Tag: fast food

  • McDonald’s UK faces weekly sex abuse claims

    London (AFP) – McDonald’s boss in Britain said Tuesday the US fast-food giant faces “one to two” sexual harassment allegations from workers every week, as he vowed to tackle the issue recently exposed by the BBC.

    Alistair Macrow, chief executive of McDonald’s UK and Ireland, told a watchdog parliamentary committee that the chain’s management also receives around five reports a week of bullying.

    He said that his employees’ accounts of alleged harassment and racism were “truly horrific and hard to listen to”.

    It follows the BBC reporting in July numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, racism and bullying by staff at McDonald’s outlets in Britain.

    The company says it has dismissed 18 employees and taken 75 disciplinary measures, after examining 157 reported cases, since the scandal emerged.

    Some 249 cases remain to be investigated, it has said.

    Law firm Leigh Day recently launched group legal action against McDonald’s after the BBC aired the accusations, which included employees’ claims they were “groped and harassed almost routinely”.

    McDonald’s UK opened a specialist unit to investigate the allegations, which stemmed from the accounts of around 100 staff, according to the British broadcaster.

    Appearing before lawmakers in parliament, Macrow reiterated that he was “absolutely determined to root out any of these behaviours”.

    He pledged to identify individuals who are responsible for them and “make sure they are eradicated from our business”.

    But earlier in the hearing, union leaders claimed that, contrary to those assertions, the situation had not improved within McDonald’s since it launched its internal probes.

    The unions also claim that the firm has a history of using out-of-court settlements in response to such allegations, including non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

    The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union alleged four years ago that more than 1,000 female employees of the fast-food giant were victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

    This year’s BBC investigation revealed that many female employees under the age of 18 reported being sexually or emotionally harassed.

    One ex-employee, Shelby, who was only 16 when she started working at McDonald’s, told the broadcaster that she was constantly touched in an inappropriate and unwanted ways by older male employees in the kitchen.

    The fast-food chain has 177,000 employees in the UK, many of whom are young workers, including teenagers.

  • McDonald’s Pakistan donates Rs1 crore to aid Gaza victims via Edhi Foundation

    McDonald’s Pakistan donates Rs1 crore to aid Gaza victims via Edhi Foundation

    McDonald’s Pakistan has officially announced a donation of Rs1 crore to provide support to Gaza victims through the Edhi Foundation. This announcement was made via the company’s official social media account on X (formerly known as Twitter).

    This philanthropic effort arises amidst a global controversy surrounding McDonald’s due to allegations of indirectly supplying free meals to the Israeli occupation army. In response, McDonald’s Pakistan, in an official statement, clarified its stance by emphasising that it is an independently operated entity with no connections to McDonald’s Israel.

    The company reiterated its commitment to addressing the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, underscoring its dedication to assisting those impacted by the ongoing conflict in the region. However, it’s important to note that this act of goodwill also sheds light on the broader controversy surrounding McDonald’s, as its involvement in providing complimentary meals to the Israeli occupation army has triggered global protests and boycott movements.

    Numerous McDonald’s branches in different countries have taken swift measures to distance themselves from the actions of the Israeli branch, asserting that the Israeli branch’s actions do not represent their own positions. This announcement may be an attempt to mitigate the backlash from some Pakistanis who criticised the food chain for its perceived support of Israel. Whether these events have impacted McDonald’s Pakistan’s sales remains uncertain at this time.

  • McDonald’s re-opens in Russia with a different name

    McDonald’s re-opens in Russia with a different name

    McDonald’s restaurants in Russia have reopened under a new identity. The name of the restaurant is now Vkusno & tochka (“Tasty and that’s it”). The first 15 locations of the new Russian fast-food business that bought out McDonald’s opened in Moscow on Sunday.

    “Our goal is that our guests do not notice a difference either in quality or ambience,” said Oleg Paroev, chief executive of Vkusno & tochka.

    “We had to remove some products from the menu because they refer directly to McDonald’s, such as the McFlurry and Big Mac,” Paroyev said.

    Prices have risen “slightly” due to the inflation that has hit Russia hard after Western countries imposed sanctions, but they remain “reasonable”, he added.

    The menu items are similar to what McDonald’s sells – including chicken nuggets, fish burgers, and fruit pies, but with different packaging.

    McDonald’s in May announced that after more than 30 years of operations in the country, it will exit the Russian market. The decision was taken due to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

  • Burger King workers write ‘we all quit’ on signboard, quit jobs

    Burger King workers write ‘we all quit’ on signboard, quit jobs

    Employees and a general manager at a Burger King outlet in Nebraska, United States, quit their jobs amid worsening work conditions and used the restaurant’s sign to let customers know.

    “We all quit,” the sign at the Lincoln Burger King read. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”

    Rachael Flores, who had worked as a general manager there since January, had put in her two weeks notice and eight other employees also resigned before deciding to post the message on the sign, KLKN reported.

    “They have gone through so many district managers since I’ve been GM,” Flores said. “No one has come to the store to help me out. They’re so in and out.”

    Flores said the restaurant is short-staffed and she would end up working 50 to 60 hours a week. She said at one point they did not have working air-conditioning in the kitchen, where temperatures reached 90 degrees. Flores had to go to the hospital as she was dehydrated.

    Employees had joked on Friday about putting up the message. On Saturday, they put it up on one side of the sign.

    Read More: Restaurant makes ‘world’s most expensive burger’ for $6,000

    “They wanted to put up a sign to say, you know sorry there’s really not going to be anyone here,” Flores said.

     “Just kind of a laugh to upper management. That was put up (Saturday) before we opened, and I didn’t think anybody was going to notice it, because we did just one sign, and then it went pretty crazy on Facebook. I got a call from my upper management and they told me I needed to take it down.”

    Flores’ boss fired her later that day and the location is still open. Burger King did not responed to the incident.

  • KFC suspends its ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ slogan due to COVID-19

    KFC suspends its ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ slogan due to COVID-19

    KFC has announced it will be suspending its slogan “It’s Finger Lickin’ Good” due to coronavirus. The food chain has used the slogan for more than six decades but is now skipping it because of the pandemic.

    The fastfood chain, in a statement, on Monday said that it would not be using the slogan for the first time in 64 years because it “doesn’t quite feel right”.

    “We find ourselves in a unique situation – having an iconic slogan that doesn’t quite fit in the current environment,” Catherine Tan-Gillespie, global chief marketing officer at KFC said.

    The menu isn’t changing and the company said the slogan will return when the “time is right.”

    The decision comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised people not to touch their eyes, nose and mouth amid the pandemic.

    In a YouTube video posted on the company’s UK and Ireland account, KFC blurred ‘finger lickin’ on old billboards and buckets of chicken after the announcement.

    “That thing we always say? Ignore it. For now,” the video reads.