McDonald’s responds to fabricated memo

Posted by Daniel Palmer on 13th October 2009

McDonald’s Australia has recently responded to a fake memo doing the rounds that implied the fast-food giant intentionally sought to rip-off their customers.

Allegedly written by the Managing Director of McDonald’s Australia, “Robert Trugabe”, it suggests that the company is looking at a new way to boost profits.

“We need to discuss the drive through orders as well,” the fake memo reads. “If the girls leave one item out of every second or third order, this adds up to several thousand dollars per week revenue. On smaller orders if they leave out the hot apple pie or fires [sic] and larger orders just 1 burger from every third order this totals around $2,118.00 per day. We need to work out if there is a way of making this a procedure without making it documented.”

The name Robert Trugabe appears a simple play on the name of Zimbabwean dictator (confirmed by the signature similarities) and not surprisingly no such employee exists at McDonald’s Australia – where, for the record, Catriona Noble serves as the Managing Director. The purported email has circulated on a number of blogs and has caused enough of a stir that McDonald’s has felt a need to address the fake memo on the front page of their website.

“The memo in circulation online and via email supposedly written by the Managing Director/Proprietor of Frewville McDonald’s in South Australia is a complete fabrication,” the statement on the website advises. “‘Robert Trugabe’ is not, and never has been, a McDonald’s Australia employee. The contents of the letter are also completely fabricated. McDonald’s practices the highest standards of consumer ethics and would never encourage employees to act in a way that undermines our core customer values.”

The case does highlight the power of the internet though, with a search for Robert Trugabe on Google now yielding numerous references to ‘Robert Trugabe’ being a ‘crook’.

For those keen to view the fake memo please click here.