McDonald's to Offer Free Wifi
McDonald's Corp. said Monday that it will soon offer free wireless Internet access at most of its U.S. fast-food restaurants as it tries to broaden its appeal still further.
"We're not just about hamburgers," said Dave Grooms, chief information officer for McDonald's USA. "We are about convenience and all kinds of value."
The company, the world's largest fast-food chain, has offered Internet access for about five years.
In mid-January, it will lift the $2.95 fee it has charged for two hours of Internet access at 11,000 of its 14,000 U.S. locations. There will be no time limit after the fee is lifted.
"McDonald's is about value — value in our food, value in our services," Grooms said. "It's a natural fit."
It's also a good fit with the company's growing coffee business, which has upped the chain's competition with Starbucks Corp., which also offers free wireless access. Coffee and the McCafe line of drinks at McDonald's have helped drive its sales and increase its market share in the U.S.
The company, based in Oak Brook, Ill., has not released sales data for the McCafe line but said recently that its coffee business has grown from 2 percent of the chain's overall sales to 5 percent in the past few years.
Grooms said McDonald's — traditionally known as a quick stop — has become more of a destination with new products and a new look and feel at many of its restaurants, with improved lobby designs and finishes.
"We don't mind at all if people step in take advantage of the Wi-Fi and linger a bit," Grooms said.
McDonald's is providing the wireless service through a partnership with AT&T Inc. The company would not disclose the terms of the contract or how much it will spend on the change.
Shares of McDonald's fell 14 cents to close at $62 Tuesday.
AP "We're not just about hamburgers," said Dave Grooms, chief information officer for McDonald's USA. "We are about convenience and all kinds of value."
The company, the world's largest fast-food chain, has offered Internet access for about five years.
In mid-January, it will lift the $2.95 fee it has charged for two hours of Internet access at 11,000 of its 14,000 U.S. locations. There will be no time limit after the fee is lifted.
"McDonald's is about value — value in our food, value in our services," Grooms said. "It's a natural fit."
It's also a good fit with the company's growing coffee business, which has upped the chain's competition with Starbucks Corp., which also offers free wireless access. Coffee and the McCafe line of drinks at McDonald's have helped drive its sales and increase its market share in the U.S.
The company, based in Oak Brook, Ill., has not released sales data for the McCafe line but said recently that its coffee business has grown from 2 percent of the chain's overall sales to 5 percent in the past few years.
Grooms said McDonald's — traditionally known as a quick stop — has become more of a destination with new products and a new look and feel at many of its restaurants, with improved lobby designs and finishes.
"We don't mind at all if people step in take advantage of the Wi-Fi and linger a bit," Grooms said.
McDonald's is providing the wireless service through a partnership with AT&T Inc. The company would not disclose the terms of the contract or how much it will spend on the change.
Shares of McDonald's fell 14 cents to close at $62 Tuesday.
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So free WiFi, so what. Go there and get your computer all greased up, for the ability to surf the net. I would rather stay home. I have quit eating at Mickey D's unless I can't fine something else.
Mmmmm! cow anus!!! yum yum!!!
McD's doesn't use cow anus, Ball Park Franks beats them to that little tidbit. But why do you care anyway? You can't offer any higher praise to an animal your going to eat than to use every part of it. Would you rather have us do as Buffalo Bill did 150 years ago and almost make an entire specie extinct, and leave most of the animal to rot on the ground after killing it? That's uncivilized!
The fact is that if you have children (and you obviously don't) there's fewer things more boring than sitting in a McDonalds while the kiddies play on the play equipment. And your kids are going to clamor for Happy Meals, count on it. Sure, you can try taking them to better restaurants but you will find that it gets old pretty fast to be laying down $20 a head for a meal at a decent restaurant, and have the kid spit most of it out, claiming they don't like it. Or better yet, have the kid go screaming through the restaurant because they are bored.
At McDonalds, all the other kids are running through the play area screaming their heads off too, and everyone there are parents who are just trying to endure the same as you are. Free wifi is a boon, I can bring in one of my older laptops and amuse myself while the kids blow off steam on the play equipment, and I don't care (as much) if the kids decide they don't want to finish eating their Happy Meal, because the thing only cost $4.
As for "free" wifi at Starbucks, what are they talking about? You don't get wifi at Starbucks unless you buy something. But McD's has a nice big dining room and no manager is going to come over and boot you off if you just walk in and use the wifi. I know people who are diabetics or are on special diets, and because of that they have to carry their own food, and McDonalds is one of the few restaurants out there where they can walk in with their families or a group, and pull out their own food and eat it while the group is eating their fries and burgers, and not be bothered by the manager.
Plus that, if McDonalds implements this across the board, that means anyone travelling knows that they can pull into a McDonalds parking lot, throw open their laptop, and check e-mail or pull up a map then be on their way. Or they can fire up skype and make a phone call VoIP for free. There's at least one McDonalds in every city in the country and in most smaller towns, so now you don't have to worry that you will have to waste a lot of time looking for free wireless access anyplace you stop at.
Lastly, this will set the bar for the other fast food places like Jack in the Box to offer free wireless too, and once all the fast food places offer it, then all of the ma-and-pa restaurants are going to end up having to offer free wireless also.
When McDonalds finally put self-service on their drink machines, it forced most of the restaurants to do that, and this will be no different.