McDonald’s Listening Tour Breakfast #BlogHer 12

Linda Grant @nycsinglemom and Mitch Chaitin @gaynycdad (http://www.gaynycdad) at CheeseburgHer Party

McDonald’s is by far and away the most recognized brand in the world and certainly sells the most food in the world. And for that I am thankful. If you have lived and traveled abroad, there is nothing more familiar, recognizable and comforting than eating at a McDonald’s.

My fondest (or hilarious) memory of McDonald’s is literally racing off a boat that sailed from China to Hong Kong where I had slept on a bunk bed in the bowels of the boat in a room  with hundreds of people (trust me that was a step up from a fourth class deck chairs) with an Aussie traveling mate to McDonald’s for breakfast. Heaven!

During BlogHer12, I had the pleasure of being invited to a McDonald’s Listening Tour led  Jan Fields, President of McDonald’s. It’s definitely  nice to see a woman who literally began her career  at a local McDonald’s counter  and worked her away up the corporate ladder. Truly inspiring to see.

You know it takes guts for McDonald’s to schedule these Listening Tour events  so they can listen to customer’s comments and questions and certainly takes guts to  invite a roomful of outspoken women bloggers. Not an easy task.  There were definitely lots of questions around gluten-free, allergy free meals and untrained counter people which Ms. Fields answered honestly. I appreciated that she did not defend the brand as so much as just listen to the questions and say I don’t know when she actually did not know the answer.  Smart move. Let’s hope that she definitely sees that menu evolves to fit the needs of her customers.

For the record, Yes, I am a McDonald’s customer albeit not a regular customer and like all things in life, everything in moderation. Say what you will, McDonald’s has made great strides in adding healthier choices to the menu from adding apples to the Happy Meals to reducing the size of the fries to the salad additions and even delinking the Happy Meal toy from the Happy Meal (So idiot politician who want to ban Happy Meals, know the facts before you try to ban Happy Meals.)

Of course, it must be said that McDonald’s spreads cheer at BlogHer by sponsoring the final party of the conference, the CheeseburgHer Party (yes, it’s called CheeseburgHer party.) And if you want to see the power of the brand, just stand near the buffet when the cheeseburger tray is empty and the crowd starts to gather, me included. Nothing is yummier than a freshly made McDonald’s cheeseburger. My blog husband, Mitch and I had a fantastic time, check out his McDonald’s post at gaynycdad.com.

Visit  McDonald’s.com, for more information on their menu and  meal options under 400 calories and join the discussion on  Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure: NYC Single Mom was not compensated for this post.