Category Archives: Messages from Alan

McRib Cufflinks and Ring Giveaway

Last year we teamed up with Catrinas Toybox and gave away a McRib necklace. We are pleased to announce that we are teaming up again this year for a giveaway for a set of McRib Jewelry items. We will be giving away McRib cufflinks and a McRib ring!

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First up is our review of the McRib Ring.

The McRib on the ring is even better than that we saw last year on the necklace. Notice the abundance of pickle, and also slivered onion. The sprinklings of cornbread on top, combined with the sauce seemingly oozing off of the McRib patty make this a highly desirable item for those that like to show off their love of the McRib.

 

Next up is a pair of McRib cufflinks.

Similar to the McRib ring, Catrina spent some significant effort to bring out the pickles and onions. The cufflinks do not feel as heavy as some cufflinks, and also are not bothersome on the wrist when being worn. The connection between the McRib and the cufflink appears to be solid and tight so that you need not worry about snagging something along the seem.  

 

Now that you see the prizes, lets talk about what you have to do to get a chance to win either the ring or the cufflinks.

About the Contest There are several ways to get in the contest. In all options, be sure you also give us your contact email! We need to be able to reach you when you win!

1. Visit Catrina’s Etsy Store, look around, find something cool other than a McRib related item. Come back to this blog post and post what you picked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Follow McRib Locator on Twitter and Tweet about this blog post and giveaway using the following (quotes are not needed in your tweet): “I just entered to win some awesome #McRib Jewelry from @TheMenuJewelry and @mcriblocator – Enter to win at http://wp.me/p3RkC0-lW #giveaway”. Post the direct link to your twitter post on this blog post.

3. Like McRib Locator and Catrina’s Toybox on Facebook and post about the giveaway using (again no quotes needed): “I just entered to win some awesome #McRib Jewelry from @Catrinas-Toybox and #mcriblocator – Enter to win at http://wp.me/p3RkC0-lW #giveaway″. Make sure to set your security setting on the post so that we can find it.

Contest closes on Sunday, December 1, 2013 at 6pm Central. A winner will be announced on Monday, December 2. We will be randomly picking a winner from all valid entries. If we are unable to reach the winner after 24 hours, we will pick another person and wait 24 hours for them to respond. We will continue this until we have a winner.

McRib will not be available at all US locations in 2013

Unfortunate news today for McRib fans in some parts of the country. We received an email this morning from a McRib fan that had stumbled onto an Associated Press story announcing that the McRib would be available on a franchise by franchise basis. Apparently the rapid release of new products this year has caused some difficulties for some of the McDonalds locations. We earlier speculated that this may be the reason for late release, and also correctly pinned the limited availability on the new Mighty Wings that are being offered.

Based on where we have had confirmations this far, it may not be a stretch to assume states that have not had it yet are not likely to have it this year. States that have not yet had confirmations:

Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Massachusetts
Maryland
Maine
Michigan
North Dakota
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia

The majority of these states are in the Northeastern US, which may indicate a different offering may make it’s way to the menu (McLobster?) or that they are expecting the Mighty Wings to sell better in this region.

Let’s try to help out friends in states where the McRib is not available by providing them with confirmed sightings so that they know where they may have to drive to get their McRib fix! If/when you find a McRib, please mark your sighting at McRibLocator.com and be sure to send us a photo (photos@mcriblocator.com) of your receipt showing the purchase so that we may mark it as confirmed.

Burger King’s latest attempt to clone the McRib

Not so long ago, we talked about the summer Burger King Rib Sandwich offering. Their menu continues to move toward direct McDonalds competition by making sandwiches that look very much like the competition. With the McRib back, BK decided to try a different approach having not gained much ground on the McRib with the previous offering. They now are offering a revamped version of this sandwich for their BK® Value Menu. Here is my review of BK Rib Sandwich 2.0.

The latest version of this sandwich does away with trying to make the patty look rib shaped, instead gong for the simple burger shape more closely as that used on their Whopper Junior. It also uses a sesame seed covered bun, has dill pickles (2 ordering it as on menu), onion (same as used on their burgers) and BBQ. I ordered mine with extra pickles, or as the BK calls it “heavy pickles” which provided me with 4 pickles.  Many of the changes they made appear to be more toward using items already used for other sandwiches on the menu, which would be expected to allow this sandwich to be offered at the $1 price point.

My first impressions were that it reminded me of their Rodeo Cheeseburger sans cheese and onion ring. I wouldn’t be surprised if the BBQ on both was the same. Their self proclaimed sweet and tangy BBQ was not all that noticeable, being overpowered by the volume of bun to rest of sandwich. I like BBQ flavor, so they would need to kick the amount of that up more. McRib patties are immersed in BBQ sauce, something that BK should take note of if they are really going down the path of emulating the McDonald’s menu.

The patty has the BK signature charbroiled taste as this patty must run through the same cooking technique as the burger patties. The Rib Sandwich patty wasn’t much more thick than their cheeseburger patties. As they decided to change the shape, why not make it more like the round burger patty that covers more of the bread? The sesame bun, onions, and pickles are what I expected them to be based on previous purchases I have made at BK.

Being only $1, I didn’t order this with any concern that this would be close to what the McRib tastes like. I walked away with the same thoughts. While an improvement over their Rib Sandwich 1.0, I wouldn’t drive much out of my way to get one. If they still are offering them after the McRib goes into hiding, I might go back and order another (much more likely if it is available 6 months from now when I really want a McRib and begin considering trying gas station rib sandwiches). I found the only real competition this version of the BK Rib Sandwich brings is the $1 pricing.

Frozen McRib Patty

A few articles are springing up as a result of a recently posted image of what appears to be the McRib patty coming out storage from a freezer. Most of the stories are playing off how “bad” the patty looks in this state. Having been to various grocery outlets that sell frozen food, I don’t see the big deal. It isn’t like the patty has a different shape, or that it has freezer burn. It appears that a majority of commenters on these stories have a similar take as I do.

Here are a few articles that can provide a little more information on the issue and include the photo mentioned:

Huffington Post

Metro

UK Mail Online

So what do you think?

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If/when you find a McRib, please mark your sighting at McRibLocator.com and be sure to send us a photo (photos@mcriblocator.com) of your receipt showing the purchase so that we may mark it as confirmed.

Still Time to Win McRib Locator Pens!

We earlier went into the details of our pen giveaway for this McRib Season. We have been getting a lot of confirmations even after the respective state has been confirmed. To reward these reports, we are going to run another McRib Pen Giveaway! We are going to have a top reporters reward where the top 5 reporters will receive McRib Pens. This will be a point based system, and here are the scoring rules.

1) We have decided that we will give 5 points to each sighting added to the McRib Locator that also has a photo confirmation sent in (photos@mcriblocator.com) for the sighting reported. You must do both in order to score the points.

2) In order for your points to accumulate, you will need to report your sightings with the same email address each time. This is the only unique identification that we have today for each sighting. We do not and will not share the email addresses.

3)  Scores will be available at http://mcriblocator.com/topreporters.php

4) Confirmations from August 1, 2013 through midnight Jan 1 (when the balls drops it is all over) will be included.

Regarding the original chances for pens, we are still looking for unique McRib photos and there are still several locations that have not had confirmations yet that provide a confirmation for will score you a pen.

Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Massachusetts
Maryland
Maine
Michigan
North Dakota
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia

If/when you find a McRib, please mark your sighting at McRibLocator.com and be sure to send us a photo (photos@mcriblocator.com) of your receipt showing the purchase so that we may mark it as confirmed.

More details on the McRib returning to Canada

As the McRib finally returns to Canada, the Canadian McDonalds website is now featuring material on the release. Unlike the search and find approach used on our website, McDonalds Canada offers a timeline for the McRibs availability, expected for a single glorious month.

They also are featuring music and a chance to win swag, alike a promotion ran in the United States many years ago.

Canadians are in for a flavorful fall, even if for only a month.

If/when you find a McRib, please mark your sighting at McRibLocator.com and be sure to send us a photo (photos@mcriblocator.com) of your receipt showing the purchase so that we may mark it as confirmed.