Results tagged “mcdonalds”

One Greenpoint mom is riled up after coming face to face with evil corporate sponsorship at this past weekend's Pumpkin Fest in McCarren Park. She tells Miss Heather:

Meet McDonald's "Mom's Quality Correspondents," brand ambassadors for the corporation who tour the country convincing other mothers that McDonald's food can provide perfectly nutritious sustenance for their children. It's unclear how much these fast food collaborators are being paid to sell out America's children to the fast food industry, but they've been at it for a couple years now, and they hit Manhattan yesterday to put an end to the crazy idea that McDonald's products are uniformly unhealthy.

Buyers at 111 Central Park North, what the Post dubs Harlem's "most expensive condo," are unhappy about a McDonald's making it way into the ground floor retail space. The Post reports, "Aghast at the potential grease stench, rodents, loitering and trash, not to mention plummeting property values, some say they would rather chip in and rent or buy the ground-floor space themselves than have the golden arches move in." Condo board president Gary Davis put it bluntly, "There's a stigma to... a luxury building having McDonald's as a retail tenant," and noted that many residents have terraces, "There would be a concern that every time you're out there, you would be kind of overwhelmed by a McDonald's smell or any fried food." The ground floor space's owner Tom Shapiro tells the Post if McDonald's moves in, "he...envision[s] a more upscale version of McDonald's similar to one in a Philippe Starck-designed condo on 23rd Street. That outlet has padded banquette seating, fancy light fixtures and a flat screen TV." Of course, that McDonald's was also derided.

[S.W.A.G. UPDATE BELOW] Predictably, it's being called the doughnut wars: news that beloved Canadian coffee-and-doughnuts chain Tim Hortons will replace thirteen prominent NYC Dunkin' Donuts locations operated by the Riese Organization on Monday morning has all kinds of North Americans drawing battle lines in the powdered sugar. By the end of next month, sixteen Tim Hortons will be open in NYC, pitting Munchkins against Timbits (thankfully no A-holes are involved).

A McDonald's in The Bronx had a real McDowell's-like situation on its hand when an employee intervened with a gun-toting mugging going on. But in this Soundview altercation, the action took place outside of the fast food joint when the guard of the Golden Arches spotted a couple attacking a man filling up his tank at a nearby gas station. And luckily for the McDonald's security guard who spotted the altercation and decided to get involved, he didn't have to rely on Prince Akeem's martial arts skills with a mop stick—he opened fire with his own weapon. The guard had a little background with using a firearm to chase down perps—he's a former cop. He was able to shoot one of the muggers in the leg, but the man's girlfriend was able to round up her partner in crime and drive off before the two could be apprehended. An 18-year-old fellow employee of the guard's at the restaurant said, "He shot first and he pistol-whipped [the driver]. His head was bleeding a lot. [Then] the security guard went out shooting. It's crazy. You don't expect this. I mean, I only work at McDonald's."

Tomorrow many New Yorkers will be coming together to celebrate notions of rebirth and unity—not just in churches around town for Easter Sunday, but in Times Square as well for the lesser known and more violent "Gang Initiation Day." The Post says that the high holy day has become an annual ritual for local gangs—in 2006, they say that more than 200 gang members came through the area with three stabbings being reported. One cop told them, "It's the same nonsense every year. It's been going on a long time." The McDonald's in Times Square is one of many businesses that closed down in the wake of the '06 incidents and this year will have double its normal security on hand. a manager told the paper, "They come in, they throw chairs, they throw cups of ice at each other. It's a disaster."

New York City has a strange relationship with fast food restaurants—our first McDonald’s, for example, opened in 1973, ten full years after the franchise had sold its one-billionth hamburger. McDonald’s initially took off in the Big Apple in part because diners accustomed to the joint’s kitsch and cheeseburgers were eager to share it with others. The opening of a new fast food restaurant within the five boroughs, it so happens, is hardly ever completely new to everyone.

Guess which restaurant icon isn't sweating the economic downturn? One Ronald McDonald, Esq. (pictured here with a fan). McDonald's reported a 5.4% sales increase nationwide last month (compared to last January). The big business is largely attributed to the impeccable quality of the chain's cuisine, as well as its inviting, romantic ambiance. Also, the economy; diners like Tristan Engram, a 22-year-old OTB employee in from Brooklyn, tell the Post he's been slumming it at Mickie D's because the fancier T.G.I. Friday's is now beyond his reach. Which now means the Wall Street execs will have to jockey for the best tables. But besides the value menu, McDonald's has also aggressively expanded into the fancy latte arena formerly dominated by Starbucks; this week the franchise will try to wring some brand loyalty from fashionistas as the official coffee of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, serving "espresso-based beverages" at the "exclusive McCafé lounge" in the tents.

It's like the fast food version of Sad Guys on Trading Floors. The Post examines how formerly high-flying Wall Street executives are eating at McDonald's these days (and there are photos!). One said, "You've got to save when you can. I've got two kids in college...I try to do it once a week. It's cheap and it's easy." Another added, "I get the Number 2 meal for $5.45. I don't Super-Size it." Good that he's trying to stay relatively healthy! And McDonald's is looking to enhance its relationship with downsizing customers (as well as its usual base): The Street reports, "McDonald's said it plans to invest $2.1 billion of capital to open about 1,000 new restaurants and upgrade existing locations."

    

Last night was the annual At The Table event for Women Chefs & Restaurateurs, a group that supports “education and advancement of women in culinary fields.” Chefs, culinary school students, and supporters gathered at the Prince George Ballroom for a sweet and savory tasting, general networking, and to raise awareness for the group’s scholarship and internship programs.

Turns out the cheese in McDonald’s cheeseburgers is actually made with real dairy! The Wall Street Journal reports that the rising cost of cheese has put the franchise’s famed Dollar Menu in jeopardy. Some restaurants are now pushing a double cheeseburger with just one slice of cheese instead of the usual two. At other locations the price has been jacked up to an obscene $1.10. Now McDonald’s executives are considering yanking cheese from it altogether and calling it a double hamburger. But then there’s the price of beef to consider, which is also rising! It’s only a matter of time before the double mime burger – wheat-free bun, some lettuce and a little imagination – is rolled out.

A Queens woman has just joined the growing family of New Yorkers who've found foreign objects in their fast food. Last week a man found a serrated knife in his Subway sandwich, now a 25-year-old Julisa Caba says she discovered a metal screw when she bit into a McDonald’s apple pie. A Health Department spokesman tells the Daily News, “The McDonald's [on 21st Street in Astoria] will receive a full sanitary inspection, with additional focus spent on the possible source of the screw.” Franchise owner Michael Giunta may also be in trouble for failing to factor in the screw when displaying the apple pie’s calorie info.

It was the jalapeno all along. Yesterday the F.D.A. announced that after a three month investigation into a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 1,251 people in 43 states, officials have finally been able to match the bacteria strain to a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled by a small Texas produce shipper. Fresh tomatoes were previously believed to be the culprit, and an F.D.A. warning against certain tomato varieties has cost growers an estimated $450 million. Oopsy!

Although the F.D.A. has been unable to pinpoint the source of a recent salmonella outbreak that infected over 1,190 people in 42 states, officials have announced that all varieties of tomatoes currently in the fields and in stores are safe to eat.

As if mocking the inadequacy of federal investigators, a ruthless army of salmonella-tainted tomatoes continues to sicken Americans, and the FDA seems utterly helpless to pinpoint the source. Frustrated officials admitted yesterday that the trail had run cold, and the agency's food safety chief, Dr. David Acheson, told reporters “maybe we were being too optimistic” in earlier statements about cracking the case.

Everybody relax: New York grown tomatoes are perfectly safe to eat raw, at least according to the government. Yesterday the State Department of Agriculture tried to calm a jittery public with an announcement that a recent salmonella outbreak is not linked to tomatoes grown in the Empire State. At least 23 people have been hospitalized across the country, mostly in New Mexico and Texas, where the first fatality was reported yesterday.

Panic is gripping stomachs nationwide as news spreads about a salmonella food poisoning outbreak caused by certain varieties of tomatoes. The FDA has not been able to pinpoint the source of the poisoning, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports at least 23 people, mostly in New Mexico and Texas, have been hospitalized since mid-April, with no fatalities… yet. The main symptoms are diarrhea and extreme abdominal pain.

The owners of the rooftop Ronald McDonald have stepped forward! We received the following email today from one of them (Ali), telling us:

That's my apartment featured in your Ronald McDonald story; it actually was not stolen; my roommate [Michael] saved it from McDonald's garbage one night and then lugged it up five flights of stairs. He's a hero if you ask me.

A McDonald's on the corner of 56th and 8th in Manhattan is missing a Ronald -- but an aerial view of the area shows him safe and sound lounging on a private rooftop. Williamsboard posters report, "someone who lives in the six-story building next door took advantage of a second floor window that lets them out onto the McDonald's roof...".

Howard Beach residents are probably shaking their heads over reports of yet another allegedly racially motivated attack in their neighborhood. The police say that a group of white teenagers claims they were attacked by a group, who were made up of Hispanics and blacks.

The early Thursday morning fight in Union Square was apparently set off by a diss. The Post reports that the victims were all affiliated with gangs and the "violence appeared to have stemmed from a show of 'disrespect.'"

Early this morning, four people were hit by gunfire and another person was stabbed while in Union Square Park. WABC 7 says that a fight "broke out in a McDonald's at 17th and Broadway." And then someone fired into a crowd in Union Square Park - it's unclear if the fight from McDonald's traveled into the park.

A 29-year-old Chinatown resident was charged with murdering his new girlfriend in the apartment he shares with his grandmother. Michael Chin Lenahan allegedly called his brother in NJ to say "I screwed up." His mother later went to the apartment and found a woman's body on her son's bed, under clothes.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue off the beach at 105th St. and Shore Front Parkway in Queens, a person struck by a train at 77th St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting at Martin Luther King Pl. and Tompkins Ave. in Brooklyn.
• A middle-aged man was arrested Sunday evening after attempting to rob a McDonald's on Staten Island, but settling for ripping the clear acrylic box of donations for charity from the counter and making off with it.
• Cemusa, the Spanish company that brought us the city's new bus stop shelters, will be installing a new Grimshaw Architects-designed uniform replacement for New York's eclectic newsstand designs.
• The city will begin notifying pedicab applicants by mail today who has been granted, via a lottery where existing pedicab owners received preference, a license to operate their vehicles. Nonetheless, there will be a number of existing pedicab drivers who will be prohibited from continuing working as pedal-powered transit.
• There is currently no credible threat against Jewish targets, but as Rosh Hashanah begins tonight and marks the start of the Jewish high holy days, the NYPD will be stepping up security around possible targets of terrorism.
• Former NY Jet Curtis Martin may be the purchaser of Brooklyn's priciest condo: the $7.25 million penthouse triplex on Brooklyn Bridge State Park with 360 degree views of the city.
• The Travel section of the Times acknowledges that cool Brooklyn does not end at Bedford Ave., and ventures as far as Havermeyer and Berry St. along Grand St. Get there before it's totally played out.
• The ink is still drying on Rupert Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones, but New York Post editor and alleged strip club afficionado Col Allan dropped by the offices of The Wall Street Journal, probably trying to pacify the upset reporters who are already seeing their pay cut through decreased health insurance contributions.

Yesterday, the city announced that cigarette smoking by construction workers most likely caused the seven-alarm fire at the under-demolition Deutsche Bank building that claimed the lives of two firefighters on August 18. FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said, "Smoking was engaged in throughout the building, and particularly on the 17th floor, where the fire originated."

What do tourists like more than walking slowly in bunches, visiting Ground Zero, buying fake handbags in Chinatown, and wearing socks with sandals? Eating at restaurants they can find at home! The Post is reporting that IHOP (aka the International House of Pancakes) is in talks with Vornado to open a location at 1540 Broadway (btwn 45th and 46th). It would be the 2nd Manhattan location for the chain - the first location opened in 2004 at 135th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem.

After two days on life support, the 56-year-old bodega owner, who was shot in the face during a robbery attempt, died yesterday morning and police continued their search for the group suspected of robbing a number of bodegas over the past four months. Police Commissioner Kelly said the robbers are "certainly" considered "dangerous," but Cruz's family wonders why the police didn't tell the community about the robberies.

The city has agreed to pay $2 million to the parents of an unarmed Brooklyn teen who was fatally shot by a police officer three years ago. In January 2004, police officer Richard Neri was patrolling a Brooklyn rooftop with another officer at 1AM. Around the same time the other officer had opened a door to the stairwell, Timothy Stansbury and his friends were heading upstairs, to go to a party in another building in the Louis Armstrong Houses development by crossing over the roofs. But Neri had fired his gun and Stansbury died an hour and a half later. The NY Times has a particularly evocative illustration of the circumstances of the death.

After last week's revelation that a Bronx Chinese restaurant allegedly refused a diner's payment of $2.75 when it included 10 pennies and the ensuing media spectacle, the Daily News decided to send one of its reporters to test the penny tolerance of various fast food establishments. Reporter Ethan Rouen traveled to five eateries, including Jesus Taco and McDonald's.