McDonalds is to tour agricultural events around Britain with a roadshow that uses virtual reality to bring people closer to the fast food chain’s supplier farms.
The company will invite visitors to don headsets allowing them on to virtual farms, where they can drive a tractor and help harvest the potatoes for its fries. They can also go behind the scenes with a virtual tour of actual supplier farms producing eggs, milk and beef for McDonald’s 1,250 UK restaurants.
The roadshow, which begins next week, is the one that was recently banned by Labour from its autumn party conference. Labour’s move, deemed by critics of its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to be evidence of “a snobby attitude”, also lost the party revenues of £30,000. McDonald’s at the time said it was disappointed by the decision – it has been allowed by the Tories and SNP to set up similar stands at their conferences.
Technology developers, young farmers and experts from the leading agricultural university Harper Adams have been enlisted to create the roadshow, which McDonald’s hopes will reach up to 1 million people at farming shows and other events across the UK over the next year.
The “Follow our Foodsteps experience will make its first stop at the Balmoral show, in Northern Ireland, for three days next week, and will also visit the prestigious Royal Bath & West and Royal Highland shows in June.
“As a nation, we have never been more focused on food,” said Connor McVeigh, director of supply chain at McDonald’s UK. “As one of the biggest customers of British and Irish farming, we want to lift the lid on the passion and skills that exist at every stage of the process, from farm to front-counter.”
The initiative comes amid staff unrest at the chain, marked by a global day of action in April, when fast-food workers protested over pay and conditions in 40 countries. In the UK, through its TUC-backed Fast Food Rights campaign, the bakers’ and food union BFAWU (Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union) isfighting for a £10 an hour minimum wage for all staff.
McDonald’s is one of the biggest single customers of British and Irish farming – working with more than 170,000 farmers – but wants to help its customers better understand its supply chain while challenging outdated stereotypes in farming.
A YouGov poll of 2,000 consumers for the chain found 74% wanted to know more about where their food came from, but one in five could not explain any food production process. Two in five (41%) had never been to a working farm, despite national initiatives such as Open Farm Sunday.
The initiative was given a cautious welcome by the National Farmers’ Union. Its chief food adviser, Ruth Mason, said: “This innovative approach to connecting consumers with food production sees McDonald’s UK build further on its efforts to demonstrate the vital role that farmers and growers play in its supply chain. However, we would like to see it improve its UK sourcing in some food sectors, particularly with chicken, where it is currently only 10%.”
The roadshow is the latest move by retailers to try to connect consumers with the realities of modern-day farming in the UK.
In what it claimed as an industry first, Waitrose used a “cow cam” to capture scenes from a Berkshire dairy farm for its current TV advertising campaign, with other adverts focusing on a farm producing free-range eggs and fishermen who supply Waitrose fresh fish counters.
The company will invite visitors to don headsets allowing them on to virtual farms, where they can drive a tractor and help harvest the potatoes for its fries. They can also go behind the scenes with a virtual tour of actual supplier farms producing eggs, milk and beef for McDonald’s 1,250 UK restaurants.
The roadshow, which begins next week, is the one that was recently banned by Labour from its autumn party conference. Labour’s move, deemed by critics of its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to be evidence of “a snobby attitude”, also lost the party revenues of £30,000. McDonald’s at the time said it was disappointed by the decision – it has been allowed by the Tories and SNP to set up similar stands at their conferences.
Technology developers, young farmers and experts from the leading agricultural university Harper Adams have been enlisted to create the roadshow, which McDonald’s hopes will reach up to 1 million people at farming shows and other events across the UK over the next year.
The “Follow our Foodsteps experience will make its first stop at the Balmoral show, in Northern Ireland, for three days next week, and will also visit the prestigious Royal Bath & West and Royal Highland shows in June.
“As a nation, we have never been more focused on food,” said Connor McVeigh, director of supply chain at McDonald’s UK. “As one of the biggest customers of British and Irish farming, we want to lift the lid on the passion and skills that exist at every stage of the process, from farm to front-counter.”
The initiative comes amid staff unrest at the chain, marked by a global day of action in April, when fast-food workers protested over pay and conditions in 40 countries. In the UK, through its TUC-backed Fast Food Rights campaign, the bakers’ and food union BFAWU (Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union) isfighting for a £10 an hour minimum wage for all staff.
McDonald’s is one of the biggest single customers of British and Irish farming – working with more than 170,000 farmers – but wants to help its customers better understand its supply chain while challenging outdated stereotypes in farming.
A YouGov poll of 2,000 consumers for the chain found 74% wanted to know more about where their food came from, but one in five could not explain any food production process. Two in five (41%) had never been to a working farm, despite national initiatives such as Open Farm Sunday.
The initiative was given a cautious welcome by the National Farmers’ Union. Its chief food adviser, Ruth Mason, said: “This innovative approach to connecting consumers with food production sees McDonald’s UK build further on its efforts to demonstrate the vital role that farmers and growers play in its supply chain. However, we would like to see it improve its UK sourcing in some food sectors, particularly with chicken, where it is currently only 10%.”
The roadshow is the latest move by retailers to try to connect consumers with the realities of modern-day farming in the UK.
In what it claimed as an industry first, Waitrose used a “cow cam” to capture scenes from a Berkshire dairy farm for its current TV advertising campaign, with other adverts focusing on a farm producing free-range eggs and fishermen who supply Waitrose fresh fish counters.
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