McDonald's is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serv

ing around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries across 35,000 outlets.[5]
[6] Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue
restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald. In 1948, they reorganized t
heir business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Businessman
Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. He subsequently purch
ased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth.[7]
A McDonald's restaurant is operated by either a franchisee, an affiliate, or the
corporation itself. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent, roy
alties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated r
estaurants. In 2012, the company had annual revenues of $27.5 billion and profit
s of $5.5 billion.[8] According to a 2012 BBC report, McDonald's is the world's
second largest private employer behind Walmart with 1.9 million employees, 1.5 milli
on of whom work for franchises.[9]
McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken, french fries, bre
akfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, and desserts. In response to changing con
sumer tastes, the company has expanded its menu to include salads, fThe business
began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonal
d at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino, California (at 3
4.1255N 117.2946W). Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 fur
thered the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant that the White Castle h
amburger chain had already put into practice more than two decades earlier. The
first McDonalds with the arches opened in Phoenix in March 1953. The original ma
scot of McDonald's was a man with a chef's hat on top of a hamburger-shaped head
whose name was "Speedee". By 1967, Speedee was eventually replaced with Ronald
McDonald when the company first filed a U.S. trademark on a clown-shaped man hav
ing puffed-out costume legs.
On May 4, 1961, McDonald's first filed for a U.S. trademark on the name "McDonal
d's" with the description "Drive-In Restaurant Services", which continues to be
renewed through the end of December 2009. On September 13 that same year, the co
mpany filed a logo trademark on an overlapping, double-arched "M" symbol. By Sep
tember 6, 1962, this M-symbol was temporarily disfavored, when a trademark was f
iled for a single arch, shaped over many of the early McDonald's restaurants in
the early years. Although the "Golden Arches" logo appeared in various forms, th
e present version as a letter "M" did not appear until November 18, 1968, when t
he company applied for a U.S. trademark.
The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restau
rant by Czech American businessman Ray Kroc in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15
, 1955, the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall; this location was demolished in
1984 after many remodels. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in
the company and led its worldwide expansion, and the company became listed on t
he public STOCK MARKETS ten years later. Kroc was also noted for aggressive busi
ness practices, compelling the McDonald brothers to leave the fast-food industry
. Kroc and the McDonald brothers all feuded over control of the business, as doc
umented in both Kroc's autobiography and in the McDonald brothers' autobiography
. The San Bernardino restaurant was demolished in 1976 (1971, according to Juan
Pollo) and the site was sold to the Juan Pollo restaurant chain. This area now s
erves as headquarters for the Juan Pollo chain, as well as a McDonald's and Rout
e 66 museum.[13] With the expansion of McDonald's into many international MARKET
S, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the Americ
an way of life. Its prominence has also made it a frequent topic of public debat
es about obesity, corporate ethics and consumer responsibility.
Headquarters

McDonald's Plaza, located in Oak Brook, Illinois is the headquarters of McDonald

's
The McDonald's headquarters complex, McDonald's Plaza, is located in Oak Brook,
Illinois. It sits on the site of the former headquarters and stabling area of Pa
ul Butler, the founder of Oak Brook.[14] McDonald's moved into the Oak Brook fac
ility from an office within the Chicago Loop in 1971.[15]
Products
Main article: List of McDonald's products
See also: McDonald's products (international)
McDonald's predominantly sells hamburgers, various types of chicken, chicken san
dwiches, French fries, soft drinks, breakfast items, and desserts. In most MARKE
TS, McDonald's offers salads and vegetarian items, wraps and other localized far
e. On a seasonal basis, McDonald's offers the McRib sandwich. Some speculate the
seasonality of the McRib adds to its appeal.[16] Various countries, especially
in Asia, are currently serving soup. This local deviation from the standard menu
is a characteristic for which the chain is particularly known, and one which is
employed either to abide by regional food taboos (such as the religious prohibi
tion of beef consumption in India) or to make available foods with which the reg
ional MARKET is more familiar (such as the sale of McRice in Indonesia, or Ebi (
prawn) Burger in Singapore). In Germany and other Western European countries, Mc
Donald's sells beer. In New Zealand, McDonald's sells meat pies, after the local
affiliate partially relaunched the Georgie Pie fast food chain it bought out in
1996.
Corporate overview
Facts and figures
By 1993, McDonald's had sold more than 100 billion hamburgers. The once widespre
ad restaurant signs that boasted the number of sales, such as this one in Harlem
, were left at "99 billion" because there was only space for two digits.
The McDonald's in Northport, Alabama commemorates President Ronald Reagan's visi
t
McDonald's restaurants are found in 118 countries[17] and territories around the
world and serve 68 million customers each day.[5] McDonald's operates over 35,0
00 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.7 million people.[17] The compan
y also operates other restaurant brands, such as Piles Caf.
Focusing on its core brand, McDonald's began divesting itself of other chains it
had acquired during the 1990s. The company owned a majority stake in Chipotle M
exican Grill until October 2006, when McDonald's fully divested from Chipotle th
rough a STOCKexchange.[18][19] Until December 2003, it also owned Donatos Pizza.
On August 27, 2007, McDonald's sold Boston Market to Sun Capital Partners.[20]
Notably, McDonald's has increased shareholder dividends for 25 consecutive years
,[21] making it one of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.[22][23] In October 2012
, its monthly sales fell for the first time in nine years.[24] In 2014, its quar
terly sales fell for the first time in seventeen years, when its sales dropped f
or the entirety of 1997.[25]
Board of directors
As of November 2014, the Board of directors had the following members:[26]
Andrew J. McKenna, Chairman
Susan E. Arnold, Operating Executive, Global Consumer & Retail Group of The Carl
yle Group
Robert A. Eckert, Operating Partner of Friedman Fleischer & Lowe
Enrique Hernandez, Jr., President and CEO of Inter-Con Security
Jeanne P. Jackson, President, Product and Merchandising for Nike, Inc.

Richard H. Lenny, Operating Partner of Friedman Fleischer & Lowe

Walter E. Massey, President of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Cary D. McMillan, CEO of True Partners Consulting LLC
Sheila A. Penrose, Non-executive Chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle
John W. Rogers, Jr, Chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments
Roger W. Stone, Chairman and CEO of KapStone Paper and Packaging
Donald Thompson, President and CEO
Miles D. White, Chairman and CEO of Abbott Laboratories
Types of restaurants
Most standalone McDonald's restaurants offer both counter service and drive-thro
ugh service, with indoor and sometimes outdoor seating. Drive-Thru, Auto-Mac, Pa
y and Drive, or "McDrive" as it is known in many countries, often has separate s
tations for placing, paying for, and picking up orders, though the latter two st
eps are frequently combined; it was first introduced in Arizona in 1975, followi
ng the lead of other fast-food chains. The first such restaurant in Britain open
ed at Fallowfield, Manchester in 1986.[27]
A Montevideo McCaf
In some countries, "McDrive" locations near highways offer no counter service or
seating. In contrast, locations in high-density city neighborhoods often omit d
rive-through service. There are also a few locations, located mostly in downtown
districts, that offer Walk-Thru service in place of Drive-Thru.
To accommodate the current trend for high quality coffee and the popularity of c
offee shops in general, McDonald's introduced McCaf, a cish, wraps, smoothies, fr
uit,[10][11] and seasoned fries.[12]-style accompaniment to McDonald's restauran
ts in the style of Starbucks. McCaf is a concept created by McDonald's Australia
(colloquially known as "Maccas"), starting with Melbourne in 1993. Today, most M
cDonald's in Australia have McCafs located within the existing McDonald's restaur
ant. In Tasmania, there are McCafs in every store, with the rest of the states qu
ickly following suit. After upgrading to the new McCaf look and feel, some Austra
lian stores have noticed up to a 60% increase in sales. At the end of 2003 there
were over 600 McCafs worldwide.
Some locations are connected to gas stations/convenience stores,[28][unreliable
source?] while others called McExpress have limited seating and/or menu or may b
e located in a shopping mall. Other McDonald's are located in Walmart stores. Mc
Stop is a location targeted at truckers and travelers which may have services fo
und at truck stops.[29]
Since 1997, one kosher McDonald's has been located in the Abasto mall, in Buenos
Aires, Argentina. This is in addition to many kosher branches in Israel.[30][31
]
Global operations
See also: List of countries with McDonald's restaurants and International availa
bility of McDonald's products
Countries with McDonald's restaurants, showing their first year with its first r
estaurant
McDonald's has become emblematic of globalization, sometimes referred to as the
"McDonaldization" of society. The Economist newspaper uses the "Big Mac Index":
the comparison of a Big Mac's cost in various world currencies can be used to in
formally judge these CURRENCIES' purchasing power parity. Norway has the most ex
pensive Big Mac in the world as of July 2011, while the country with the least e
xpensive Big Mac is India[32] (albeit for a Maharaja Mac the next cheapest Big Mac
is Hong Kong).[33]

A McDonald's Ebi Feast meal sold at Singapore branches in November 2013

Thomas Friedman once said that no country with a McDonald's had gone to war with
another.[34][full citation needed] However, the "Golden Arches Theory of Confli
ct Prevention" is not strictly true. Exceptions are the 1989 United States invas
ion of Panama, NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999, the 2006 Lebanon War, and the 2
008 South Ossetia war. McDonald's suspended operations in its corporate-owned st
ores in Crimea after Russia annexed the region in 2014.[35] On August 20, 2014,
as tensions between the United States and Russia strained over events in Ukraine
, and the resultant U.S. sanctions, the Russian government temporarily shut down
four McDonald's outlets in Moscow, citing sanitary concerns. The company has op
erated in Russia since 1990 and at August 2014 had 438 stores across the country
.[36] On August 23, 2014, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich ruled
out any government move to ban McDonald's and dismissed the notion that the temp
orary closures had anything to do with the sanctions.[37]
McDonald's, Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai, India
Some observers have suggested that the company should be given credit for increa
sing the standard of service in MARKETS that it enters. A group of anthropologis
ts in a study entitled Golden Arches East[38] looked at the impact McDonald's ha
d on East Asia, and Hong Kong in particular. When it opened in Hong Kong in 1975
, McDonald's was the first restaurant to consistently offer clean restrooms, dri
ving customers to demand the same of other restaurants and institutions. McDonal
d's has taken to partnering up with Sinopec, the second largest OIL company in t
he People's Republic of China, as it takes advantage of the country's growing us
e of personal vehicles by opening numerous drive-thru restaurants.[39] McDonald'
s has opened a McDonald's restaurant and McCaf on the underground premises of the
French fine arts museum, The Louvre.[40]
The company stated it will open vegetarian-only restaurants in India by mid-2013
.[41]
Playgrounds
[icon] This section requires expansion. (May 2014)
McDonald's in Panorama City, Los Angeles, California designed for family-friendl
y image
McDonald's in rural Qatar.
Some McDonald's in suburban areas and certain cities feature large indoor or out
door playgrounds. The first PlayPlace with the familiar crawl-tube design with b
all pits and slides was introduced in 1987 in the USA, with many more being cons
tructed soon after.
Redesign
An American McDonald's in Mount Pleasant, Iowa in June 2008; this is an example
of the "new" look of American McDonald's restaurants
An American McDonald's in Germantown, Maryland in September 2013
An Irish McDonald's in Port Laoise, County Laois, Ireland in August 2012; this i
s a relatively modern restaurant complete with a drive-through
Brand new McDonald's in Richmond Hill, Ontario including a McCafe.
In 2006, McDonald's introduced its "Forever Young" brand by redesigning all of i
ts restaurants, the first major redesign since the 1970s.[42][43]
The goal of the redesign is to be more like a coffee shop, similar to Starbucks.
The design includes wooden tables, faux-leather chairs, and muted colors; the r

ed was muted to terra cotta, the yellow was shifted to golden for a more "sunny"
look, and olive and sage green were also added. To create a warmer look, the re
staurants have less plastic and more brick and wood, with modern hanging lights
to produce a softer glow. Many restaurants now feature free Wi-Fi and flat scree
n TVs. Other upgrades include double drive-thrus, flat roofs instead of the angl
ed red roofs, and replacing fiber glass with wood. Also, instead of the familiar
golden arches, the restaurants now feature "semi-swooshes" (half of a golden ar
ch), similar to the Nike swoosh.[44]
Business model
McDonald's Corporation earns revenue as an investor in properties, a franchiser
of restaurants, and an operator of restaurants. Approximately 15% of McDonald's
restaurants are owned and operated by McDonald's Corporation directly. The remai
nder are operated by others through a variety of franchise agreements and joint
ventures.[citation needed]
The McDonald's Corporation's business model is slightly different from that of m
ost other fast-food chains. In addition to ordinary franchise fees and MARKETING
fees, which are calculated as a percentage of sales, McDonald's may also collec
t rent, which may also be calculated on the basis of sales. As a condition of ma
ny franchise agreements, which vary by contract, age, country, and location, the
Corporation may own or lease the properties on which McDonald's franchises are
located. In most, if not all cases, the franchisee does not own the location of
its restaurants.[citation needed]
The United Kingdom and Ireland business model is different from the U.S, in that
fewer than 30% of restaurants are franchised, with the majority under the owner
ship of the company. McDonald's trains its franchisees and others at Hamburger U
niversity in Oak Brook, Illinois.[citation needed]
In other countries, McDonald's restaurants are operated by joint ventures of McD
onald's Corporation and other, local entities or governments.[citation needed]
As a matter of policy, McDonald's does not make direct sales of food or material
s to franchisees, instead organizing the supply of food and materials to restaur
ants through approved third party logistics operators.[citation needed]
According to Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (2001), nearly one in eight work
ers in the U.S. have at some time been employed by McDonald's. Employees are enc
ouraged by McDonald's Corp. to maintain their health by singing along to their f
avorite songs in order to relieve stress, attending church services in order to
have a lower blood pressure, and taking two vacations annually in order to reduc
e risk for myocardial infarction.[45]
Fast Food Nation also states that McDonald's is the largest private operator of
playgrounds in the U.S., as well as the single largest purchaser of beef, pork,
potatoes, and apples. The selection of meats McDonald's uses varies to some exte
nt based on the culture of the host country.[citation needed]
Smoking ban
McDonald's began banning smoking in 1994, when it banned smoking within its 1,40
0 wholly owned restaurants.[46]
Wages
See also: Fast food worker strikes
As reported by Glassdoor, McDonald's pays entry level employees between $7.25 an
hour and $11 an hour with an average of no higher than $8.69 an hour. Shift man
agers get paid an average of $10.34 an hour. Assistant managers get paid an aver
age of $11.57 an hour.[47] However, multiple studies and lawsuits have shown tha
t many McDonald's restaurants pay less than the minimum wage to entry positions

due to wage theft.[48] Many McDonald's workers have decided to go on strike in p

rotest for receiving these wages since November 2012.[49] McDonald's CEO, Steve
Easterbrook, currently earns an annual salary of $1,100,000.[50]
Advertising
Main article: McDonald's advertising
McDonald's has for decades maintained an extensive advertising campaign. In addi
tion to the usual media (television, radio, and newspaper), the company makes si
gnificant use of billboards and signage, sponsors sporting events ranging from L
ittle League to the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games.[51] McDonald's makes coole
rs of orange drink with its logo available for local events of all kinds. Noneth
eless, television has always played a central role in the company's advertising
strategy.
To date, McDonald's has used 23 different slogans in United States advertising,
as well as a few other slogans for select countries and regions.[52] At times, i
t has run into trouble with its campaigns.
Space exploration
McDonald's and NASA explored an advertising agreement for a planned mission to t
he asteroid 449 Hamburga; however, the spacecraft was eventually cancelled.[53]
Children's advertising
Main articles: Ronald McDonald and McDonaldland
Sports awards and honors
See Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans
Charity
See also: Ronald McDonald House Charities
McHappy Day
McHappy Day is an annual event at McDonald's, where a percentage of the day's sa
les go to charity. It is the signature fundraising event for Ronald McDonald Hou
se Charities.[54]
In 2007, it was celebrated in 17 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazi
l, Canada, the United States, Finland, France, Guatemala, Hungary, England, Irel
and, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Uruguay.
According to the Australian McHappy Day website, McHappy Day raised $20.4 millio
n in 2009. The goal for 2010 was $20.8 million.[55]
McDonald's Monopoly donation
In 1995, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital received an anonymous letter post
marked in Dallas, Texas, containing a $1 million winning McDonald's Monopoly gam
e piece. McDonald's officials came to the hospital, accompanied by a representat
ive from the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, who examined the card under a jewe
ler's eyepiece, handled it with plastic gloves, and verified it as a winner.[56]
Although game rules prohibited the transfer of prizes, McDonald's waived the ru
le and has made the annual $50,000 annuity payments, even after learning that th
e piece was sent by an individual involved in an embezzlement scheme intended to
defraud McDonald's (see McDonald's Monopoly).
Criticism
A PETA activist dressed as a chicken confronts the manager of the Times Square M
cDonald's over the company's animal welfare standards
In 1990, activists from a small group known as London Greenpeace (no connection
to the international group Greenpeace) distributed leaflets entitled What's wron
g with McDonald's?, criticizing its environmental, health, and labor record. The
corporation wrote to the group demanding they desist and apologize, and, when t
wo of the activists refused to back down, sued them for libel in one of the long

est cases in British civil law. A documentary film of the McLibel Trial has been
shown in several countries."BBC NEWS | UK | McLibel: Longest case in English hi
story". BBC News. Retrieved April 9, 2015.In the late 1980s, Phil Sokolof, a mil
lionaire businessman who had suffered a heart attack at the age of 43, took out
full page newspaper ads in New York, Chicago, and other large cities accusing Mc
Donald's menu of being a threat to American health, and asking them to stop usin
g beef tallow to cook their french fries.[citation needed]
Despite the objections of McDonald's, the term "McJob" was added to Merriam-Webs
ter's Collegiate Dictionary in 2003.[57][unreliable source?] The term was define
d as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunit
y for advancement".[58]
In 2001, Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation included criticism of the busine
ss practices of McDonald's. Among the critiques were allegations that McDonald's
(along with other companies within the fast food industry) uses its political i
nfluence to increase its profits at the expense of people's health and the socia
l conditions of its workers. The book also brought into question McDonald's adve
rtisement techniques in which it targets children. While the book did mention ot
her fast-food chains, it focused primarily on McDonald's.
In 2002, vegetarian groups, largely Hindu and Buddhist, successfully sued McDona
ld's for misrepresenting its French fries as vegetarian, when they contained bee
f broth.[59]
Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary film Super Size Me said that McDonald's food
was contributing to the epidemic of obesity in society, and that the company was
failing to provide nutritional information about its food for its customers. Si
x weeks after the film premiered, McDonald's announced that it was eliminating t
he super size option, and was creating the adult Happy Meal.
Screenshot from McDonald's Videogame
In 2006, an unsanctioned McDonald's videogame was released online. It is parody
of the business practices of the corporate giant, taking the guise of a tycoon s
tyle business simulation game. In the game, the player plays the role of a McDon
ald's CEO, choosing whether or not to use controversial practices like genetical
ly altered cow feed, plowing over rainforests, and corrupting public officials.
McDonald's issued a statement distancing itself from the game.[60]
In January 2014 it was reported that McDonald's was accused of having used a ser
ies of tax maneuvers to avoid paying its fair share of taxes in France. The comp
any confirmed that tax authorities had visited McDonald's French headquarters in
Paris but insisted that it had not done anything wrong, saying, "McDonald's fir
mly denies the accusation made by L'Express according to which McDonald's suppos
edly hid part of its revenue from taxes in France."[61]
Arguments in defense
In response to public pressure, McDonald's has sought to include more healthy ch
oices in its menu and has introduced a new slogan to its recruitment posters: "N
ot bad for a McJob".[62] (The word McJob, first attested in the mid-1980s[63][un
reliable source?] and later popularized by Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland in
his book Generation X, has become a buzz word for low-paid, unskilled work with
few prospects or benefits and little security.) McDonald's disputes this defini
tion of McJob. In 2007, the company launched an advertising campaign with the sl
ogan "Would you like a career with that?" on Irish television, asserting that it
s jobs have good prospects.
In an effort to respond to growing consumer awareness of food provenance, the fa
st-food chain changed its supplier of both coffee beans and milk. UK chief execu

tive Steve Easterbrook said: "British consumers are increasingly interested in t

he quality, sourcing and ethics of the food and drink they buy".[64] In a bid to
tap into the ethical consumer market,[65] McDonald's switched to using coffee b
eans taken from STOCKS that are certified by the Rainforest Alliance, a conserva
tion group. Additionally, in response to pressure, McDonald's UK started using o
rganic milk supplies for its bottled milk and hot drinks, although it still uses
conventional milk in its milkshakes, and in all of its dairy products in the Un
ited States.[66] According to a report published by Farmers Weekly in 2007, the
quantity of milk used by McDonald's could have accounted for as much as 5% of th
e UK's organic milk output.[67]
McDonald's announced on May 22, 2008 that, in the United States and Canada, it w
ould switch to using cooking oil that contains no trans fats for its french frie
s, and canola-based oil with corn and soy OILS, for its baked items, pies and co
okies, by year's end.[68][69]
With regard to acquiring chickens from suppliers who use CAK or CAS methods of s
laughter, McDonald's says that it needs to see more research "to help determine
whether any CAS system in current use is optimal from an animal welfare perspect
ive."[70]
Environmental record
In April 2008, McDonald's announced that 11 of its Sheffield, England restaurant
s have been engaged in a biomass trial that had cut its waste and carbon footpri
nt by half in the area. In this trial, wastes from the restaurants were collecte
d by Veolia Environmental Services, and were used to produce energy at a power p
lant. McDonald's plans to expand this project, although the lack of biomass powe
r plants in the United States will prevent this plan from becoming a national st
andard anytime soon.[71] In addition, in Europe, McDonald's has been recycling v
egetable grease by converting it to fuel for its diesel trucks.[72]
McDonald's has been using a corn-based bioplastic to produce containers for some
of its products. The environmental benefits of this technology are controversia
l, with critics noting that biodegradation is slow, produces greenhouse gases, a
nd that contamination of traditional plastic wastestreams with bioplastics can c
omplicate recycling efforts.[73]
In 1990 McDonald's worked with the Environmental Defense Fund to stop using "cla
m shell" shaped styrofoam food containers to house its food products.[74] 20 yea
rs later McDonald's announced they would try replacing styrofoam coffee cups wit
h an alternative material.[75]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized McDonald's continuous ef
fort to reduce solid waste by designing more efficient packaging and by promotin
g the use of recycled-content materials.[76] McDonald's reports that it is commi
tted towards environmental leadership by effectively managing electric energy, b
y conserving natural resources through recycling and reusing materials, and by a
ddressing water management issues within the restaurant.[77]
In an effort to reduce energy usage by 25% in its restaurants, McDonald's opened
a prototype restaurant in Chicago in 2009, with the intention of using the mode
l in its other restaurants throughout the world. Building on past efforts, speci
fically a restaurant it opened in Sweden in 2000 that was the first to intention
ally incorporate green ideas, McDonald's designed the Chicago site to save energ
y by incorporating old and new ideas such as managing storm water, using skyligh
ts for more natural lighting and installing some partitions and tabletops made f
rom recycled goods.[78]
When McDonald's received criticism for its environmental policies in the 1970s,
it began to make substantial progress in reducing its use of materials.[79] For

instance, an "average meal" in the 1970s a Big Mac, fries, and a drink required 46 g
rams of packaging; today, it requires only 25 grams, allowing a 46% reduction.[8
0] In addition, McDonald's eliminated the need for intermediate containers for c
ola by having a delivery system that pumps syrup directly from the delivery truc
k into storage containers, saving two million pounds (910 tonnes) of packaging a
nnually.[81] Overall, weight reductions in packaging and products, as well as th
e increased usage of bulk packaging ultimately decreased packaging by twenty-fou
r million pounds (11,000 tonnes) annually.[82]
Legal cases
Main article: McDonald's legal cases
McDonald's has been involved in a number of lawsuits and other legal cases, most
of which involved trademark disputes. The company has threatened many food busi
nesses with legal action unless it drops the Mc or Mac from TRADING names. In on
e noteworthy case, McDonald's sued a Scottish caf owner called McDonald, even tho
ugh the business in question dated back over a century (Sheriff Court Glasgow an
d Strathkelvin, November 21, 1952). On September 8, 2009, McDonald's Malaysian o
perations lost a lawsuit to prevent another restaurant calling itself McCurry. M
cDonald's lost in an appeal to Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court.[83]
McDonald's has defended itself in several cases involving workers' rights. In 20
01, the company was fined 12,400 by British magistrates for illegally employing a
nd over-working child labor in one of its London restaurants[citation needed] (R
v 2002 EWCA Crim 1094). In April 2007, in Perth, Western Australia, McDonald's
pleaded guilty to five charges relating to the employment of children under 15 i
n one of its outlets and was fined A$8,000.[84]
Possibly the most famous legal case involving McDonald's was the 1994 decision i
n Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants where Stella Liebeck was awarded several mil
lion dollars after she suffered third-degree burns after spilling a scalding cup
of McDonald's coffee on herself.[85]
Employment practices
See also: Fast food worker strikes
On August 5, 2013, The Guardian revealed that 90% of McDonalds' UK workforce are
on zero hour contracts, making it possibly the largest such private sector empl
oyer in the country.[86]
A study released by Fast Food Forward conducted by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
showed that approximately 84% of all fast food employees working in New York Ci
ty in April 2013 had been paid less than their legal wages by their employers.[8
7]
From 2007 to 2011, fast food workers in the US drew an average of $7 billion of
public assistance annually resulting from receiving low wages.[88] The McResourc
e website advised employees to break their food into smaller pieces to feel full
er, seek refunds for unopened holiday purchases, sell possessions online for qui
ck cash, and to "quit complaining" as "stress hormone levels rise by 15 percent
after ten minutes of complaining."[89] In December 2013, McDonald's shut down th
e McResource website amidst negative publicity and criticism. McDonald's plans t
o continue an internal telephone help line through which its employees can obtai
n advice on WORK AND LIFE problems.[90]
In March 2015, McDonald's workers in 19 US cities filed 28 health and safety com
plaints with OSHA which allege that low staffing, lack of protective gear, poor
training and pressure to work fast has resulted in injuries. The complaints also
allege that, because of a lack of first aid supplies, workers were told by mana
gement to treat burn injuries with condiments such as mayonnaise and mustard. Th
e Fight for $15 labor organization aided the workers in filing the complaints.[9
1]

Use of genetically modified food

In April 2014, it was reported that McDonald's will use, in Europe, chicken meat
which was produced by using genetically modified animal feed. Greenpeace argues
that McDonald's saves less than one Eurocent for each chickenburger and goes do
wn a path not desired by its customers.[92]
See also
Book icon
Book: McDonald's
Arcos Dorados Holdings
Burger King the second largest burger chain
Wendy's the third largest hamburger chain
MaDonal a restaurant operating in northern Iraq that copies many features of McDon
alds, illicitly
Maxime, McDuff & McDo-documentary film about the unionizing of a McDonald's in M
ontreal, Quebec, Canada
List of hamburger restaurants
List of restaurant chains