There is a special burger at McDonald's Korea that cannot be found on the menu. It is called the "Burger of Happiness," offered to firefighters, medical personnel, and volunteers who work hard for neighbors and local communities in need.
The Burger of Happiness is one of the representative social contribution campaigns that McDonald's Korea has been conducting for about 13 years. It has donated over 250,000 burgers to date.
According to related industries on the 3rd, McDonald's Korea provides the Burger of Happiness in conjunction with nearby local children's centers when opening new stores. This year, it commemorated the openings of store locations including "Gangneung Songjeong DT," "Andong DT," and "Gunsan Jochon DT" by delivering burgers and drinks to local children's centers. In August of last year, it also visited the island village of Jodo in Jindo County, Jeollanam-do, where opportunities to taste burgers are limited, and delivered the representative products of McDonald's to the children.
In addition, McDonald's Korea signed an agreement with the Fire Agency in 2018 for the "Burger of Happiness Campaign" and has been carrying out various support activities for firefighters at disaster sites, injured firefighters, and families of deceased firefighters. Recognizing its contributions, McDonald's Korea received the "Fire Chief's Commendation for Contributions to Improvements in Firefighter Treatment" in 2022. In November of the same year, it was honored by the Seoul Special City for contributions to volunteer service.
◇ Supporting farmers and enhancing burger flavors through the "Taste of Korea" project
McDonald's Korea has continued the "Taste of Korea" project, which involves purchasing local specialties from across the country's eight provinces in bulk and releasing new products utilizing them. This project, which began with the "Changnyeong Garlic Burger" in August 2021, has played a role in widely promoting local specialties.
Products released through the project include the "Changnyeong Garlic Burger," "Boseong Green Pork Burger," "Jindo Green Onion Cream Croquette Burger," and "Jinju Pepper Cream Cheese Burger." Side items such as "Honey Butter Injeolmi Fries," drink items like "Jeju Hallabong Chiller," "Naju Pear Chiller," and "7-Grain Shake" have also received great love.
This project embodies not just the launch of new menus but also the idea of coexistence with local farmers. From 2021 to 2024, the sales volume of the "Taste of Korea" menu surpassed 24 million items. During this process, McDonald's Korea sourced over 800 tons of domestic ingredients.
This year, McDonald's purchased about 200 tons of sweet potatoes from Iksan City for two items: the "Iksan Sweet Potato Mozzarella Burger" and the "Iksan Sweet Potato Mozzarella Muffin." This marks the largest purchasing record in the history of the project.
◇ Expanding the use of recycled materials... "Targeting a reduction of 538 tons of plastic annually"
Fast food with a high volume of takeout is inevitably reliant on a large amount of disposable products. Therefore, McDonald's Korea has also maintained ongoing interest in improving issues related to environmental pollution.
In February last year, McDonald's became the first in the dining industry to introduce plastic cups and lids made from 100% recycled PET (rPET) in all its stores. These cups and lids are produced from a process that cleans, crushes, and melts transparent PET bottles that are collected separately in Korea, meeting the standards set by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Although recycled PET bottles are more expensive than new plastics, they are known to provide approximately 59% carbon reduction.
Additionally, McDonald's introduced eco-friendly "bio-wax wrap" for food packaging in December last year. Unlike conventional wraps coated with petroleum derivatives, this is a special solution made from natural materials like sunflower seeds and corn.
With the introduction of this wrap, McDonald's is currently reducing 141 tons of plastic annually and also expects a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions during the landfill and incineration processes. It estimates that further expanding the use of 100% recycled PET to takeout beverages and coffee cups will result in an annual reduction of approximately 538 tons.
A spokesperson from McDonald's Korea noted, "We have been practicing the '3R' principles of Reduction, Reusable, and Recycling, aiming to switch all packaging used in stores nationwide to recyclable materials. Thanks to these efforts, the current recycling material conversion rate has reached about 89%."