And… FastFoodCritic gets a fresh start.

First up, the angry McNugget Lady — Sometimes you just need some Chicken McNuggets, and the hell with anybody or anything that gets in your way. That was the case with the young woman you see pictured at left. She stopped at a McDonald’s in Toledo, Ohio, requesting Chicken McNuggets, and when the staff informed her they were only serving ‘breakfast’ during those morning hours, she went nuts. She reached into the drive-thru window and punched one employee in the mouth, and then began swinging at the manager who approached. Eventually she also punched thru the glass window.

Twenty-four-year-old Melodi Dushane was treated at a local hospital for injuries, and then sent directly to jail. She is being charged with felony vandalism. There is no word yet on possible assault charges for her acts of violence against the employees, but the woman has been ordered to stay away from that McDonald’s location.

And on that crazy note, this will be my final post as FFC Editor. Due to health problems and personal issues, I was regrettably forced to leave the site without updates over the past 11 months. The good news is that I’m doing better, and this project will move forward because I’m passing the fast-food torch to my friend Stevie. I will be going in a different direction with my life now, and will not be involved with the site anymore. I want to thank everyone who visited FFC in 2008 and 2009, and apologize for my absence. I hope you will support Stevie as he moves forward with the next chapter of FastFoodCritic. — Timothy

Please Note: It’s going to take a few days to make the changes here, including email addresses, so it’s best you wait until Stevie posts an update to contact him. Please be patient as he gets comfortable in his new surroundings. There may be some changes on the site, possibly ‘errors’, but all will be smoothed out soon.

The next review will be #100. A real milestone for this humble little site. All three FFC editors will be participating in number 100, sitting down with five of the industry’s cheapest cheeseburgers and picking the best burger for a buck. Thank you to all the readers who visited us in 2008. It’s a good feeling to know that you enjoy and support what we’re doing here. We look forward to bringing you the next 100 in 2009.

Hello all, I’m posting from out of town, at my Dad’s house. We’ve had some difficult family times the past 2 weeks, and between my regular full-time job (outside FFC), constant travel back-and-forth to be with family, and stress… I simply have not had the time and energy to post, or update the FFC site. And for a while, personal things were so bad, I could not really even think about it. Furthermore, neither John or Ryan had access to my webmaster/editor controls so they couldn’t do anything. I won’t let that happen again, and will modify the control panel to give them access. I should have done that before. I suppose I’ve been reluctant to let go of my control.

Anyway… I will be home by Saturday and get busy catching up over the weekend. There’s a lot of great things coming ahead at FFC, including new digital cameras for both John and Ryan, which will improve the food photography in our reviews. We’ve got an awesome interview with an Internet foodie legend. And, we’re starting a forum, where readers can post about food, including your own reviews!

Please keep in mind, this is not our “job”. We all have full-time jobs, families and daily responsibilities outside FFC. We are here because we have a passion for this fast food project, and we believe what we’re doing is good and real. We can make a difference. But we’ve not reached the point where we make money from advertising, so the reality is I can’t afford to take more time away yet. Hopefully soon.

Thank you to every FFC reader. It’s an honor and a thrill that so many people have enjoyed what we’ve done so far. I apologize for the unplanned interruption in activity. We shall return to regular fast-food fun on Wednesday, December 10th.

Hello everyone, please help me welcome Ryan, the newest member of the FFC Team. Ryan is currently living the suburban life in the small state of Maryland. Among his favorite fast-food establishments are Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, Roy Rogers and Arby’s. He enjoys watching and playing sports, especially football and hockey. He’s always listening to music of all different types. He also likes photography. Ryan has been a regular reader of FFC for a while, and wanted to help the site grow. He hopes to get his own site off the ground one day, specializing in more local “hole in the wall” type places. Recently he said to me…“Nothing better than finding a non-chain place that barely advertises but serves the best BBQ chicken brick oven pizza around.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, as we continue to move forward, please help me welcome the newest contributor to the site and member of the FFC team — Philip Given

Philip currently lives in Pennsylvania, spent most of his childhood in South Carolina where he acquired a fondness for Bojangle’s, Popeye’s, Checker’s hamburgers, and all things Southern Fried. Philip recently left the hotel business and took a job as manager for a regional pizza chain, a career change he hopes will aid him in owning his own restaurant one day. In his spare time he posts snarky comments on various Internet blogs, listens to music, and says Burger King is superior to McDonald’s.

It’s going to be a great week! Two new FFC reviewers are joining immediately, with another one to follow very soon. The fast food scene is too big for one person to cover, and I needed some help. The people coming on board will give readers more opinions and different perspectives on these speedy meals we consume. They will help take the site to the next level, and I’m proud to have them join me. Please welcome them.

Al Hunter lives with his family, three cats, and Sasha the Siberian Husky, in north suburban Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His combined interests in food and information led to early development of a recipe database for diskette based desktop computers that encouraged sharing of food ideas among a group of like minded friends. A need to understand what it meant to take responsibility for eating meat led into a decades long relationship with a rural Ontario hunting community. As life raced by he found himself working on the technological cutting edge of the packaged goods business and then supermarket retail online sales and marketing. He now specializes in search engine optimization support for small business websites but spends as much time as possible cooking, eating, photographing, and writing about his many food adventures. You can find his ’slow food’ stories at: Torontovore.ca

Wendi-Jane is a vegetarian (woah, suddenly the FFC crowd goes silent) but she’s not against killing for food. She just doesn’t want to put meat in her mouth. She loves cats. She still enjoys wearing leather (insert cracking whip sound) and is not a vigilante about animal rights issues. She insists her diet is just as normal as anyone else, and she stops at many of the same restaurants we do. She simply chooses to substitute the processed meat products with plant-based options. During a recent conversation she told me — “I’m here to cast a critical eye on the vegetarian options available at fast food chains, and trust me, there will be blood”. — As you can see, Wendi is not shy about sharing her thoughts. I can also tell you she’s one of the nicest, most sincere, positive-energy people I’ve met since starting this site. She’s currently working in the music industry, in a position that would make rock ‘n roll fans jealous. The details shall remain private for the moment, but expect an update in the future. Like Al, Wendi is also from Canada. Finally, let me say, if we were all condiments, I would be Mustard or Ketchup, and Wendi would be Hot Sauce! Can you dig it?

In case you missed it, John came on board two weeks ago, and now with Al and Wendi joining, that makes FFC a Team. I’m picky about who joins the site. I’m not just interested in good writers, but in good people. These folks have impressed me with their character, as much as their food reviewing skills. They’re the type of individuals I’m proud to call friends, in addition to being contributors to the site.

Fast Food Critic’s focus has been the USA until this point, but now Canada will have a presence too. I also hope to find volunteers in other countries like Japan, China, India, anywhere the major ‘brands’ are located. The site’s ‘main’ focus will stay on the USA, but I feel it’s important to also include other cultures, and I want to give FFC readers ‘variety’. And, I personally want to see what’s going on around the world myself.

Up to this point, FFC has been a one-man show, however it’s time I bring in some help. Not only because I’ve gained 20 pounds over the last 5 months from eating and reviewing so much food, but also because I want to give readers more content, and a different perspective on things. I’m happy and proud to announce John Cauley is coming on board to participate in this fast food adventure. Please join me in welcoming him.

John works nights as a radio personality at WZZO-FM in Allentown, PA. He also works behind the scenes at the station, writing and producing commercials, and is involved with various creative services. He’s been a fast food eater since college, and is always eager to try the latest products, and not shy about giving his opinion on them. Since graduating a few years ago, he’s cut back on the amount of fast food he consumes, but still hits a drive-thru at least once a week. He first review is coming soon.

I suppose it’s normal to worry about saying something to upset people when you are starting a new site. After putting your heart and soul into it, you want everyone to enjoy what you have created. However, the reality of the situation is no matter what you say or do, there will always be somebody who disagrees. When doing product reviews, placing scores on items, the pressure can be intense because of the loyal fan-base and employees from each chain watching on. When you are new at doing it, trying to make your mark on the fast food world, that spotlight has a way of making you feel like a tiny ant, who was unlucky enough to crawl past a curious kid with a giant magnifying glass on a bright sunny day. We all know what happens to the poor ant.

With the helpful feedback of a couple friends (one old, one new) I’ve realized that I have been too conservative at times. I’ve been playing it too safe. One example is my review of the Burger King Loaded Steakhouse Burger.

I had originally set a score of only 2.5 stars out of 5, and even used the term “rip-off” to describe it’s value at the $5 price point. But after sleeping on it, I woke up the next morning and changed my review to 3 stars, and removed the rip-off comment and replaced it with a more polite “I want my money back”. I worried that I was too harsh, or that I might have over-reacted. After all, it was the lowest score I had given yet.

But I realize now, I should have trusted my first instinct. There is no reason to be afraid. I was not slamming Burger King, or trying to hurt them. I was simply attempting to give my honest opinion about this one particular product.

The fact is — It’s hard to be a nice-guy when giving a bad-review.

This weekend, I will be a critic of my own work, going over every review that I’ve written so far, and making sure I expressed myself in the way I had originally intended. I might even update a few scores by dropping a half-star, or increasing a half-star.

The site is new — I’m new — and the ’system’ is still being developed. This is a perfect time to make such adjustments, and look within myself to become a better writer and reviewer. At barely 2 months old, FFC has come a long way fast, but now it’s time to learn from mistakes and build towards a better future. I hope that anybody who might read this post, or has ever visited my site, will bear with me as I experience these growing pains. I’m dedicated to making Fast Food Critic the best it can be, but I know there’s going to be some detours and bumps in the road as we travel along.

My sincere thanks to my old friend RJ, and my new friend DD (Geezer).

It’s been a busy couple weeks. There is an incredible amount of work involved in getting a new site off the ground. Thankfully I have the help of my friend Karl who is a fantastic coder and designer. Together we have made lots of tweaks and changes to the site, in an attempt to get it ‘right’. I’m very pleased, and proud of the progress here at FFC. As for content, I’ve been covering the fast food news for the past couple weeks, and I posted my first fast food review 2 days ago. I’m going to stick to fairly basic items for review at first, to establish a baseline for our review system and formula. But it won’t be too long before we start covering the newest, hottest, coolest fast food and activities from around the quick serve industry. I say “we” because soon I will be joined by a couple friends, and fellow fast food fans. It’s a slow start, but I’m trying to do everything the proper way. This is just the beginning for Fast Food Critic. I hope we can become a source of fun and information for whomever happens upon our humble little site. Thank you very much to those who have already visited.