How The New McDonald’s CEO Could Improve Restaurants Worldwide

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(yarnzombie)

For years now, we’ve referred to Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed as “curiously Australian,” since it’s unexpected and exotic for a Tex-Mex fast-food joint to be run by someone from the other side of the planet. Now another fast-food company has a chief executive from elsewhere in the Anglophone world: the incoming CEO of McDonald’s, Steve Easterbrook, is British.

Don Thompson, who will step down on March 1st, started with the company as an electrical engineer and worked his way up to the top job. Easterbrook started as an accountant, and served as CEO of McDonald’s UK. Changes made in restaurants in that country under Easterbrook’s leadership are things that American consumers have found lacking at McDonald’s.

Fruit: Well, no one goes to McDonald’s because they’re in the mood for health food, but McDonald’s in the United States has been experimenting with feeding more fruit to their youngest customers. Instead of a confusing array of Happy Meal options that include apples or tangerines, McDonald’s UK started a simple enough promotions: free bags of fruit with every Happy Meal on the first Friday of every month.

Environmental responsibility: Okay, “McDonald’s” and “environmental responsibility” might sound like they contradict each other, but they don’t. McDonald’s UK started a composting program, returning food scraps to the earth.

Food sourcing: This is important, since food sourcing is part of why Chipotle has become so popular with young adults in the US. McDonald’s UK sells beef, pork, and organic milk that has been sourced from inside the country, and coffee that’s Rainforest Alliance-certified. They’ve only used sustainably caught fish since 2001.

Fish sticks: We’re not sure whether this is a good or bad thing, but McDonald’s UK sells fish sticks that are similar to the Filet-O-Fish patty, or “fish fingers” as they’re called over there. That’s not necessarily something that American consumers are clamoring for, but it’s an interesting difference.

McDonald’s in US vs. UK: How New British CEO May Transform the Burger Chain [ABC News]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Cablevision Sues Verizon, Claims “Fastest WiFi” Ads Are Misleading

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(Alec Taback)

Competing companies often call each other out for exaggerations in ads and other marketing sleight of hand, but Cablevision has decided to let the legal system settle its dispute with Verizon over claims of who has the “fastest WiFi available.” Meanwhile, Verizon says the lawsuit is a marketing ploy to sell Cablevision’s WiFi phone service.

The suit [PDF], filed today in a U.S. District Court in New York, accuses Verizon of making misleading statements that not are not only false advertising about its own products but which also mislead consumers with regard to Cablevision.

“Verizon’s false claim of WiFi speed superiority is deliberately designed to undercut Cablevision’s competitive WiFi advantage in the marketplace,” reads the complaint, which adds that the Verizon claims are “likely to interfere” with Cablevision’s recently announced WiFi-only voice, text, and data service.

“The false ads in Verizon’s campaign are designed to undermine the competitive threat Cablevision’s WiFi services pose to multiple facets — both internet and cellular service — of Verizon’s business,” continues the suit.

Cablevision contends that Verizon is basing its speediest WiFi boast on the new AC1750, 802.11ac routers that its customers are gaining access to. The problem is, according to the complaint, that Cablevision already offers AC1750, 802.11ac routers to its customers, and has for about a year.

Since both companies are offering effectively the same WiFi routers to customers in the same general area, Cablevision doesn’t see how Verizon could claims its service is the fastest, especially when customers have to pay up to $199.99 (or $9.99/month) for Verizon’s while Cablevision’s is included with service.

The suit also points out that Cablevision has rolled out more than 1 million WiFi hotspots for customer use in the New York City tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT), meaning subscribers have wider access to WiFi out of home, as Verizon’s hotspots in the area are actually licensed through third parties.

It’s worth noting that Cablevision has introduced a large number of its hotspots in a similar and controversial fashion to Comcast, by using using each company-supplied wireless router for both the at-home subscriber and WiFi users on the go. Companies that do this claim that users of the public WiFi will not be able to access the home network and that the public use does not affect service to the paying subscriber, though many people are skeptical about both of these claims.

Back to the complaint… It takes particular issue with the fine print in Verizon ads that support the “fastest WiFi” claim by citing a study that Cablevision believes was privately commissioned and is not available to public.

Cablevision says it sent a letter to Verizon on Jan. 23 demanding the withdraw of the ads in question and explaining that the routers being offered by both companies are identical. The company also requested a copy of the study Verizon cites in its ads.

According to the complaint, when legal reps for both companies spoke, Verizon again pointed to this study but as of today had not made it available.

“Verizon’s false advertising campaign is especially damaging to Cablevision because Cablevision’s superior WiFi capabilities have long been a market differentiator for Cablevision,” reads the suit, which alleges violations of federal false advertising prohibitions and New York state laws regarding deceptive business practices.

When reached for comment a rep for Verizon said the company had not yet seen the lawsuit, which was filed at the end of business today. However, Verizon believes the suit is a “boldface ploy to promote Cablevision’s latest wireless gambit.”

“A third party has tested and validated the FiOS Quantum Gateway Router,” continues the statement. “It offers the fastest in-home Wi-Fi available from any provider. As usual, Cablevision is confusing consumers by using an apples to oranges comparison of in-home and public Wi-Fi.”

What may be confusing to many consumers is the discussion of “fastest WiFi” at all, as many casual viewers might assume this means fastest broadband access when in fact one has little to do with the other.

You can have the fastest in-home WiFi on Earth but if your Internet connection is slow as mud — or if your ISP is deliberately allowing your Netflix stream to bottleneck — that world’s fastest router can’t speed up data it’s not receiving.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Campbell Soup Reorganizes, Focuses On Non-Soup Food

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(Jennifer Snyder)

People aren’t buying as much canned soup as they used to. Whether it’s because meals with a cream of mushroom base have gone out of style or people have left for other brands, Campbell’s canned soups aren’t selling like they used to. That’s why Campbell Soup Company is reorganizing its business to focus on lines of food other than soup.

Instead of organizing itself by geographic regions or by brand, the company will organize itself according to food type. Campbell owns some brands that you might not have associated with the company, like Bolthouse Farm vegetables, Pepperidge Farm, Plum Organics baby food, Prego pasta sauce, Spaghetti-Os, and V8. The company will now organize itself into divisions in charge of packaged meals and beverages, cookies and snacks, and fresh packaged produce.

It’s not that people aren’t eating soup, but Americans are switching to store brands or to smaller gourmet or organic brands of packaged soup. Campbell’s has tried to compete with other brands, but an attempt to reach young foodies with $3 plastic pouches of soup that isn’t organic, gluten-free, or vegan didn’t really succeed.

Campbell Soup to reorganize, shift focus from soup business [Reuters]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Chipotle’s Non-Burrito Pizzeria Concept Expands Eastward

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For the last couple of years, Chipotle has been playing around with pizza at the few Pizzeria Locale eateries it has in Colorado. But now the eatery is looking to the east and seeing there are hungry mouths to feed in the Kansas City area, where another Locale is set to open this summer.

The Kansas City Star reports that a Pizzeria Locale restaurant will open up next door to an existing Chipotle in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City, MO, and will employ between 15-20 people.

The Pizzeria Locale idea, which is a partnership between Chipotle and restaurant founders Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, brings Chipotle’s made-to-order practices to the pizza business, using ovens that can blast a custom-made pizza in a matter of a few minutes.

The selection of Kansas City is interesting as it was one of the first (but not the first, as the Star writes) non-Colorado destinations for Chipotle when that chain first began expanding more than 15 years ago.

Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson opened their first Pizzeria Locale, a full-service restaurant, in 2011 in Boulder. Then Chipotle became interested and backed the opening of two quick-service locations in 2013 and 2014, both in Denver.

Now it’s a wait-and-see game to find out if Kansas City residents will take to this new pizza or if they’ll stick with the pies they know.

[via Eater]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Olive Garden Revamps Menu, Invites Food Snobs To Come Whine About It

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(David Buchwald)

Olive Garden has never pretended to be a center of fancy cuisine or healthy eating. Its selling point the quantities of food available, including and especially breadsticks coated with garlic salt. Olive Garden is currently trying to rebrand itself, introducing a new logo and adding new ideas to the menu, like burgers and tapas. Is that enough to impress food snobs? Of course not. It’s Olive Garden.

Investor Starboard Value criticized many things about the O.G., from its failure to boil water with pasta to its over-generous breadstick baskets. The company does need to do better, but can the restaurant succeed? Of course: this is America. All you need to do is deep-fry as many vegetables as possible and slather cheese on every surface.

At least, that’s the impression we get from a review of the new menu preview Either it was a terrible idea for Olive Garden to invite local food bloggers in Detroit to a tasting event for its new menu, or the chain knew exactly what it was doing. Either way, what we’ve learned is that Olive Garden is not holding back on the cream sauces, that they do sad and terrible things to innocent meat and seafood, and that their food has a vague relationship to the true nature of Italian food. This new menu should be a hit.

The invitation to bloggers said that “Olive Garden recently unveiled the most significant menu revolution in the restaurant’s history,” which sounds promising. The problem, of course, is that people who have food blogs tend to be people who sneer at Olive Garden’s entire approach to food. That’s why this Metro Times review of the chain’s tasting menu almost sounds like a commercial, if you are a person who likes Olive Garden’s particular approach to Italian food. Maybe you are not fussy about your risotto, and piling tomato sauce on salmon and calling it “bruschetta” sounds appealing. It might be. However, reviewer Michael Jackman wonders where this idea came from, since it was definitely not Italy.

The menu says the dish was “inspired by journeys through Italy.” If so, the journey must have been at very high speed and on powerful hallucinogens, and does through airspace count as through?

Maybe it was a journey through Italy where the only word that the traveler could say in Italian was “formaggio,” resulting in a very strange reflection of Italian cuisine.

We went and tried Olive Garden’s ‘new’ menu so you don’t have to [Metro Times]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

China’s Ministry Of Commerce Pledges To Crack Down On Counterfeit Items Sold Online

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(Pamela Greer)

After another Chinese government agency scolded e-commerce giant Alibaba and its eBayesque subsidiary Taobao over its mismanagement of its business and for selling or allowing bogus goods to be sold to the public, the country’s Ministry of Commerce has pledged to crack the whip on the online industry and try harder to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods.

Without naming Alibaba or any other specific selling sites, the ministry’s spokesman announced the pledge today.

“The sale of fake goods at some online stores is rampant,” ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said at a press briefing, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, saying the government, companies and consumers should work together to address the problem.

Yesterday the State Administration for Industry and Commerce criticized Alibaba in a white paper, alleging that Alibaba and Taobao allowed for products to be sold that infringe on trademarks, or are of substandard quality. The paper said the company looked the other way when fake cigarettes, alcohol and branded counterfeit bags were sold on its marketplace sites, along with weapon sales and other things the public shouldn’t be able to buy.

According to the WSJ, that paper has now been removed from the SAIC website, with a press rep saying she didn’t know why it was gone.

China to Crack Down on Sale of Fake Goods Online [Wall Street Journal]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Video Game Simulates The Singular Thrill Of Assembling IKEA Furniture

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Unlike many of my friends, I enjoy assembling IKEA furniture — to a point. I have been known to utter a few Scandinavian profanities after a few days of shredding my fingers with an allen wrench. Now a video game will apparently allow me to enjoy that unique thrill of putting together a nonsense-named end table without enduring any physical or spiritual injuries.

Höme Improvisåtion is a free game for both Windows and Mac that puts you in a living room with some decidedly IKEA-like furniture that is missing one key component — IKEA’s all-but-wordless assembly guides.

And you’re not only stuck having to sort out the pieces sans instructions. Once you’ve put a peg into what you hope is its associated hole, it’s stuck. At least with real IKEA furniture, you can usually work your way backward when you make an assembly error.

All the pegs fit into all the holes, which means you can create whatever furniture Frankenstein you want from the pieces available.

The game also offers a multiplayer experience that is supposed to aid in your faux-IKEA constructions, but which we predict will only end in dissolved friendships.

“Or labor alone and descend into madness,” the above preview video suggests.

[via CNET]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist