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Interesting that you think this. My father eats lunch at McDonalds pretty frequently, and tends to stay for a couple hours reading the paper or taking advantag

Interesting that you think this. My father eats lunch at McDonalds pretty frequently, and tends to stay for a couple hours reading the paper or taking advantage of the free wifi. There are people who go in to use the free wifi and don’t buy anything; nobody bothers them. When I was last in France, teenagers could often be found studying in McDonalds, because unlike the french cafes, they don’t get kicked out of McDonalds for buying some fries and a coke and then holding the table for a couple hours. Personally, I have no fondness for McDonalds at all, but your claim that they have some sort of corporate policy of not letting people linger seems spurious to me.

pickleport 13y ago
It doesn't say whether it's a corporate policy, but it is in the first line of the article. > The kerfuffle started when word spread that the police were repeatedly evicting elderly Korean patrons from a McDonald’s in Queens. The Koreans have been milking their stays over $1.09 coffees, violating the restaurant’s 20-minute dining limit.
- 001sky 13y ago
  That 20 minute policy is the source of the story. For years, that same franchise location did not have this policy in place. The coroporate parent does not have a uniform policy, it is up to the individual owners/franchisees. McD's parent company is familiar with the issue, however, as seen by the evolution of its architectural themes.
- cosmie 13y ago
  It's not a corporate policy. I've personally had hours-long study sessions at McDonalds restaurants with just a drink purchase. The article also mentions a group of women taking up an 8-person sitting area for hours at a time, nursing a single $1 coffee. For a four hour visit, this averages ~$0.03/seat/hr in revenue. These customers aren't truly dining, they're just congregating under the pretext of dining (by buying the minimal amount possible). _This_ is the type of behavior that would drive an individual store into implementing a 20-minute dining limit. Chances are it's loosely enforced for actual dining customers, but provides the necessary pretext for booting these people when the lunch rush begins and actual dining customers need somewhere to dine. If customers come to eat and can't find anywhere to sit, they'll start going elsewhere for food and the store will see a noticeable decline in revenue. While it sounds harsh, a restaurant is a business that makes money by selling food. The dining area is meant for dining. Systematically abusing it for congregating, while providing marginally little revenue, is going to result in limitations being erected to discourage such behavior. Coffee shops do the same thing with time limits on wifi, which is a limitation that works well to discourage their typical customer base. This crowd is just in it for the space, so the limitation invoked in this case is a time limit on the space itself.
  - pickleport 13y ago
    Why the tone? I didn't comment on the ethics of the policy.
    - cosmie 13y ago
      My apologies for any implied tone; it was unintentional. I used to manage a fast food restaurant (not McDonalds), so was attempting to explain the store's likely rational.
  - 10feet 13y ago
    > It's not a corporate policy. I've personally had hours-long study sessions at McDonalds restaurants with just a drink purchase. Just because it is not enforced where you are, does not mean it is not corporate policy. It can also depend on how busy the McDonalds is, I can imagine when it is after lunch, and the store is almost empty, they aren't going to kick anyone out.
    - cosmie 13y ago
      > Just because it is not enforced where you are, does not mean it is not corporate policy. While I don't have access to their corporate policies directly, at least one store owner has claimed he isn't aware of such a policy[1]: Roger Muselman, owner of successful McDonald’s restaurants in Kewanee and Geneseo, said he hasn’t heard about putting time limits on customers and that it will never happen here. [1] http://www.starcourier.com/article/20140124/NEWS/140129412 http://www.starcourier.com/article/20140124/NEWS/140129412
dba7dba 13y ago
It must be a NY thing, the hard nosed business owner/manager.
Atroxide 13y ago
it depends on the size and popularity of the specific store. In my city, they don't care if you are there all day, but when you get to the busier and smaller locations, they start to lose money because of people sitting around.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Would a café be any different? A busy café needs to keep patrons moving through, same as any McDonalds.
  - DrStalker 13y ago
    In my experience cafes are usually happy for you to stay for hours if they are quiet. I've never tried in a busy cafe, because spending hours in a busy cafe doesn't appeal to me.

pickleport 13y ago

It doesn't say whether it's a corporate policy, but it is in the first line of the article. > The kerfuffle started when word spread that the police were repeatedly evicting elderly Korean patrons from a McDonald’s in Queens. The Koreans have been milking their stays over $1.09 coffees, violating the restaurant’s 20-minute dining limit.

001sky 13y ago
That 20 minute policy is the source of the story. For years, that same franchise location did not have this policy in place. The coroporate parent does not have a uniform policy, it is up to the individual owners/franchisees. McD's parent company is familiar with the issue, however, as seen by the evolution of its architectural themes.
cosmie 13y ago
It's not a corporate policy. I've personally had hours-long study sessions at McDonalds restaurants with just a drink purchase. The article also mentions a group of women taking up an 8-person sitting area for hours at a time, nursing a single $1 coffee. For a four hour visit, this averages ~$0.03/seat/hr in revenue. These customers aren't truly dining, they're just congregating under the pretext of dining (by buying the minimal amount possible). _This_ is the type of behavior that would drive an individual store into implementing a 20-minute dining limit. Chances are it's loosely enforced for actual dining customers, but provides the necessary pretext for booting these people when the lunch rush begins and actual dining customers need somewhere to dine. If customers come to eat and can't find anywhere to sit, they'll start going elsewhere for food and the store will see a noticeable decline in revenue. While it sounds harsh, a restaurant is a business that makes money by selling food. The dining area is meant for dining. Systematically abusing it for congregating, while providing marginally little revenue, is going to result in limitations being erected to discourage such behavior. Coffee shops do the same thing with time limits on wifi, which is a limitation that works well to discourage their typical customer base. This crowd is just in it for the space, so the limitation invoked in this case is a time limit on the space itself.
- pickleport 13y ago
  Why the tone? I didn't comment on the ethics of the policy.
  - cosmie 13y ago
    My apologies for any implied tone; it was unintentional. I used to manage a fast food restaurant (not McDonalds), so was attempting to explain the store's likely rational.
- 10feet 13y ago
  > It's not a corporate policy. I've personally had hours-long study sessions at McDonalds restaurants with just a drink purchase. Just because it is not enforced where you are, does not mean it is not corporate policy. It can also depend on how busy the McDonalds is, I can imagine when it is after lunch, and the store is almost empty, they aren't going to kick anyone out.
  - cosmie 13y ago
    > Just because it is not enforced where you are, does not mean it is not corporate policy. While I don't have access to their corporate policies directly, at least one store owner has claimed he isn't aware of such a policy[1]: Roger Muselman, owner of successful McDonald’s restaurants in Kewanee and Geneseo, said he hasn’t heard about putting time limits on customers and that it will never happen here. [1] http://www.starcourier.com/article/20140124/NEWS/140129412 http://www.starcourier.com/article/20140124/NEWS/140129412

dba7dba 13y ago

It must be a NY thing, the hard nosed business owner/manager.

Atroxide 13y ago

it depends on the size and popularity of the specific store. In my city, they don't care if you are there all day, but when you get to the busier and smaller locations, they start to lose money because of people sitting around.

sliverstorm 13y ago
Would a café be any different? A busy café needs to keep patrons moving through, same as any McDonalds.
- DrStalker 13y ago
  In my experience cafes are usually happy for you to stay for hours if they are quiet. I've never tried in a busy cafe, because spending hours in a busy cafe doesn't appeal to me.