McDonald's: Do you want pot with that?
Posted Nov 17th 2007 7:58PM by Peter Cohan
Filed under: Law, McDonald's (MCD), Entrepreneurs
At most McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) drive-through windows, the worker's ask: "Do you want fries with that?" But at one Massachusetts McDonald's, drive-through customers got an unusual offer: "Do you want marijuana with that?"
It sounds incredible but it's true. The Eagle-Tribune quoted Haverhill Police Sargent John Arahovites as saying that Michael Brown, an assistant manager at the Haverhill, MA store, sold bags of marijuana worth $20 to $80 along with a McDonald's meal to his customers. He would use his cell phone and direct customers to the drive-through. Police set up a sting to buy $40 worth of marijuana from Brown and arrested him Thursday at the restaurant. Police seized $57 and six bags of marijuana from Brown.
What does Brown say? "This is not going to put me down. I'll get back on my feet." No word on whether McDonald's got a share of Brown's profits. But smoking marijuana makes people hungry. Brown could have created some important synergies.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in McDonald's.
Tags: Haverhill, inthenews, John Arahovites, marijuana, MCD, McDonald's, Michael Brown
