LOST MY LEASE TO THE FOOD POLICE

Bob Krummert

We hope no RH reader ever has a heart problem. But if you do, we can advise you to head straight to RH’s hometown of Cleveland, and check yourself into the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic. Its cardiac care center has been ranked No.1 in the country by U.S. News and World Report every year for the last 10 years. You can’t get better care anywhere in the world.

But it looks like you’re going to have trouble getting a Big Mac or a Pizza Hut pizza at the Cleveland Clinic when you get hungry. Units of these two restaurant chains had been long-time fixtures at the Clinic until Dr. Toby Cosgrove, a noted thoracic surgeon, took over as the clinic’s new c.e.o. He’s already gotten rid of the Pizza Hut unit that did business at the Clinic, and now he wants to give McDonald’s the boot, too.

The cleveland.com web site reported that McDonald’s franchisee Turan Strange told McDonald’s officials that “Cleveland Clinic security guards escorted Pizza Hut’s managers and workers out of the clinic. I cannot afford to wait until my employees have been locked out of my restaurant to resolve this issue with the Clinic.”

For its part, McDonald’s wants to stay through the end of its current lease, which has 10 years to run. It faces a formidable opponent in the Clinic, whose political, economic and legal clout is as massive as its medical prestige. So far, protestations by McDonald’s that its new menu lineup of premium salads and other nutritionally sound offerings provides plenty of healthful dining options hasn’t made a dent in the Clinic’s resolve.

No matter what happens, don’t expect a Hardee’s unit to show up in one of the newly available restaurant slots at the Clinic. The CSPI is putting the screws to the chain because of a new menu item: the Monster Thickburger. It contains two 1/3-pound ground beef patties and is topped with bacon and cheese. The whole works weighis in at 107 grams of fat and 1,400 calories. according to CSPI figures.

Give credit to Hardee’s. The company is not backing down from CSPI. “Given the way we’ve named and described this burger, it seems we’ve provided fair warning to the public,” says a company spokesperson. Indeed.