Why You Might Hear Classical Music at Your Next McDonald's Late-Night Visit

If biting into a Big Mac is like a finely-tuned orchestra to your ears, you may not be the only [...]

By Libby Birk

If biting into a Big Mac is like a finely-tuned orchestra to your ears, you may not be the only one. A few McDonald's restaurants in England are testing playing classical music at night in hopes to quell rowdy late-night customers.

While you most likely won't hear any Bach at your neighborhood Mickey D's anytime soon, restaurants of the fast-food giant across the pond have experimented with the classical tunes.

The Sun reports that the music is intended to create a calming atmosphere in order to counteract any rowdy shenanigans from customers, which is why it's played in some branches from early evening to late at night.

"We have tested the effects of classical music in the past and played it in some of our restaurants as it encourages more acceptable behaviour," a spokesperson for McDonald's told The Sun. "Typically, classical music would be played from early evening onwards and, in some cases, on certain nights in a small number of restaurants."

Customers in Liverpool, Cambridge, Huddersfield, Swansea, Southampton and London have reported hearing the music at their local Golden Arches.

Many wrote on Twitter that they were excited about the new music.

Some were just plain confused by the stuff.

And others weren't excited about the change to the audible menu.

Meanwhile, the restaurant chain continues to persist with its dollar menu despite plummeting stock. Lackluster sales and fans vocally saying that they aren't lovin' it are contributing to stocks plummeting to lows.

In fact, the $1, $2, $3 Menu has taken so much heat that McDonald's Corp is defending the new introduction, claiming that it is a "long-term platform" to drive sales.

"We don't view our $1, $2, $3 menu as a one-month or two-month deal," McDonald's CFO Kevin Ozan said Wednesday at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch consumer tech conference, The Street reports. "It's not a promotion, it's not a deal, it's a long-term value menu platform."

Since the introduction of the revamped dollar menu in January, the fast food chain has not only seen its stock fall more than 8% since the beginning of the year, stock trading down slightly to $158.24 at the market's close, but the company has also experienced one of its worst days since it began tracking data in 1972. Shares of McDonald's Corp. closed on March 2 down 4.8%, the worst dollar decline in the company's history as a publicly traded company. It was also the worst percentage drop since October 2008. The fast-food chain also experienced its worst weekly percentage decline for shares since 2008 and the sharpest total dollar decline for a week ever.

McDonald's does not seem too worried about its customers' initial opinion, though.

"It takes a few months...to embed in customers' minds when you have a new platform because it's not a quick deal," Ozen said. "You're now changing their daily mindset of when they go in."

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