McDonald’s UK has launched Free Fruit Fridays, a long-term campaign to encourage millions of children to eat and enjoy 5-a-day. On the first Friday of each month – ‘Free Fruit Fridays’ – McDonald’s will hand out a free fruit bag with every Happy Meal, accounting for more than half (52 per cent) of all children’s fruit bags sold in the UK on that day.
The first free fruit bag on offer from McDonald’s will be apple and grape and, by the end of 2014, McDonald’s expects to have handed out the equivalent of more than 3.5 million apples and over 23 million grapes free of charge to Happy Meal customers.
Only 1 in 10 older children meet the 5-a-day recommendation
McDonald’s launches Free Fruit Fridays as official government figures reveal that people are finding it harder than ever to eat their recommended five daily portions of fruit and vegetables. According to the latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey, less than one third of adults and around one in 10 older children meet the 5-a-day recommendation.1
During recent years, McDonald’s has also seen this trend reflected among its own customers. Whilst more than 10 years ago it became the first UK restaurant to offer fruit bags on its menu, during recent years the number of people choosing these options has fallen. Now, McDonald’s aims to reverse this trend.
Encouraging millions of children to choose 5-a-day
Through Free Fruit Fridays, McDonald’s will use its family-friendly menu and the fun eating-out experience it provides to help encourage millions of children to choose 5-a-day, helping to solve the top 5-a-day challenges highlighted in a new poll of 2,000 parents. In this poll parents named the biggest three challenges to be finding affordable seasonal fruit and vegetables, making eating fruit and vegetables fun and enjoyable, and getting their children into good habits at an early age.
Alistair Macrow, Senior Vice President, Food and Marketing, commented:
“We know that kids and their parents love coming to McDonald’s for a fun treat and we want to make the most of that opportunity to help reinvigorate 5-a-day habits. Free Fruit Fridays is the latest way we’re evolving our Happy Meal which we know so many UK families enjoy. Parents have told us they find it hard to find affordable fruit and veg, and to make eating 5-a-day fun for their kids. We hope that the fun experience of Free Fruit Fridays at McDonald’s will help get millions more kids on their way to 5-a-day, without costing their parents any extra.”
Actress and mum-of-two Tamzin Outhwaite, who is supporting Free Fruit Fridays, said:
“As a mum of two, I know how tricky it can be to get kids to eat their fruit and veg. I often worry that my kids don’t get their 5-a-day and it can be hard to think up ways to make fruit and veg tasty and fun. From cutting it into special shapes to telling my kids that runner beans will make them run faster, I’ve tried all kinds of things! Now, Free Fruit Fridays will give parents like me another way to make choosing 5-a-day a fun and appealing option when we’re eating out.”
Crunchy Wednesday
McDonald’s is launching Free Fruit Fridays in the UK following a successful UK test across 255 restaurants, and the extremely popular ‘Crunchy Wednesday’ long-term campaign run by McDonald’s France. In France, at a time when nationally there was a five per cent decline in overall retail purchases of fruit, McDonald’s saw a 19 per cent increase in Happy Meal fruit orders as a result of offering free fruit bags one Wednesday each month. In France today, McDonald’s has become the number one restaurant where kids eat the most fruit. More than half of the fruit consumed by kids aged between 3 – 8 years old in the French restaurant industry is eaten at McDonald’s.