They say the best things in life are free, and McDonald's appears to be taking that maxim to heart. No sooner did we post our story about the free car charging available at the new McDonald's restaurant in North Carolina than we saw the chain launch yet another free love initiative: Free Mocha Mondays.

As part of a campaign to promote its new McCafé line, McDonald's is now offering US consumers the chance to sample a free Hot Mocha or Iced Mocha at any participating McDonald's restaurant. The offer is available on any Monday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Aug. 3, and the complimentary drinks come in special, promotional sizes: 7 oz. for the iced version, or 8 oz. for the hot variety. (Normally, a small McDonald's McCafé beverage is 12 oz.) McCafé espresso-based drinks are made with Arabica coffee beans—harvested by hand in Central America, South America and Indonesia—along with real milk, rich chocolate syrup and fresh whipped cream. All are fully customizable, the company says. McDonald's anticipates that it will likely give away some 10 million samples during its Free Mocha Mondays campaign, making it "one of the largest sampling initiatives we've taken on as a company," said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer for McDonald's USA.

Whether it's coffee, ice cream or charged batteries, there's nothing like letting consumers try before they buy, and it's almost impossible to go wrong with free love. (Related: Free Obama-themed coffee love for UK consumers — Free Starbucks ice cream for Facebook users.)

Website: www.mcdonalds.com/mccafe
Contact: www.mcdonalds.com/contact/contact_us.html

Sweet-toothed consumers suffering from cupcake ennui can already try a taste of the South in the form of Tennessee T-Cakes, as we've noted before. Now from the West, however, comes yet another alternative: churros, also known as Spanish fritters.

In their native Spain and in Southern California, traditional churros are a familiar concept, having enjoyed widespread popularity for years on account of their sweet, crunchy, pastry goodness. Offering a fresh and upgraded take on the ages-old confection, however, Xooro now operates two stores—in Santa Monica and West Hollywood—with a gourmet line of the mouth-watering fritters. Some fifteen flavours currently grace the signature Xooro line—including distinctly modern interpretations such as Turkish Hazelnut, Mango, and Maple Bacon—all of them cooked in rice bran oil, which Xooro calls "the world's healthiest edible oil" for its vitamins, antioxidants and lack of trans fats. Prices begin at USD 3.69 each.

Xooro is already planning to expand, with locations coming soon to Orlando, San Antonio, Los Angeles and San Diego. In addition, it's currently completing FTC franchise documentation, with an eye toward licensing franchises as well. One to get in on early...?

Website: www.xooro.com
Contact: contact@xooro.com

Spotted by: Brent Cohler

Late last year we wrote about the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's pilot program to offer free car charging in its parking garage, and now a brand-new McDonald's restaurant about to open in North Carolina will be the chain's first in the nation to offer the same thing.

The new restaurant in Cary—opening this week—will be North Carolina's first "green" McDonald's, and it aims to become gold-certified under the LEED standard. Both the interior and exterior of the restaurant have been designed with sustainability in mind. More than 95 percent of the wood used in construction, for example, comes from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, while tables and decor incorporate rapidly renewable materials such as sunflower seed board, wheat board, bamboo and kirei board. Solatubes inside provide quality natural light, while lighting fixtures automatically adjust to changing light conditions. All components used inside are free of urea and formaldehyde, while vinyl is PVC-free and all paints, adhesives, coatings and sealants are low-VOC. The kitchen and bathrooms, meanwhile, are designed to minimize the use of water. Perhaps most interesting of all, there will be preferred parking spaces for hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles, along with ChargePoint stations offering free electricity for plug-in cars. Two such stations will be available at the restaurant's launch, according to The News & Observer.

It's not entirely clear whether a 30-minute meal offers enough time to charge a vehicle adequately, as HybridCars points out. Nevertheless, plans are afoot to install charging stations at McDonald's locations in Sweden as well, the publication reported, and there seems little doubt that as adoption of electric vehicles increases, there will be demand for charging stations in convenient spots around the globe. Embrace such technology early, and you boost your eco-credentials; offer it as a free perk, and you could win eco-minded consumers' hearts, minds and dollars! ;-)

Website: www.mcnorthcarolina.com/7501/
Contact: www.mcnorthcarolina.com/7501/contact/comments

Spotted by: HybridCars.com via Judy McRae

Facebook users can already send each other real flowers, candy and drinks. Now they can add ice cream to that list as well—free, no less—thanks to a new promotion from Starbucks and Unilever.

Beginning this week and extending through July 19, Starbucks and partner Unilever are giving away coupons for more than 800 free pints of the newly launched Starbucks Ice Cream on Facebook every hour. US-based users of the social networking site need only visit the special promotion page on Facebook at the beginning of any hour and be ready to click quickly before that hour's set of coupons is gone. If they succeed in claiming one, they can choose to send it to any friend on or off Facebook, or they can elect instead to treat themselves. Either way, the coupon can then be redeemed for the Starbucks Ice Cream flavour of the recipient's choice: Caramel Macchiato, Mocha Frappuccino, Java Chip Frappuccino or Coffee. There is a limit of one coupon per household; those who fail at first to get one can keep trying, as a total of some 20,000 free coupons will be given away each day before the contest's end.

One part Facebook perk and one part tryvertising, the wisely targeted Starbucks Ice Cream promotion is sure to win many a fan for the new ice cream, particularly since there's almost certainly a significant overlap among devotees of the two brands. Pick the right audience, give away ice cream in July, and it's hard to go wrong! ;-) (Related: Food blogger turned purveyor & intermediary.)

Website: www.starbucksicecream.com — apps.facebook.com/starbucksicecream

Spotted by: Brandweek via Raymond Kollau

Packing a lunch for kids tends to involve a variety of plastic packaging, bags and wrappers that are harmful not just to the environment—heading directly to landfills as they so frequently do—but also, potentially, to the kids themselves. Whereas Kids Konserve's plastic-free lunch kits were driven by environmental considerations, a new line of stainless steel lunch containers was inspired instead by concerns over bisphenol-a, or BPA.

Several studies have contributed to fears that BPA—a chemical widely used in plastics for baby bottles, beverage and food containers, and linings in food cans—may be linked with cancer, diabetes and hyperactivity, among other disorders. Though by no means conclusive at this point, such concerns were strong enough to motivate the Canadian government recently to ban the chemical's use in baby bottles. Working on the premise that it's better to be safe than sorry, California-based LunchBots now offers a line of brightly coloured, stainless steel containers for kids' food. The LunchBots Uno is a 6.25-by-4.5-by-1.75-inch container made entirely of stainless steel with a powder-coated blue lid. The LunchBots Duo, meanwhile, is the same size but features an orange lid and two compartments. Both are dishwasher-safe and priced at USD 14.99; special pricing for school fundraisers is available.

Health fears aside, of course, reusable containers are also better for the environment, and crafting them from stainless steel is bound to make them more durable and longer-lasting—all benefits that could appeal to parents around the globe. LunchBots, however, currently ships only within the United States; one to help bring to the little lunch eaters in your part of the world?

Website: www.lunchbots.com
Contact: info@lunchbots.com

Spotted by: Brian Ghidinelli