fast-food

A very controversial job at McDonald’s

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:18:03 +0100

This is a recruitment ad for a position at the Cuba branch of McDonald's. Strangely enough, they seem to have forgotten to mention, that the only McDonald's on the island, is in the Guantanamo Bay prison...

Six thousand hungry staff work at the controversial prison, seen below in 1994. Photo taken by a Navy Officer and published in Joint Task Force Guantanamo's in-house magazine.

China scaring kids out of fast food chains

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:59:44 +0100

Look carefully at this picture. If you weren't scared of feeding a burger to your six-year-old, you might be now. The ad is part of an awareness campaign launched by the Chinese authorities, who are dealing with an ever-widening population. At the same time however, Beijing city centre is just about to open its first ever Burger King.

While the city of Shanghai is abuzz with preparations for the 2010 World Expo, Beijingers have another thing on their minds: Burger King. Although other fast-food chains exist in the capital, aside from the one rather inconvenient station at the airport, Beijing proper is currently not home to Burger King's whopper. A much-anticipated first outlet of the fast food chain however, is supposed to debut soon in the commercial area of Xidan. Major restaurant review website Dianpin has already devoted an entire page to the new Burger King, on which eager meat-eating minions are readily expressing their enthusiasm for its huangbao, or "emperor burger".

Although true to its name, this Chinese version of the whopper may be fit for a modern day emperor, but after eating the huangbao, will the emperor still fit into his clothes? Before Burger King even opens, the Chinese are already facing an obesity problem, with one in six, or 215 million people, overweight or obese. This still remains relatively low compared with Western countries however - even in France, almost one in three people are classed as overweight.

If you’re not religious, you’re not welcome at Denny’s

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:30:14 +0200

Image: Bee Racasa on Flickr.

A Texas branch of American diner chain Denny's has come under fire for offering a 10% discount to church-going customers. Web user Jeff Wagg came across the following poster in a Denny's restaurant in Texas, photographed it and posted the image online, condemning the company for religious discrimination.

There are over 2,500 branches of Denny's worldwide, including in Canada, Jamaica and New Zealand. The fast food chain has been operating since the first branch opened in California in 1953. In the early 1990s the company was involved in several lawsuits following accusations from racial minorities who suffered discriminatory service.

Turning junk food into first-class dishes, no added extras

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:32:54 +0200

It looks like handcrafted tortellini made from fresh pasta and the finest ingredients. But the meal you see above has been assembled entirely from a Taco Bell Burrito Supreme. Want to know how to serve junk food as top-notch nosh?

New Yorker Erik Trinidad's concept is to take dishes from popular fast food restaurants and transform them into gourmet looking meals without adding - apart from a bit of garnishing - any new ingredients. He's already succeeded with several unusually named Fancy Fast Food creations. The pasta dish pictured here is christened "Tacobellini"...

A practical joke that will steer you clear of fast-food… forever

Team Observers — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:56:03 +0200

These videos show Domino's Pizza staff doing revolting things to food being prepared for delivery. Posted online on Monday, the clips have resulted in the pair being sacked and facing felony charges, a fast-food giant in a PR crisis, and a million sickened viewers. Revolting indeed, but according to our Observer, a former McDonald's employee, the incident is not something that happens everyday.

The "Disgusting Domino's People" videos have taught us two things - firstly, that despite the name, the people who prepare "fast-food" still have enough time to indulge in gross acts before delivering your burger/ sandwich/ pizza, and secondly, that in the age of YouTube, a sudden PR crisis is something all companies should prepare for. Within two days of the clips being posted, Domino's had tracked down, fired, and filed charges against the pair responsible, uploaded a video response, and set up a twitter account for queries over the affair.

Despite YouTube's efforts to remove them (at the request of the owner), the original video clips are being repeatedly reposted by web users. No wonder Domino's is considering banning video cameras in stores from now on...

Do you work at Domino's or in another fast-food restaurant? Tell us what the kitchens are like there.

A 'whopper' of an insult to Mexicans?

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:53:17 +0200

Burger King is cooking up a storm with its "Texican Whopper" ad, which shows a tiny Mexican wrestler befriending a lanky American cowboy for what they describe as "the taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican". Offensive?

"United by destiny"

The ad is only being shown in Spain and the UK for the time being. It was the Mexican ambassador to the former country, Jorge Zermeño, who announced Monday that he'd written a formal complaint to the company, requesting for the campaign to be removed. Burger King, which has yet to respond, is not the first American fast-food giant to upset the Mexicans. There was furor in 1997 when Taco Bell launched a campaign featuring a pint-sized Chihuahua that barked "Yo quiero Taco Bell!" (I want Taco Bell) in a Mexican accent.

Domino's Pizza vs. Subway, total advertising warfare

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:48:49 +0100

In light of a fast-food consumption slow-down in the US, dwindling customers are being fought over in an all-out advertising war by bitter sandwich makers. In the latest squabble, pizza chain Domino's set fire to a written complaint from sandwich chain Subway on national TV. It's something that would never happen in Europe because of regulations - is comparative advertising necessary?

The latest feud started when Americans stopped eating so many pizzas. In effect, the country's second biggest pizza seller, Domino's, decided to branch out into toasted sandwiches. And then brag about how much better they tasted than Subway's equivalent in a TV advert. The campaign was somewhat confusing, but the message was clear - Domino's toasted sandwiches outdid Subway's two to one in a national taste test. Furious, Subway sent a letter to Domino's asking them to take the ads off air, citing four objections to the methodology behind the ‘test'. Apparently not fazed by the threat, Domino's got their taste test claims reviewed by lawyers and TV networks, and once they received the ok, aired the following during the "American Idol" commercial break...