9 things you didn’t know about McDonald’s

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If you’re into cheap food on the go, chances are you’ve eaten at a McDonald’s once or maybe hundreds of times in your life! This famous fast-food restaurant has more than 14,200 stores around the United States.

But there’s more to McDonald’s than meets the eye. Read on for some well-known and some obscure facts about the Golden Arches.

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McDonald’s saw a big boost after rolling out all-day breakfast last year

10:30 a.m. used to signal last call for items on the McDonald’s breakfast menu…until October 6, 2015. That’s the date when the chain rolled out all-day breakfast to the satisfaction of fans everywhere.

The move had been long anticipated. When McDonald’s announced the change via Twitter, it jokingly responded to tweets sent as far back as 2007 from hungry fans asking for all-day breakfast. Some of those tweets were sent by TV personalities like Erin Andrews and Chrissie Teigen.

All-day breakfast was quickly embraced by customers everywhere, easily helping McDonald’s post same-store sales gains of 5.4% in the first quarter of this year.

All-day breakfast has set up a McMuffin vs. Biscuit divide in the country!

10 things you didn't know about McDonalds

The switch to all-day breakfast presented some logistical challenges. For example, how to prepare eggs on the grill for both McMuffins and Biscuits?

The answer? You can’t. So McDonald’s turned to its restaurants to gauge whether their customers would want McMuffins or Biscuits as part of the all-day breakfast menu.

The overwhelming victor in much of America is the McMuffin sandwich.

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Egg McMuffin fans in particular are probably lovin’ the recent switch to real butter (instead of margarine) and the return of the original English muffin to their favorite breakfast sandwich.

The Southeast, meanwhile, remains a strong enclave of Biscuit lovers.

Remember, a house divided against itself cannot stand — but it sure can sit and have a quick breakfast bite any time of day or night!

More big changes could be coming to the menu

A big potential change to McDonald’s menu is coming: Fresh (not frozen) beef patties are being tested in 14 restaurants throughout the Dallas area.

That’s a historic change in the supply chain model for McDonald’s, considering the restaurant has always used frozen burger patties. No word yet if this test will be expanded to other markets or when we might see a national rollout.

In other menu news, the chain is tinkering with other foods too. For example, garlic fries with locally sourced garlic from Gilroy, Calif., are being tested at a smattering of San Francisco locations.

Even the centerpiece of the McDonald’s menu — the Big Mac — may see some changes. The chain is experimenting with both larger and smaller sizes of Big Macs in the Columbus, Ohio, and Dallas markets.

You can get free stuff when you download McDonald’s app

Need an incentive to download McDonald’s mobile app? How about free food?! Here’s what’s being offered right now for new mobile app users:

  • Free medium fries on Friday with any purchase (Offer valid on Fridays from 5/16/16 – 7/24/16 & 8/29/16 – 9/25/16)
  • Free medium fries with any large sandwich purchase (Offer valid from valid 5/16/16 – 7/24/16)
  • Buy five McCafe beverages, get one free (Offer valid from valid 5/16/16 – 12/31/16)

Once you download the app, you’ll also have access to other deals and special savings in the future.

McDonald’s is the most visited restaurant chain in America

Almost half of America eats McDonald’s in a given month, according to new findings from 24/7 Wall Street. To be precise, 49.8% of people visited one of McDonald’s 14,259 stores in April 2016. That makes it the most visited restaurant chain and the second-most visited store of any type behind Walmart.

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Working at McDonald’s is not what you think it is

Ever wondered what it’s like to work for the fast-food giant? One U.K. employee wants you to know it’s probably not like what you think.

‘I work with people I would aspire to be like, who have strengths in areas I wish I had, who have overcome situations I never could and who have the determination to not fade away on handouts but rather step up and work for their living unlike a huge number of people in this country,’ Mike Waite wrote in a Facebook post that quickly went viral.

He adds that he’s hoping one day to be a manager at a McDonald’s location. It’s not a dead-end job, Waite says, but ‘part of the beginning.’

Waite’s words of wisdom have garnered more than 56,000 likes and been shared nearly 9,000 times since being published about a month ago.

Employees can advance their careers by attending Hamburger University

A multi-million dollar restaurant doesn’t just run itself. It takes dedication, hard work and training on the part of staff at all levels. A lot of training actually!

Hamburger University (yes, it’s a real thing!) is McDonald’s secret training weapon. With a 130,000-square foot facility located at McDonald’s Corporate Offices in Oak Brook, Ill., Hamburger University offers employees a variety of training that aligns with their specific career track, including development paths for crew, restaurant managers, mid-managers and executives.

The faculty consists of 19 full-time professors with restaurant operations expertise. To date, more than 275,000 McDonald’s franchisees, employees and suppliers have graduated from Hamburger University.

There are even six international Hamburger University campuses around the world in Sydney, Munich, London, Tokyo, São Paulo and Shanghai!

McDonald’s was into sustainability since before sustainability was cool

As far back as 1989, McDonald’s stopped sourcing beef from the Amazon Biome and thus took a major step in helping to fight South American deforestation.

Since 2011, the restaurant has been purchasing more than 13 million cage-free eggs annually. McDonald’s has agreed to move to entirely cage-free eggs for its nearly 16,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada over the next 10 years.

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Then earlier this year, the company re-upped its commitment to put an end to natural forest loss around the world by 2030.

You don’t think about McDonald’s as a business with sustainability on its mind, right? But its been into sustainability since before sustainability was cool!

10 things you didn't know about McDonaldsMcDonald’s offers tuition reimbursement

While there is the opportunity for college credit to be earned at Hamburger U., we’re not talking about tuition reimbursement for Ronald McDonald’s alma mater now!

Did you know McDonald’s is one of a handful of fast-food restaurants that offer employees real tuition reimbursement for real college credits through its Archways to Opportunity program?

Archways to Opportunity has two tracks: One track is for full-time restaurant managers or staff of a participating franchise owner/operator. Under this plan, you get $1,050 in tuition reimbursement each year if you work a minimum of 30 hours per week.

The second track is for restaurant crew (including maintenance), part-time managers or part-time office staffers of a participating franchise owner/operator. They’re all eligible for $700 in tuition reimbursement each year if they’ve worked with the same franchise owner/operator for at least nine consecutive months and for an average of 20 hours per week.

Read more: Fast food workers reveal secrets you probably want to know about …

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