Is The McDonald’s on Cochrane A Pirated Clone?
A few months ago I came across an article about some Chinese ‘pirates’ cloning NEC. They didn’t just create knockoffs of NEC’s products, but recreated almost the entire company from scratch: offices, warehouses, and even factories. I’m still not sure if that’s a legitimate news article or some type of hoax itself, but I now fear the same thing may have happened here in Morgan Hill.
I’m talking about the McDonald’s on Cochrane Rd. I’ve visited this particular location a couple dozen times since moving to Morgan hill and it absolutely looks and ‘acts’ like a McDonald’s. However, the food simply doesn’t taste like McDonald’s food. It’s of even lower quality then one would expect from the king of fast food.
The primary benefit of a chain store is that it’s essentially the same everywhere you go. It gives that comfortable, homey feeling when you’re far from home and is a “safe” bet when on the road. You basically know exactly what you’re getting for your money regardless of whether you’ve ever previously visited that particular location. But such is not the case here.
The service is fast food typical - efficiency over comfort or friendliness. The prices are essentially the same - I haven’t actually compared them, but they didn’t seem any different. But the food is simply worse. Z and I had breakfast at the Cochrane McDonald’s this morning and were both dissatisfied with out purchases. The muffins on my Sausage and Egg McMuffin were stale and the meat tasted drier than usual. That’s when the NEC article popped into my brain. Because every time I’ve eaten at this particular ickey Ds I’ve sworn off the chain for good (obviously unsuccessfully). This problem doesn’t occur at either the Dunne or Monterey McDonald’s.
So, if the McDonald’s on Cochrane Road isn’t a ‘fake’ then I’m not sure what’s really going on under those golden arches.
Tags: breakfast, Cochrane, fast food, McDonald's, Morgan Hill, NEC, restaurant
