop came on the first day of a three-day case in Durban's Supreme Court. The purpose of the case was to finalise the temporary interdict passed in November last year, preventing Dax prop from using the fast-food company's familiar trademarks.

In terms of the settlement, neither of Dax Prop's outlets will be allowed to use McDonald's trademarks, but the Durban-based Macdonalds will be allowed to use that name within a 750m radius around its existing premises.

The attorney for McDonald's said the decision cleared the way for a "big push" into Durban. "Hopefully, by this time next year Durban will have three new McDonald's," he said.

The attorney for Dax Prop said he too was "reasonably happy" with the outcome. However, he said, this was only the beginning of what he expected to be a two-year battle over the validity of McDonald's trademarks in South Africa. The battle over McDonald's trademarks will begin on May 20 in Bloemfontein's Appeal Court.
(Taken from a South African newspaper)

"Wimpy lifts its ban on British beef"

"The Wimpy fast-food chain [which has 272 outlets in the UK] announced yesterday it is to lift its ban on British beef - the first good news the beleaguered cattle industry has had in weeks.

Mark Woolfenden, the managing director, said: "We have seen a great improvement in customer confidence." McDonald's, the biggest burger chain, and Burger King said last night they had no plans to do so too."

McDonald's to Target Adults

"McDonald's Corp. is expected to launch its new Arch Deluxe sandwich nationwide later this month, a move that could broaden both its menu and its appeal to adult consumers. "It's a product that they hope will appeal to adults," an analyst said."

"Gun siege at restaurant"

Photo caption: "An unidentified gunman holding a gun to the head of one of his hostages at a McDonald's restaurant in Montpelier, southern France, during a five hour siege. The man, reportedly homeless, at first held all the customers and staff, but released most of them. After a tense stand-off with police, he freed the remaining three, threw down his gun and gave himself up. Nobody was injured."

Don't put your trust in McDonald's

A former employee, who worked until recently at the Hampstead branch of McDonald's (NW London), has told the McLibel Support Campaign that after McDonald's were supposedly only using Dutch beef (as a result of the BSE scare), in fact the stocks of British beef in the freezer at this store were still being used.

The ex-employee also revealed that at this store the 'Vegetable Deluxe' (the veggie burger recently introduced at all UK outlets) were kept in the same drawer as the Chicken McNuggets.

The Hampstead McDonald's was opened in 1992 despite a tremendous amount of local opposition to it. There was an 11 year battle with local residents, which only worked out in McDonald's favour because they bought small premises with an existing licence to sell hot food.

McDonald's Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy

In the USA, McDonald's advertise the number of hamburgers served, proudly displaying the information under its golden arches. The signs say "billions and billions served". But don't ask them how many they serve, they won't tell.

As part of my research on food and changing eating habits, I called McDonalds and asked them how many people they "served" each day. They did not return my calls. Seven phone calls and 2 faxes later and they still won't say. The only response I got was when I wrote to them on my law office letterhead. They called and asked why I wanted the information and if I would use it in any way that would reflect negatively on McDonald's. I asked them if they have a policy which determines who is given information and who isn't based on certain criteria of censorship. They said they'd get back to me, but so far I haven't even received the student information packet they promised. You'd think I was asking them for the recipe for their secret sauce.
From Claire Cummings

McDonald's spy satellites plot expansion

I am a vegan science writer and on 1st May I attended the 1996 Global Air and Space conference at a hotel in Arlington VA, held under the auspices of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

In the exhibit hall an executive of a mid-sized aerospace company told me, to my dismay, that he has been informed that McDonald's is the largest commercial "consumer" of space imagery taken from Earth orbit.

They are said to take and make sophisticated year-by-year comparisons of neighborhood densities in deciding where to try to inflict/infect with yet more outlets. Another gross misuse of space technology.
From A. Hogan

Pictures in McDonald's Annual Report possible fakes

Anyone who has the McDonald's Corp. new 1995 Annual Report, turn to page 31. If you don't have one, you can call up + 1 708-575-3000, and ask for investor relations. They'll mail you one.

But on page 31, there are nine pictures, each with a time-stamp in the corner. It shows how using modular technology, a McDonald's in England was constructed in just 9 hours. The problem is, after I looked closely at the pictures, it is clear that at least some of the photos were touched-up, and may have been taken on different days.

If you look at the photos marked 7:30 am and 9:00 am. You'll notice much construction completed on the lot building the McDonald's. But if you look at the cars and traffic in the background, most all the cars are the same, and are still in the same spot! This is an intersection. But why haven't the cars moved? That must have been some traffic jam! One, or both, of these photos obviously have been altered.

Also, the vast changes in weather between some of the pictures indicates to me they were taken on different days. At 11:00 am the streets are wet. Just one hour later at 12:00 pm, it's sunny and dry. At 12:30 pm, it's cloudy and wet again. But by 1:00 pm, everything quickly dried-out, and it's sunny again. And at 2:15 pm and 4:30 pm, it's cloudy and wet again. To have such vast weather changes, and for the humidity to change so quickly for the streets to dry out so fast, I would think is a very, very, rare occurence. Also, the shadows between 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm seemed to have moved a huge amount in just one hour. But since I don't know the latitude or time of year in England this picture was taken, I guess there might be a possibility of this large of shadow movement, but I doubt it.

What I did was call shareholder relations and ask them to look at the annual report as I pointed this stuff out. Maybe, I just wanted to give them a hard time. At first, when I asked why the traffic didn't move, the lady on the other end told me it could have been from traffic congestion. I said, "come on, now." England must have the world's most patient drivers if all those cars at the intersection didn't move at all. But, there were a few cars that did move, in the foreground. This all indicated to me the picture(s) were touched-up.

I then questioned her about the weather. Finally, she indicated to me the pictures were designed to show a McDonald's could be constructed in 9 hours, but it wasn't meant to represent how a specific one is being constructed. But there was nothing in the pictures, or in its explanation, to indicate such. By what was written in the annual report, it seemed to be an actual one being constructed in England in one day.

In any event, does anyone think these pictures could constitute fraud, by misleading shareholders? A shareholder might think McDonald's can expand faster with one-day construction, and this might influence his/her's investment decision. But what if McDonald's can't construct restaurants in a day? Maybe they can, but they sure couldn't do it in these pictures!
From D. C. Dining

Last Week at McDonald's