https://www.messynessychic.com/2023/07/ ... es-beyond/
It’s time for a little gratuitous and greasy fast food nostalgia. Lovin’ it or hatin’ it, McDonald’s is a permanent fixture of the modern high street, but the nineties were a particularly experimental era for the multinational corporation. Ronald & co were poised to push the boundaries of what a fast-food chain could achieve and make sure those golden arches followed us wherever we went – across country, over water, mountains and even into the skies. Climb aboard!
In 1993, McDonald’s was ready to expand its empire by partnering with German train line Deutsche Bundesbahn (or DB) to create a mini restauraurant “dining experience” for railway passengers. In order to transform a set of dining service cars on German trains, Micky D’s installed fully equipped kitchens including deep fryers, soda dispensers and ice cream machines. The restaurants on wheels offered a breakfast menu, followed by the lunch and dinner menu, but in addition to the standard fare of burgers and fries, they also wanted to add some more regionally specific items (like Viennese sausage) to entice consumers.
The venture came at a time when McDonald’s was hitting some setbacks and consumers were complaining that the food just didn’t stack up against competitors like Burger King and Wendy’s. Several marketing blunders and the loss of a contract with Disney lead to a decrease in profits and popularity. The U.S. market was struggling, however, abroad McDonald’s was charging full steam ahead, surpassing Coca-Cola to become the biggest brand in the world. It seemed like this was the perfect market for the McTrain to enter the stage and catapult the world famous burger chain to even greater heights and make up for US sector sluggishness.
So what happened to McDonald’s big dream of conquering the railways? Well, several things. First off, selling cheap hamburgers and fries is one thing in cities and quite another on cross-country railway cars. The McTrain’s journey followed the Hamburg-Berchtesgarden line, which was a long route stretching the length of the countryside. German passengers were accustomed to much finer dining during their scenic journey, so the inexpensive-comfort-food-novelty didn’t quite fit the mood.
More importantly, however, these rolling McDonald’s dining cars proved to be a money pit. Selling fast food on a train means that there are only so many passengers to sell to. Overall train ridership was down as more and more people were choosing to fly. The dining cars were also a huge power suck, using about 90 kilowatts of power; double the standard usage. Those McFlurries won’t freeze and mix themselves after all! Keeping track of inventory was a nightmare too. Reportedly, the McTrain dining cars resupplied from McDonald’s restaurants along the route, which proved to be a logistical nightmare. And if a train left early, or if the McDonalds-trained staff were running late and missed the train, there would be no one to run the dining car. Rolling McDonald’s restaurants just did not make the profits the burger giant had hoped for. But wait – since air travel was on the rise, can you guess where the fast food chain put its sights on next?
In 1996, Swiss air carrier, Crossair, teamed up with tour company Hotelplan, to create a McPlane. The first flight was from Switzerland to Greece, and the McPlane was kitted out in the golden arches and wrapped in the chain’s iconic red ketchup color.
Even the seats were red leather and embroidered with the “M” logo. Passengers could order all the classic menu items; nuggets, burgers, and milkshakes, but notably, not fries. The reason? No one wanted a grease fire while the plane was cruising at 30,000 ft. Sounds reasonable to us. Perhaps the only thing that will come close to the McAirplane experience today is in Taupo, New Zealand which put itself on the map with a decommissioned DC3 as their McDonald’s restaurant. Tables are set up inside.
