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World's Smallest McDonald's Opens Just For Bees

World's Smallest McDonald's Opens Just For Bees

The initiative will hopefully increase declining bee populations thought to be caused by pesticides and climate change.

Rachel Andrews

Rachel Andrews

The world's smallest McDonald's restaurant has opened its doors for bees. But while it may look super cute, the eatery also has an important cause.

The so-called 'McHive' beehives will sit atop some of the fast food chain's branches in Sweden to help the declining population of the buzzy insects.

Bees play an important role in the ecosystem through pollination of flowers and trees, and if they disappear completely the effect could be huge.

They pollinate 70 of the around 100 types of crops that feed 90 per cent of the world, and honey bees are responsible for £23 billion ($30 billion) a year in crops, so it's clear why McDonald's would want to support numbers - which are dropping at an alarming rate - when you look at the research.

McDonald's Sweden/NORD DDB

The McHive is an almost exact replica of a McDonald's restaurant from the outside, complete with a drive-thru and benches outside for customers.

But inside isn't a restaurant serving McNugget shareboxes, McFlurries and fries as there's instead space for thousands of bees to work their magic in each McHive.

McDonald's Sweden/NORD DDB

The fast food giant's McHives are a collaboration between the restaurant and NORD DDB. After starting out with just one beehive, McDonald's Sweden now has a total of five beehives.

Christoffer Rönnblad, marketing director of McDonald's Sweden, said of the initiative: "We have a lot of really devoted franchisees who contribute to our sustainability work, and it feels good that we can use our size to amplify such a great idea as beehives on the rooftops," adding it was a "great idea".

Unsplash

It's thought that climate change and pesticides have contributed massively to the decline in bee numbers.

Here's hoping the initiative is a success and is rolled out globally to all 37,000 McDonald's restaurants soon as bee populations could really use all the help they can get right now. Bravo, McDonald's Sweden.

Featured Image Credit: McDonald's Sweden/NORD DDB

Topics: Life News, News, Food And Drink