Mcdonald's

When Matt Mitchell was four years old, his parents took him out one night to McDonald’s for a hamburger. But when he bit into it, he tasted cheese. For most people, getting the wrong order is, at worst, a nuisance. But as far as restaurant patrons go, Mitchell isn’t most people. Not long after taking that first bite, his body rebelled.

“I started vomiting, I was covered in hives, it was difficult to breathe,” Mitchell, now 20, says.

He was going through anaphylaxis, an extreme, often life-threatening reaction to an allergen. Mitchell is allergic to dairy, one of eight common ingredients that account for 90 percent of all food allergic reactions. (The others are egg, peanut, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, and soy.)

While he did not go to the hospital that night—“probably not a very wise idea in hindsight,” he says—he had to take medicine to avert dire consequences.

Mitchell is one of millions of Americans with food allergies, which are becoming more prevalent and severe nationwide, according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN).

While the exact number of those with food allergies was recently questioned in a University of California study by Dr. Marc Riedl (he estimates only about 8 percent of children and less than 5 percent of adults), the challenges these diners pose for restaurants is undoubtedly mounting. In a 2007 study, FAAN found that of the 63 food allergy–related fatalities between 1996 and 2006, half involved restaurants.

That statistic, advocates for the food-allergy community say, suggests a lack of awareness in the restaurant industry.

“I’ve gone into restaurants where, based on the dialogue I had with them, I could tell that they really didn’t understand enough to be able to serve us safely, and I’ve had to get up and walk out,” says Lynda Mitchell, Matt’s mother and president of the nonprofit Kids With Food Allergies.Read more

If you walk through your front door in the near future and your house is filled with the aroma of steam-grilled hamburger and onions, try not to get too excited. You might be having a salad for dinner.

That’s because White Castle, the Columbus, Ohio–based chain known for its square-patty sliders, introduced a beef-scented candle. Part of its promotion efforts for National Hamburger Month (inaugurated in 1992 by … White Castle), the delectable and potentially deceiving candles sell for $10 each, with proceeds going to science and advocacy organization Autism Speaks.

While grease and ground beef is an unusual aroma for a candle, that hasn’t stopped them from flying off White Castle’s virtual shelves: The company sold out of its online stock in less than 48 hours after announcing the promotion on May 3.

“We had what we thought was going to be a one-month supply for our online store based on past sales patterns,” says spokesman Jamie Richardson. “There are some candles remaining in the restaurants, but they are moving really fast.”

Richardson says the concept of a slider-scented candle started partly in jest when White Castle executives met Laura Slatkin, founder of Nest Fragrances and a member of the Autism Speaks board, in August 2009. Slatkin has produced candles for the likes of Elton John and Princess Diana, so White Castle figured she could handle “the challenge of reproducing [our] signature beef-and-onion scent,” Richardson says.

The challenge involved finding the right balance between bun, burger, and onions. If Slatkin did not get it quite right, the candle might leave consumers with a bad taste in their nostrils.

“There was a lot of art and science involved,” Richardson says. “In fact the first iteration was a little bit heavy on that fresh bakery bun … so they modified it slightly to get to what we’re calling ‘Burger Bliss.’”

The candle sits in a ceramic replica of White Castle’s signature cardboard sleeve, a masterstroke of kitsch marketing, says Joel Cohen of restaurantmarketing.com.

“It is a fabulously innovative promotion that is able to break through the clutter of other promotions,” Cohen says. “White Castle needs to be congratulated on their quirkiness.”

Quirky works in this case, Cohen says, because, with its medieval banners-and-turrets design aesthetic, White Castle already has a reputation for embracing kitsch. Also, the candle offering, in all its silliness, has a connection to a serious cause: the fight against autism.

“That legitimizes it,” Cohen says. “If it was just a regular promotion with proceeds going to a charity, nobody would talk about it.”

Cohen says the off-beat offering is a good way for restaurants to self-generate a buzz, in this case out of thin, meat-scented air. He cites McDonald’s classic Gillette safety-razor giveaway, as part of its original breakfast roll out, as another unlikely promotion that paid off. And then, of course, there was Flame, the $4 flame-broiled-burger cologne from Burger King that debuted in 2008.

Still, restaurants should be careful not to overdo it.

“You can’t keep on doing gimmicky things because the novelty wears off,” Cohen says.

For now, White Castle is enjoying a welcome jolt of interest. Its candles have been the subject of SNL and Jay Leno jokes and countless blog, Twitter, and Facebook posts. With the chain looking to raise at least $75,000 for Autism Speaks, Richardson says it will likely restock its online store soon.

“We didn’t realize what pent-up demand there was out in the market for White Castle–scented candles,” he says with a chuckle.

Of course, not every candle sold indicates someone who wants his house to smell like beef. Some are simply after a grade-A collectible.

“I am a pop culture junkie and a trailer-trash food aficionado, so this was a natural,” says Lance LeVine, who managed to wrangle four candles. “I heard about it on TV and had to have it. They add to the overall kitsch of my apartment.”

Click HERE to read original at qsrmagazine.com.

In the aftermath of the massive earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12, the restaurant industry has responded with various fundraising initiatives to help the devastated Caribbean island nation.

The destruction was “unimaginable,” in the words of Haitian President René Préval, whose presidential palace lay in ruins after an early-morning earthquake that may have killed as many as 200,000 people. The earthquake razed large sections of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, burying countless bodies in the wreckage of collapsed buildings.

As the images of devastation flooded television sets across the globe, U.S. restaurants large and small sprang to action. Two days after the earthquake, McDonald’s announced a $500,000 donation to be matched by Arcos Dorados, the company that operates nearly 1,700 McDonald’s locations in Latin America.

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As one of the toughest economic years in decades comes to a close, restaurant operators have to take solace in having survived it. The recession meant scant profits, fewer customers, and constrained innovation. But the arrival of a new year is a time to look ahead. With that in mind, QSR asked several industry experts to look into the near future and describe what they saw -— the good, the bad, and the ugly -- on the horizon in 2010.

Obviously, the state of the economy will continue to determine the fortunes of the restaurant business. The unemployment rate, which is now above 10 percent, is one of the most important numbers to watch, experts say.

“The bottom line is that as people continue to be unemployed and don’t have discretionary money to spend, that’s going to affect the restaurant industry,” says consultant Bob Sandelman, who does not expect an uptick for at least the first half of 2010. “The main challenge for chains is to continue to find ways to attract customers by providing and communicating value without cheapening their image.”

Sandelman stresses the need for restaurants to stay true to themselves while finding innovative ways to lure cash-strapped consumers through the door.

“Restaurants need to not abandon what they stand for, what their key strategies are and what they’ve been known for over the years,” Sandelman says. “They need to stick with it.”

Quick serves can benefit from a certain level of unemployment, as customers who still want to eat out opt for cheaper meals. But, according to consultant Dennis Lombardi, double-digit joblessness surpassed that level.

“There’s a good rule of thumb,” Lombardi says. “When times get tough, you trade down. But when you lose your job, you trade out.”

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