Local restaurant Zak’s Drive-Thru gave big burger chains a run for their money after fake McDonald’s stunt
A Youtuber famous for his stunts online helped owner Zak transform his business into a mock-McDonald’s drive-thru, serving up free food to punters poached from the real McDonald’s nearby in a bid to help the struggling local restaurant compete with the big burger chains nearby.
Zak’s Drive-Thru with ‘Not mcDunaLd’s’ ghost sign
Words and photos by Devon McCole
Niko Omilana is a British YouTuber famous for pulling stunts and sharing them online. You might also recognise him from making an appearance on the UKs biggest TV show at the moment, The Traitors.
His stunts are mostly just pranks intended to entertain, but a lot of Niko’s content is informed by social issues and offers at least some social or political commentary packaged in outrageous videos reminiscent of Sasha Baron Cohen’s (Borat, Bruno) provocative comedy style.
Like when Niko disguised himself as a white Brit attending far-right rallies, baiting his interviewees into exposing their beliefs and prejudices to a brown man they didn’t know was in disguise.
And, when Niko ran for Mayor of London in 2021 he mostly did it for fun, but also to see how far he could get ‘representing young people’ whilst running a ridiculous campaign. Turns out you can get at least 2 percent of the vote, which placed Niko 5th in the race.
This particular stunt proved online personalities famous on platforms like YouTube could actually win at politics if they ran a serious campaign, and highlighted how many young people feel disconnected from the leading political parties. Podcastle even referred to Niko as a modern day David taking on Goliaths.
His latest stunt, right here in the Southside of Glasgow, was no different.
This time the Goliath being taken on was international fast food chain McDonald’s. Niko was contacted by Zak, owner of Zak’s Drive Thru on Eglinton Street – just across from the iconic Starbar.
Zak was having a footfall issue. There simply weren't enough customers ordering from the restaurant. Luckily, after reaching out to Niko about this problem he stepped in to help in his typical fashion.
At the beginning of the video Niko shares a stark figure: 61 percent of independently run restaurants close in the first 3 years while big food chains dominate like McDonald’s dominate. And, while Niko explains in the video that there are lots of reasons for restaurants shutting down so soon after they open, the big one is a reluctance to try somewhere new in favour of familiar favourites. Huge, corporate multinationals yes, but familiar and easy to please all the same.
In November Niko came to Glasgow and served local people rebranded food from Zak’s, with a side of irony. Ads promoting the free food at the drive-thru read ‘I’m fakin’ it’ and, on the menu, items like the Big Knack, Shush Burger, Happier Meals and the Shades Flurry were up for grabs.
Niko’s revamp of Zak’s into ‘Not mcDunaLd’s’ was a roaring PR success – with a positive message being the driving force behind it. It proved new food places are worth trying, and buying local food can be much better, especially if you want to support small businesses over multinational corporate empires.
Zak’s is still open, though it has now dropped the fast food chain gag and returned to its former independent charm. Including the menu, which has gone back to normal…with a couple of exceptions.
In honour of Niko’s support, Zak’s will introduce a new ‘Niko Burger’ and keep the Shades Flurry from the ‘Not mcDunaLd’s’ menu. So if you missed your chance to try the food due to the initial buzz – which caused a huge looping cue – there will be a couple of special items from the menu you can try.
To sum up how successful this particular stunt really was, one YouTube user commented underneath the post: “Zak’s now has 4.7 stars and the nearby McDonald’s only has 3 … lol.”