By Piyush Jain
Food accessibility is the bare minimum necessity for every individual including the ones with upper arm movement disability. Innovations like EatQual provide the scope of making eating so much easier for them. On the occasion of International Day of Person with Disabilities, the fast-food chain has done something unique and in line with its egalitarian ethos. McDonald’s India West and South announced that it is launching a new packaging — EatQual, designed for its specially-abled customers with limited hand or upper limb mobility. McDonald’s is the first food player to take such initiative in India. With this progressive and inclusive initiative, the company has once again reinforced its brand promise of making delicious feel-good moments easy for everyone.
The EatQual pack have been developed in collaboration with an NGO which is working towards the betterment of the specially-abled community for over 50 years. The packaging is conceptualised and designed by DBB Mudra. At the same time, the brand launched a heartwarming brand film that showcases how EatQual makes the experience of enjoying McDonald’s burgers easy and delightful for its specially-abled guests.
McDonald’s India launched the packaging by hosting specially-abled guests across Mumbai, Pune and Chennai. The Good Quest Foundation, a Non-Profit Organisation founded to work for a tangible impact in the lives of the less privileged, downtrodden and marginalised in the Community supported the event in Chennai.
Mr Vinod Kumar, Managing Trustee of The Good Quest Foundation commenting on the launch of EatQual said, “It is welcoming to see a successful global food joint like McDonald’s coming up with EatQual packaging, a big step taken to embrace people with limited upper limb mobility to their customer class. Now even a person with limited upper limb mobility can visit McDonald’s to relish his food and drink without hassles. We at The Good Quest Foundation have always worked for an inclusive community, thank you for the partnership McDonald’s. We are sure EatQual packaging will set a benchmark for the others to follow.”
Westlife Development Ltd owner of McDonald’s in South and West India has been taking definitive steps to make feel-good moments easy for all its customers across its restaurants. The company has made many of its restaurants accessible for differently-abled customers by installing ramps wherever possible and has made the restrooms wheelchair friendly. The launch of EatQual marks another step by the brand to make eating at McDonald’s easy and fun and fostering inclusiveness.
Speaking about the launch of EatQual, Arvind RP — Director Marketing and Communications McDonald’s India (West and South) said, “It has always been our endeavour to make delicious feel-good moments easy for everyone. The launch of this EatQual packaging is a step to further our commitment towards inclusiveness and social responsibility. We hope that this packaging will make McDonald’s experience easy and delightful for our specially-abled customers.”
Idea Behind EatQual
The concept for new packaging stems from the insight that current packaging typically requires the use of both hands to firmly hold the burger together and enjoy delicious McDonald’s burger. This makes it difficult for those with upper-limb disabilities. EatQual will address this challenge and ensure that everyone can bite into their favourite burgers without any difficulty.
The article is written for 180 Degrees Consulting, Delhi Technological University, under the campaign #MarketingForACause. To read more content shared by our other consultants, please check out our LinkedIn page- https://www.linkedin.com/company/180dc-dtu
