McDonald's Outlines Vancouver Olympics Plans
This Wednesday, Nov. 4, marks 100 days until the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, and McDonald's Olympic pride continues to shine throughout the host country of Canada and across the globe.
-- Chain Leader, 11/2/2009 10:46:00 AM
PRESS RELEASE: OAK BROOK, Ill. - Nov. 2, 2009 - This Wednesday, Nov. 4, marks 100 days until the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, and McDonald's Olympic pride continues to shine throughout the host country of Canada and across the globe. As a Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Movement, McDonald's is preparing to once again feed the athletes and share the excitement of the Games with millions of customers around the world.
Feeding the World's Best Athletes
* As the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games and the only branded foodservice retailer, McDonald's is building three new Olympic venue restaurants: one in the Olympic Village in Vancouver, one in the Olympic Village in Whistler, and one in the Main Media Center in Vancouver.
* McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew, made up of more than 300 top performing restaurant employees from across Canada, will serve menu favorites to the world's best athletes, coaches, officials and media at McDonald's on-site Olympic venue restaurants.
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* Spectators will be able to share in the Olympic Spirit and enjoy McDonald's quality and variety at any of the more than 40 McDonald's restaurants located in the Vancouver and Whistler areas.
McDonald's Champion Kids(tm)
* The McDonald's Champion Kids program debuted at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as part of McDonald's ongoing commitment to children. The program provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for kids from across the globe to experience the Games first hand.
* For the Vancouver Games, one child from each province and one child from the territories in Canada will join kids from around the world to attend Olympic events, meet athletes, visit the Olympic Village, tour the cultural sites of Vancouver and Whistler, and receive their own gold medals from Olympic champions.
* The children will also have the chance to serve as special youth correspondents to share their experiences with their hometown news outlets.
Giving Back
* As part of McDonald's Olympic tradition of giving back to the host country, Ronald McDonald House Charities(r) will make a lasting contribution to Vancouver that will live beyond the Games.
* Ronald McDonald House Charities of Canada, in cooperation with The Province of British Colombia, the Rick Hansen Foundation and 2010 Legacies Now, is funding three world-class accessible playgrounds.
* These playgrounds - located in the three venue cities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler - will meet the needs of children with disabilities and enable these children to play side by side with their siblings, families and friends.
* The Richmond playground and the majority of the Whistler playground are planned to be completed in time for the 2010 Games; the Vancouver playground will be finished in the summer of 2010. More information to come on playground celebrations that will take place during the Games.
Environment
* In keeping with a green Olympic Games, McDonald's three new Olympic venue restaurants will be fitted with energy-efficient lighting and equipment.
* The equipment from these restaurants will be reused and recycled at McDonald's restaurants in Canada after the Games have ended.
McDonald's Canada
* As host country, McDonald's Canada is activating a wide variety of programs and promotions leading up to and during the Games to celebrate Canada's Olympic Spirit nationwide. Activities include:
o o Flying Olympic flags at select McDonald's restaurants across Canada to celebrate their role as host country.
o o Exciting restaurant promotions such as Olympic-themed McDonald's Vancouver 2010 Olympic Sport Water Bottles featuring graphics of athletes participating in popular winter sports.
o o Alliances with top Canadian athletes such as speed skater Cindy Klassen, figure skater Patrick Chan and Cassie Campbell, former caption of the Canadian Women's Ice Hockey Team.
o o Celebrating the importance of family and community on the journey to the pinnacle of sport through McDonald's 2010 Hopefuls, a grant program that supports the Olympic aspirations of 26 Canadian athletes and recognizes the efforts of their parents by allocating a portion of the funding to the family.
* Canada holds a special place in McDonald's history as the first country outside of the U.S. to open a McDonald's restaurant, in 1967.
McDonald's Olympic Games History
McDonald's became an Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games in 1976 and has a long-standing commitment to the Olympic Movement, which first began more than 40 years ago. At the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, McDonald's airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes competing in Grenoble, France, after they reported being homesick for McDonald's food. Since then, the company has served its menu of choice and variety to millions of athletes, coaches, their families and fans. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games mark McDonald's seventh Olympic Games as a Worldwide Partner and eighth as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games. McDonald's current sponsorship will continue through the 2012 Games in London.
About McDonald's
McDonald's is the leading global foodservice retailer, with more than 32,000 local restaurants in more than 100 countries. About 80 percent of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by franchisees. Please visit our website at www.aboutmcdonalds.com to learn more about the Company. Click on "Members of the Press/Electronic Press Kits" to access our 2010 Olympic Winter Games online resource center.
McDonald's(r) Olympic History
1968: Just 13 years after opening its first restaurant, McDonald's began its support of the Olympic Movement by airlifting hamburgers to U.S. athletes competing in Grenoble, France, after they reported being homesick for American hamburgers.
1976: McDonald's became an Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games for the first time during the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympic Games.
1984: McDonald's and its franchisees provided funding to build the Olympic Swim Stadium in Los Angeles.
1988-1994: McDonald's sponsored several National Olympic Committees participating in the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea (1988); Barcelona, Spain (1992); and Lillehammer, Norway (1994).
1996: McDonald's became a Centennial Olympic Games Partner of the Atlanta Games and was invited to operate the first-ever branded restaurant in the Olympic Village. McDonald's restaurants on-site provided 15,000 athletes, coaches and officials with a "familiar taste of home." McDonald's extended its long-standing commitment to the Olympic Movement by joining The Olympic Partner Program (TOP).
1998: McDonald's served as a TOP partner and Worldwide Sponsor for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. This event was also McDonald's first opportunity to bring the fun and excitement of the Olympic Games to all of its customers around the world through its global sponsorship and local promotions.
2000: McDonald's celebrated youth through its sponsorship of the Olympic Youth Camp at the Sydney Games. McDonald's countries selected two outstanding young people from every Olympic country to travel to Sydney as McDonald's Olympic Achievers.
2002: As part of its Worldwide Sponsorship of the Salt Lake City Games, McDonald's announced its new Olympic Champion Crew Program, which brought the best restaurant employees from around the world to serve the world's best athletes at McDonald's official Olympic venue restaurants.
2004: McDonald's launched a series of Go Active!(tm) fitness initiatives and again honored its Olympic Champion Crew from around the world who traveled to Athens, Greece to feed the athletes, coaches, media and spectators. McDonald's announced the renewal of its current worldwide Olympic TOP sponsorship for the 2006 to 2012 "double quadrennial."
2005: With the support of the International Olympic Committee, McDonald's launched a worldwide balanced, active lifestyle public awareness campaign - "it's what i eat and what i do(tm)... i'm lovin' it(r)." This initiative called attention to the importance of eating right and staying active.
2006: McDonald's launched the official worldwide rollout of nutrition information on product packaging at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Restaurants in Torino, Italy, were the first to feature the new packaging and in-store materials. The company also unveiled a new grassroots sports program for children with the support of Olympic athletes. McDonald's celebrated its Olympic Champion Crew - more than 300 top-performing employees from 24 countries were chosen to travel to Torino to serve the world's best athletes, spectators and media at McDonald's official Olympic venue restaurants.
2008: McDonald's continued its ongoing commitment to children with the launch of McDonald's Champion Kids. This program provided more than 200 children from 40 countries with the opportunity to experience the Beijing Games first-hand and share their stories with hometown news outlets. In addition, the McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew program celebrated more than 1,400 top restaurant employees from China and around the world who traveled to Beijing to experience the excitement of the Games and serve the world's best athletes, spectators and media at McDonald's four official Olympic venue restaurants.
2010: The McDonald's Champion Kids program will provide kids from around the world and across Canada with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Vancouver Games first-hand and be youth correspondents for their news media back home. McDonald's is planning three new Olympic venue restaurants: two in the Olympic Villages based in Vancouver and Whistler to feed the athletes and one in Vancouver at the Main Media Center. Menu favorites will be served at those restaurants by the McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew from across Canada. As part of McDonald's tradition of giving back to the host community, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Canada, in cooperation with The Province of British Colombia, the Rick Hansen Foundation and 2010 Legacies Now, will fund three world-class accessible playgrounds located in Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler. The playgrounds will meet the needs of children with disabilities and enable them to play side by side with their siblings, families and friends.
