McDonald’s is rolling out new McFlurry cups. It’s a design departure for the chain, which has gone with more-or-less standard snap-on plastic lids pretty much forever. The new McFlurry cups feature fold-down flaps to keep wildlife safe…
Never say McDonald’s isn’t community oriented or insensitive to the needs of our struggling environ-ment. The chain is rolling our new McFlurry cups across the board in response to a rash of skunk emergencies in Canada.
Could happen anywhere
It could happen anywhere, and not just with skunks. Though the little striped marauders fir the victim profile perfectly. And who’s going to volunteer to step in and pull the cup off the angry, freaking skunk?
They’re just the right size, and their heads are just the right space to get stuck in discarded McFlurry cups. No wonder a troubling number were falling into the unintended trap.
So the Great White North McD’s brain trust put on its thinking-toques and got to work. What they came up with seems to be a pretty good solution to the problem.
Just fold ’em in, eh?
The inspiration ticks all the relevant boxes. It’s cheap, (on the huge scale McD’s has cups manufact-ured), easy to use, comfortably familiar to customers and simple to deploy for employees.
They’re ditching the rolled rim and creating rounded flaps that fold in on each other to close the top. We’ve seen these before, on other products. Not so much, though, on liquids and thick fluids, though.
No more ‘spindles’, either
If you’re a McFlurry fan, you’re used to getting a plastic ‘spindle’ utensil to eat it with. Not any more. It’s all part of a sustainability pledge McD’s made some time ago, to make it’s containers and utensils 100 percent environmentally friendly by the end of next year.
New ‘just a bite’ size
Along with the new cups, McD’s is débuting a new ‘just one bite’ sized McFlurry:
“Got a friend who always wants ‘just a bite’?” the chain writes, in its news release. “Instead of grab-bing an extra spoon, you can grab them a Mini McFlurry of their own. Or maybe you’re looking for a quick afternoon pick-me-up… The Mini McFlurry is perfect for you, too.”
My take
For starters, I believe we could benefit from ‘just a bite’ sizes in may other Fast Food treats, as well. Let’s see if this potentially popular – maybe even monster – trend catches on…
For the record, the new fold-down cups are already in use in other global McMarkets, and have been well-received. I think it’s fair to say, they’re here to stay. And I think you’ll see other Fast Food brands adopting the design in fairly short order, now that the cup makes are already tooled up to fulfill McD’s mega-requirements.
On the cups, themselves… I like the idea. No more plastic caps! Just remember to fold them back in before you toss the empty…
~ Maggie J.