The A to Z of McDonald's.

A is for the lovely Apples in our fruit bags

 

The Royal Gala apple is a favourite in the UK and one of the tasty varieties we use in our fruit bags. In fact UK orchards supply almost 100 of the 440 tonnes of apples we use in our fruit bags every year.

The fruit bag is just one of the ways we've extended the choice on our Happy Meal menu in the last few years. From Chicken McNuggets to fish fingers, apples to carrot sticks and orange juice to organic milk, there's something for everyone. How about choosing something new for your kids next time you visit us?

B is for the 100% British and Irish Beef in our burgers

 

People sometimes ask us where the beef in our burgers comes from, and many are pleased to hear that we get all of our beef from British and Irish farms, like the one run by farmer Richard Hoskin.

Richard has supplied beef from his farm in the Dorset countryside to McDonald's since 2005 and sometimes opens up his farm to show people where the beef for our burgers comes from. Richard's farm meets strict, nationally-recognised farm assurance scheme standards. These include standards on animal health and welfare, which we expect all our suppliers to meet.

And how do we make our burgers? It’s simple. We take the 100% whole cuts of beef, mince them, turn them into burgers, freeze them and then cook them. There's nothing added but a pinch of salt and pepper after cooking.

C is for the Chicken breast meat we only ever use

 

We only use chicken breast meat in all our chicken products, from Chicken McNuggets to the Chicken Legend, and all the chicken we use is supplied by farmers who meet strict animal welfare standards.

And did you know that our Chicken McNuggets contain 30% less salt than they did in 2003?

D is for Did you know 80% of our packaging comes from renewable sources?

 

We care about the planet and are committed to finding ways to recycle packaging and use recycled materials across the whole of our business.

As well as 80% of our packaging being made from renewable resources, we recycle the cardboard boxes used in more than 90% of our restaurants. By finding more environmentally friendly ways to collect and dispose of our cardboard we prevent 11,500 tonnes from going to landfill each year.

E is for the Energy we're saving each year in our restaurants

 

We employ 85,000 people in the UK, so if each of them works in a more energy-efficient way we have the opportunity to make a big difference.

Our people are keen to do their bit for the environment, so we've trained our crew members in ways to save energy, for example putting equipment such as grills and toasters into the standby position when not in use. We've also introduced a module called Energy Efficiency into the McDonald's Apprenticeship scheme which gives people tips on how to be more environmentally friendly at work and at home.

Over 300 of our employees around the UK have volunteered to become Planet Champions - people who help raise awareness of ways to be more environmentally friendly in our restaurants. These Planet Champions encourage their colleagues to think about ways they can save energy every day, and are always on the lookout for new ideas on how to improve things even more.

And it's working. The small changes that our employees have made have reduced electricity use across our restaurants by over 5%. We've also installed lots of energy saving technologies in our restaurants to help make things run even more efficiently, so in total we reduced the underlying amount of electricity we used in 2010 by 14% compared with 2007 - the equivalent to saving over 42,000 tonnes of CO2.

F is for all our Free-range eggs

 

We're passionate about animal welfare and that's why we only use free-range eggs across our whole menu - even in our sauces and the coating on our Chicken McNuggets.

We use more than 95 million eggs every year, and one of the British farms that helps provide these is the Lakes Free-Range Eggs Company in Cumbria, owned by David and Helen Brass. The Brass family farm has been supplying McDonald's since 2002 and their farm was the first in Britain to receive McDonald's Flagship Farm Status. Like us, David and Helen recognise that contented hens lay quality eggs and they do everything they can to improve the environment of their hens.

We were one of the first companies to make the switch to free-range eggs over 10 years ago and this has led to us being awarded the Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming and three RSPCA Good Business Awards.

G is for Green. We recycle used cooking oil into bio-diesel for our trucks

 

At McDonald's we believe it's important for everyone to help protect and preserve the environment for future generations, and we are always looking for ways to reduce, reuse and recycle in our restaurants and across our whole business.

One way we do this is to recycle used cooking oil into bio-diesel, which we use to fuel more than half of our delivery trucks. 97% of our restaurants recycle their cooking oil in this way, and those that can't at the moment are working hard to make it possible - for example our restaurants in Northern Ireland plan to be able to convert their oil by the end of 2012.

H is for the Hours we spend each day training our staff - 16,800 on average

 

We believe that whether people are with us for six weeks or sixty years, every single one of our 85,000 UK employees should have the opportunity to learn and develop while they work at McDonald's.

Our aim is to give our staff the best training in our industry. This helps us attract and keep the best people, plus it makes sure we're delivering great service to our customers. That's why we invest an average of 16,800 hours training our UK employees every day and offer our staff a wide range of training and qualifications, including an Apprenticeship in Hospitality.

I is for the Ingredients we source from over 17,500 British and Irish farmers

 

Not many people realise that the majority of our ingredients come from the UK and Ireland, with more than 17,500 British and Irish farmers providing us with ingredients such as beef, pork, oats, organic milk and potatoes. All the farms that supply us are part of nationally-recognised farm assurance schemes, which include standards on animal health and welfare, and we're proud to hold long-term relationships with many of our suppliers.

Through our Open Farms programme, we want to celebrate the farmers who make such a big contribution to McDonald's menu - letting people know about the important role British agriculture plays in their McDonald's meal. The Open Farms programme opens the gates to farms around the UK - inviting families and Olympic athletes to visit some of the British and Irish farms that provide ingredients for our menu and will also provide food for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Richard Hoskin, who has supplied us with beef from his farm in the Dorset countryside since 2005, hosted the very first Open Farms visit last year. He told visitors about how he takes steps to protect the local environment and the welfare of his animals. Anyone can apply to visit a McDonald's farm - would you like to spend a day finding out more?

J is for the 11,000 new Jobs we've created in the last two years

 

It might surprise you to know that around 2,000 people apply for a job at McDonald's every day. And since 2009 we've created more than 11,000 new jobs across the UK.

Do you know anyone who works at McDonald's? A lot of people have worked with us at some point, and our 85,000 UK employees have taken jobs at McDonald's for all sorts of different reasons. It could be to earn some extra cash, or to have flexibility around study or childcare commitments.

Many of our employees want to get ahead - 9 out of 10 of our restaurant managers and 1 in 5 of our franchisees started out as crew members behind the counter or in the kitchens. And over half the UK Executive Board began their careers working in our restaurants. So we believe it’s important to offer our employees a range of training opportunities, including the chance to gain a nationally recognised qualification while they work - such as an Apprenticeship in Hospitality, a management diploma, or the Foundation Degree we offer to our restaurant managers.

K is for the Kids we've trained over 20,000 football coaches for

 

Our customers love football, so we're involved in sports at a local community level as well as sponsoring big events in the football calendar.


For more than 8 years we've worked with the football associations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales on community football programmes to find ways to provide more opportunities for people to get into the game - from grassroots football coaches and volunteers to new clubs and teams.

So far the scheme has led to 20,000 new football coaches being trained since 2002, who've given more than a million young players free coaching. Over 400 of these qualified coaches are mums and women who have been trained through our 'Mums on the Ball' campaign.

L is for our Litter patrols

 

No one likes to see litter, but unfortunately it's out there. We take great pride in our local environment and that’s why we've been working hard for more than 20 years to try and reduce the amount of litter on our streets.

We were the first restaurant company to introduce litter patrols in the UK - employees going out every day to collect local litter, not just McDonald's packaging, that's been dropped around the restaurant.

We're also partnering with Keep Britain Tidy on the new "Love Where You Live" campaign, which aims to encourage people to stop dropping litter on the street. There will be plenty of chances for our employees and customers to get involved in events and activities to help us tidy up our local communities - helping everyone really love where they live. Find out how you can do your bit by visiting "Love Where You Live" on Facebook.

M is for Marine Stewardship Council certified fisheries. Home to all our fish

 

Did you know that overfishing the world's oceans has led to dwindling fish stocks in recent years, meaning many of our favourite fish are in real danger of disappearing for good?

That's why we source all fish on our UK menu, including our famous Filet-O-Fish and our Fish Fingers, from Marine Stewardship Council Certified sustainable fisheries.

N is for Nothing but British bacon

 

All of our pork comes from British farmers that have reared their pigs to nationally recognised farm standards.

This includes all the pork we use in our sausages as well as the Beechwood smoked bacon we use in our burgers and breakfasts.

O is for One of your five-a-day, available on our Happy Meal menu

 

We believe there's something for everyone at McDonald's and there’s more to choose from on our Happy Meal menu than ever before. Plus you can find one of your five-a-day in our fruit bags, carrot sticks and orange juice.

Did you know a portion of 4 Chicken McNuggets in our Happy Meals contains around 30% less salt and 32% less fat than in 2003? And you can swap the fries for a fruit bag or carrot sticks for no extra cost.

P is for our People who make us one of the "25 Best Big Companies to work for", according to The Sunday Times

 

We're confident that our jobs give people the opportunities and flexibility they need from an employer. We offer flexible hours, nationally recognised qualifications, fantastic career prospects and a whole host of other rewards and benefits that fit around you and your lifestyle.

But don't just take our word for it, we’re very proud to have been recognised as one of the Top 25 Best Big Companies in the UK, featuring in the 'Sunday Times Best Companies' list, and we'd like to thank all our people for helping make McDonald's an award winning place to work.

Q is for the Qualifications our employees can earn

 

Last year, more than 10,000 of our employees gained a qualification while working at McDonald's – including adult certificates in Maths or English, Apprenticeships in Hospitality and Level 3 Diplomas in Shift Management, right through to the Foundation Degrees we offer to around 50 of our restaurant managers each year. These qualifications are nationally recognised and we're inspected by the exam regulator Ofsted just like any school or college.

Janette Moran is a McDonald's restaurant manager in Manchester, and she knows firsthand how important it is for people to have opportunities to learn and develop at work – in fact she was one of our first managers to gain the Foundation Degree.

Janette joined McDonald's as a part-time crew member in 1997 to help fund her college studies. Within six months she was promoted to shift manager and, although she also worked as a legal executive for a while, she quickly realised McDonald’s offered the right that career path for her. Janette was a restaurant manager when, in 2010, she was given the opportunity to study for the Foundation Degree in Managing Business Operations. She jumped at the chance and became one of the first people to gain this qualification through McDonald's.

Like Janette, we believe there are lots more ways to keep learning than just at school, college or evening classes, and that’s why we give our people the chance to gain a wide range of qualifications while they work.

R is for our Ronald McDonald House Charities and the families with sick children they support

 

Ronald McDonald House Charities has been McDonald’s charity of choice for over 20 years. It's an independent charity providing free 'home away from home' accommodation for families with seriously ill children at hospitals across the UK, enabling families to stay close to their child and maintain a degree of normal family life.

Every year, McDonald's customers raise millions of pounds for Ronald McDonald House Charities just by donating their change in the charity boxes by the tills in McDonald's restaurants.

The charity helps families like Vikki Chester-Walsh and her daughter Mollie. At three years old Mollie was diagnosed with a severe brain condition and was referred to a hospital many hours away from her home for specialist treatment. When Mollie had her operation Vikki and the rest of her family stayed at the nearby Ronald McDonald House. Staying at the House meant they could focus all their efforts on providing comfort and care to Mollie when she needed it most, rather than worrying about where the family were going to sleep, shower and eat.

In the last 20 years 14 Ronald McDonald Houses have been built in the UK which, along with 29 sets of Ronald McDonald Family Rooms, provide families with over 400 bedrooms every single night of the year. But there are still a lot of families that need the help of Ronald McDonald House Charities. To find out more about where the money donated every day goes, visit the Ronald McDonald House Charities website.

S is for the Spuds we get from British farms

 

Our famous fries are made from quality potatoes, using varieties such as Russet Burbank, Shepody and Pentland Dell, and most of which are grown here in the UK.

In 2005, we reduced the salt in our fries by 24%. Any customer can ask for fries without salt if they wish. Since 1993 we've reduced the saturated fat in the oil used to cook our fries and other fried products by 82%, and we've removed all hydrogenated oils from our entire menu.

T is for our Tea (and coffee). All Rainforest Alliance certified™

 

The tea and coffee we serve in our restaurants is made using beans and leaves from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms. These farms have achieved high standards for social and environmental improvement, which means a better and more sustainable deal for the farmers, their workers and the environment too.

Plus all the coffee in our Full BEAN range - whether an espresso, latte or cappuccino - is brewed using freshly ground Arabica coffee beans, and we use semi-skimmed organic British milk in all our milky hot drinks.

U is for the Udders that fill our bottles with lovely organic milk

 

All the milk used in our coffee, tea, porridge and Happy Meal milk bottles is British, semi-skimmed and organic. Plus we use fresh milk for our ice-creams, milkshakes, and McFlurrys.

Each year we use over 56 million litres of milk and every single drop of it comes from farms that meet the high welfare standards we expect from all our suppliers.

V is for all the Volunteers we're helping train for London 2012

 

London 2012 is going to be an exciting time for the UK and we’re proud to be involved.

But it's important to remember that a lot of hard work from a lot of people will be needed to make London 2012 a success. There will be up to 70,000 volunteers, or Games Makers as they're known, giving up their time and energy to help deliver the best Olympic and Paralympic Games ever.

We know a fair bit about training, education and people development, as well as what it takes to work in a fast-paced, busy environment, and that's why we're the Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Games Maker Programme.

This means we'll use our experience in training and developing our employees, which includes giving them the opportunity to gain a nationally recognised qualification, along with our UK-wide presence to help to attract, select and train the Games Makers ready for London's moment in the spotlight in the summer of 2012.

W is for the Whole cuts of beef used to make our burgers

 

Only whole cuts of forequarter and flank beef go into our famous burgers, and it's all reared by British and Irish farmers.

We take these cuts, mince them, turn them into burgers, freeze them and cook them, and there's nothing added but a pinch of salt and pepper after cooking.

X marks the spot where we get oats for our porridge

 

Not many people realise that we source a lot of our food locally - in fact the majority of our ingredients come from more than 17,500 farms in the UK and Ireland.

This includes the oats in our porridge, which are grown on farms in Scotland, Yorkshire and South East England before being made into porridge in Fife in Scotland.

Y is for Yippee, we've received 3 RSPCA awards

 

We're passionate about animal welfare and our commitment to only using ingredients and suppliers that meet our high standards has led to us winning three RSPCA Good Business Awards.

We have a long-term partnership with the Food Animal Initiative, a farming enterprise near Oxford that runs projects to improve animal welfare standards and trial new farming methods that help British farmers look after the countryside in a more sustainable way. This includes working with them to find ways to improve the environment of free-range egg laying hens - such as planting trees to provide more cover, creating conditions similar to their natural habitat.

We were also one of the first companies to make the switch to free-range eggs over 10 years ago and we're very proud to have also been awarded the Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming for our work in this area.

Z is for our ambition to get to Zero waste to landfill

 

We believe it's important for everyone to help protect and preserve the environment for future generations, and our ambition is simple: to reduce the impact we have on the environment across the whole of our business. Part of this means working towards sending no waste to landfill whatsoever and continuing to find ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.

In fact, we were the first restaurant chain to start sending some of our restaurant waste that can't be recycled to special plants that turn it into energy - used to heat local houses or channelled into the National Grid. There are now almost 150 restaurants around the country sending all their waste to be converted into energy – preventing almost 15,000 tonnes of rubbish going to landfill every year.

And to reduce the amount of waste we produce in the first place, our employees are trained to make sure they waste as little as possible in restaurants. Plus we track the food we sell throughout the day, so we only order and prepare the right amount.