McDonald’s Corp. has announced it will soon offer free wireless Internet access at most of its U.S. fast-food restaurants as it tries to broaden its appeal still further.
This will be a huge boon for travelers. I’m forever looking for a place to post a blog entry over breakfast, lunch or dinner when I’m on the road on my motorcycle and the creation of 11,000 new free Wifi hotspots is fabulous news for me.
“We’re not just about hamburgers,” said Dave Grooms, chief information officer for McDonald’s USA. “We are about convenience and all kinds of value.”
The world’s largest fast-food chain has offered Internet access for about five years.
In mid-January, it will lift the $2.95 fee it has charged for two hours of Internet access at 11,000 of its 14,000 U.S. locations. There will be no time limit after the fee is lifted.
“McDonald’s is about value – value in our food, value in our services,” Grooms said. “It’s a natural fit.”
It’s also a good fit with the company’s growing coffee business that has upped the chain’s competition with Starbucks Corp., which also offers free Wifi. Coffee and the McCafe line of drinks at McDonald’s have helped drive its sales and increase its market share in the U.S.
The company, based in Oak Brook, Ill., has not released sales data for the McCafe line but said recently that its coffee business has grown from 2 percent of the chain’s overall sales to 5 percent in the past few years.
Grooms said McDonald’s – traditionally known as a quick stop – has become more of a destination with new products and a new look and feel at many of its restaurants, with improved lobby designs and finishes.
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