posted 03-08-2004 02:32 AM                       

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McDonald's phasing out super-size fries, drinks in U.S. restaurants Mar. 2, 2004

Provided by: Canadian Press

CHICAGO (AP) - Say goodbye to those super-sized fries - McDonald's is slimming down its menu.

The hamburger giant has started phasing out its trademark Supersize fries and drinks in its U.S. restaurants as part of an effort to simplify its menu and give customers choices that support "a balanced lifestyle," a company spokesman said Tuesday. By the end of 2004, super size will no longer be available at the country's 13,000-plus McDonald's outlets except in certain promotions, McDonald's spokesman Walt Riker said.

The move comes as the world's largest restaurant company, and fast-food chains in general, are under growing public pressure to give consumers healthier food options in a country that has suddenly become aware of its bulging waistline and the resulting health dangers.

McDonald's added entree salads last year and has been moving to provide more fruit, vegetable and yogurt options with its Happy Meals. But the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company remains a magnet for public concerns - and legal actions - about obesity.

Riker said the changes started going into effect in January.

"This core menu, which has been under development since 2002, simplifies our menu and restaurant operations and provides a balance of choices for our customers," he said. "A component of this overall simplification, menu and balanced lifestyle strategy is the ongoing phase-out of the Supersize fry and the Supersize drink options."

The company did not immediately disclose other details of the menu changes.

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McDonald's Press Release 03/02/2004

McDonald's Media Response to Core Menu and Super Sizing

McDonald’s is focused on delivering an exceptional customer experience that includes a consistent and relevant menu, with a range of choices that support a balanced lifestyle.

To achieve this, we will have a national core menu in all US restaurants by the end of 2004. This core menu, which has been under development since 2002, simplifies our menu and restaurant operations, and provides a balance of choices for our customers. A component of this overall simplification, menu and balanced lifestyle strategy is the ongoing phase-out of the Super Size fry and the Super Size drink options (the drink size will only be available as a promotional option).

Our U.S. core menu was developed in 2002 and tested and finalized in 2003. Implementation began the first of January and we anticipate it will be completed by the end of 2004.

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posted 03-08-2004 02:49 AM                    

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...with a range of choices that support a balanced lifestyle.

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Yeah, right...

Stupid litigation-happy people have the CHOICE to NOT super-size their friggin combo!!! It's not as if you are required to get everything super-sized!!!

-Aaron

posted 03-09-2004 10:19 AM                       

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This myth-shattering book tells the story of America and the world’s infatuation with fast food, from its origins in 1950s southern California to the global triumph of a handful of burger and fried chicken chains. In a meticulously researched and powerfully argued account, Eric Schlosser visits the labs where scientists re-create the smell and taste of everything - from cooked meat to fresh strawberries; talks to the workers at abattoirs with some of the worst safety records in the world; explains exactly where the meat comes from and just why the fries taste so good; and looks at the way the fast food industry is transforming not only our diet but our landscape, economy, workforce and culture.

Both funny and terrifying, Fast Food Nation will make you think, but more than that, it might make you realize you don’t want a quick bite after all.

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To a degree both engrossing and alarming, the story of fast food is the story of postwar America. Though created by a handful of mavericks, the fast food business has triggered the homogenization of our society. Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled the juggernaut of American cultural imperialism abroad. That’s a lengthy list of charges, but Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.

Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from the Californian subdivisions where the business was born to the industrial corridor along the New Jersey Turnpike where many of fast food's flavors are concocted. He hangs out with the teenagers who make the restaurants run and communes with those unlucky enough to hold America's most dangerous job -- meatpacker. He travels to Las Vegas for giddily surreal franchisers' convention where Mikhail Gorbachev delivers the keynote address. And he ventures to England and Germany to unlock the rate at which those countries are becoming fast food nations.

Along the way, Schlosser unearths a trove of fascinating, unsettling truths -- from the unholy alliance between fast food and Hollywood to the seismic changes the industry has wrought in food production, popular culture, and even real estate. He also uncovers fast food chains' enormous efforts to reel in the youngest, most susceptible consumers and hone the institutionalized exploitation of teenagers and minorities. Schlosser then turns a critical eye toward globalization -- a phenomenon launched by fast food.

Fast Food Nation is a groundbreaking work of investigation and cultural history, likely to transform the way America thinks about the way it eats.

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