Last week, Powell farmer Allen Hatch was told he and his two draft horses, Coal and Onyx, weren’t welcome in the McDonald’s drive-thru.
After news of the drive-thru ban spread internationally, McDonald’s has reportedly changed their order. The farmer said that not only are he and his horses welcome to return, but there’s also going to be some changes under the Golden Arches.
Hatch said he was contacted by a representative of Yellowstone McDonald’s, the company that owns and operates 16 McDonald’s franchises in Wyoming and Montana. He received a “personal, private apology" and was told he and his horses are welcome back.
“That ban has since been rescinded,” Hatch told Cowboy State Daily. “I was offered one free meal for the entire family. I was also told they are retraining their employees, so any legal form of transportation is allowed through the drive-thru.”
McDonald’s might have second-guessed its horse-and-wagon policy, but Wyoming businesses doubled down on theirs. Hatch has been contacted by several regional businesses, which told him — and his horses — that they are welcome anytime.
“The community support, across the state, has been staggering,” he said.
An email sent to the McDonald's franchise was not returned by publication time.
That’s Not “Our” Policy
Hatch had already visited both windows and received his order when the manager of the Powell McDonald’s told him that his horses and wagon weren’t permitted in the drive-thru.
“I was told there was a company policy precluding having livestock in the drive-thru for purposes of liability,” Hatch said. “The one thing that (the manager) was very clear about is ‘what happens ‘if they shit in my drive-thru,’ since there's no one to clean it up.”
Hatch didn’t argue. He got the message to “take his order and leave,” and he did.
After the story was circulated online, Hatch got a call from Casey Taggart, the marketing and public relations lead for Yellowstone McDonald’s. They had “a discussion” about what had transpired and about the drive-thru directive.
“At the onset, he told the decision was essentially that of the local manager,” he said. “He stated that she was acting on her own accord, with no outside communication or issued guidance.”
That conflicted with what Hatch was told in a private message from “a separate, unrelated McDonald’s manager.”
In that message, Hatch was informed that the policy had come from “a new area supervisor from another state” who told the Powell manager “what to do, real-time, while I was in the drive-thru.”
Hatch isn’t sure who gave the order not to allow draft horses through drive-thrus, but he believes that it didn’t originate with the Powell manager.
“While she was rude and somewhat unprofessional, it didn’t sound like it was her decision to tell me I could never bring the horses back through,” he said. “I don’t think she was acting on her own. It wasn’t just her.”
Banned Vs Banned
According to Hatch, one thing Taggart wanted to clarify was his interpretation of “being banned” from the Powell McDonald’s. He explained that it was never the intention for anyone involved.
“He insisted that I wasn’t personally banned,” Hatch said. “I said that I agreed, but ‘we’ were banned, meaning the horses and me. The three of us were told that we would never do this again. That was the genesis of my use of the word ‘banned.’”
Taggart clarified that neither Hatch nor horse was banned from any McDonald’s drive-thru, and that there would be some changes.
“He said they are retraining nearly 1,000 Yellowstone McDonald’s people so they will allow any legal form of transportation through the drive-thru,” he said. “I asked, via text and phone, if this would be a written policy change, but he wouldn’t commit to that.”
For the record, Hatch’s wagon is a road-legal vehicle, with all the proper “Slow Moving Vehicle” signage, when he went through the drive-thru initially.
Plus, Hatch’s exact wording was that he was “86ed” from the McDonald’s drive-thru. And he has witnesses.
“Mark Davis, the Powell Tribune reporter who took the photo, witnessed the exchange,” he said. “When I mentioned this to (Taggart), he seemed unimpressed.”
Don’t Have A Cow Over Horses
Overall, Hatch wasn’t particularly perturbed by the drive-thru debacle. He certainly wasn’t intending to get that much attention for a spur-of-the-moment decision.
“I’m not that invested in it,” he said. “If I had known there was a policy regarding livestock in the drive-thru, I wouldn’t have made the turn.”
All Hatch wanted to do was continue training his new draft horses, Coal and Onyx, as they acclimate to Wyoming. The horses aren’t used to things like lights at night, and they primarily take commands in Swedish rather than German or English.
“They come from a different culture,” he said. “They’re different from every other team I’ve been around. I just wanted to give them some miles, learn how to communicate with them, and see how they would do.”
Hatch intends to use his horses for farm work and private trail trips for his friends and family. They were entirely unperturbed and unbothered by their short-lived McDonald’s ban and are slowly bonding with their new owner and home.
Meanwhile, several Wyoming businesses have contacted Hatch, saying he and his horse-and-wagon set are always welcome.
“I’ve heard from the K-Saloon, Legends Pizza, Millstone Brewery, and Body and Paint in Powell and the Tractor Supply in Cody, offering services to horses and wagons,” he said. “The Dairyland in Thermopolis told me they’re attempting to gather teamsters for a drive-thru event.”
Everything’s cool now. Yellowstone McDonald’s has, in Hatch’s words, “contained the PR disaster this incident has become,” and he’s freely going about his business with his new horses.
There was just one more thing Hatch wanted to clear up.
“I’ve heard Onyx and Coal called everything from mules to Clydesdales,” he said. “They are Percheron draft horses, and we are no longer 86ed from the McDonald’s drive-thru.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
