McDonald's Tests Delivery In Germany

Last Saturday, one German McDonald's franchisee made the dreams of hung-over residents come true by rolling out delivery service for the day. McDonald's in Asia and Egypt deliver, and delivery is even an option at some locations in the U.S., but until Saturday German customers had to actually leave their homes if they wanted a Big Mac or two. 

According to The Local, customers in western Germany had been asking why their McDonald's didn't deliver for so long that one area franchisee decided to road test the idea himself with a one-off event called Crazy Saturday.

"Since we often got asked about the non-existent delivery service, we dealt with the issue and decided to test this scenario for and with our customers on Crazy Saturday," said Christian Eckstein, head of McDonald's franchisee Systemgastronomie Christian Eckstein.

Eckstein hired 20 drivers for the day-long McHome event, during which local residents could order delivery from the Osnabrück McDonald's for no extra charge. The hamburgers, Big Macs and McNuggets were the same price as in the restaurants.

Once a person gets a taste of McDonald's delivered right to their couch, it's hard to let that go. Now other German cities are asking when their McDonald's will start delivering. The company says it is not considering offering nationwide delivery, but that does not necessarily preclude individual franchisees from deciding Crazy Saturday should happen every day.

"A nationwide delivery service would be a big challenge, especially in sparsely populated areas with long distances," a company spokesperson explained. "Unfortunately we can't guarantee that our customers will receive the product just as fresh and delicious as they are in the restaurant."

A delivered Happy Meal might not be quite as fresh as one right off the line, but it looks like some customers would be willing to accept a slightly less delicious McNugget in exchange for not having to put on pants or shoes.