Deep inside McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago is what seems like a tiny room – but it’s actually a huge archive full of treasures.
Run by Mike Bullington, McDonald’s brand archivist, the archive contains five semi-truckloads of nostalgic Happy Meal toys, old packaging and treasures from the company’s restaurants around the world, all safely stored in a locked, temperature-controlled environment.
Bullington began working for the company nearly 20 years ago, with the goal of collecting one of almost everything from a life-size Grimace and a Hamburglar mask to vintage milkshake machines and promotional items from other countries.
“We’re the resource of the company, so we support the owner/operators, our suppliers and our guests,” Bullington explains the purpose of the archive. “I say, ‘Everybody has a McDonald’s story, my job is to tell you a McDonald’s story.’ ”
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McDonald’s headquarters.
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Sometimes the marketing team will look to him for help reviewing Happy Meal toys that will be revived for nostalgic remakes (see: the collectible mugs that flew out of restaurants this summer), and sometimes people outside the company will ask him for advice, such as the team behind Loki asked him to consult on recreating the restaurant for an episode of the series (he told them to add a drive-thru, which they did via CGI).
Although the brand tries to preserve one of each item for him — whether it’s a Big Mac box or a vintage Fisher-Price toy — he often scours eBay to find sought-after items missing from his collection.
“I don’t buy anything from the employees, but they give a lot to the archive, they are very generous,” he says. “A lot of collectors also reach out, like a family member has a collection and doesn’t need it. A lot of people collect McDonald’s memorabilia.”
On the other hand, he never sells or gives away items.
“Every two years we hold a world convention, and this year the archives exhibited some parts of the heritage,” he explains. “Many visitors wanted to buy things and I said no.”
While many of the expected items are in the archives, there are also some gems American fans have likely never seen, including a Tesla Cybertruck-inspired McFlurry spoon from Germany and bottles of wine given to select employees … 1984 Limited-edition Texas-themed meal relics among the rarest are items in the collection, and yes, Bullington has one of each Happy Meal Beanie Baby, also known as Teenie Beanies.
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McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago.
Raymond Boyd/Getty
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Three floors above Bullington’s archives is a brightly lit wall that will take anyone back to childhood: rows of shelves of Happy Meal toys from decades past, organized from oldest to newest. Newer offerings from Pixar and Marvel include old favorites like Muppets on Big Wheels, Furbies, Little Miss characters and play food. “It’s cool to see some of the newer toys merge with the older ones,” he says.
That balance of past and present is what his job is all about, Bullington adds.
“Even though we have this archive, we’re constantly moving towards the future,” he says. “But we understand that our heritage is important, it helps guide what we do. We have a bias towards heritage, but we’re always moving forward.”
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Source: HIS Education