McFred and his McPins

Prick Fred Huebner with a pin, and you’d surely find McDonald’s flowing in his blood. Huebner, a McDonald’s franchise owner based in Garner North Carolina has worked for the fast-food giant since he was a student in high school. He financed his way through college working as a part-time swing manager for the chain, later accepting a full-time position with the company. When he became an operator in 1986, Fred had already been working with McDonald’s for fourteen years.

Although Huebner owned a small collection of McDonald’s award pins from his early days with the franchise, it wasn’t until his coin and stamp collections were stolen during a home break-in that he decided to shift his collector’s passion to McDonald-themed pins. Huebner says: “I figured I should work on a collection that people wouldn’t want to steal, and if they did, I’d know exactly where to find it”. He adds: “I also liked the idea that the pins were small, so I would be able to collect a bunch of them.” “A bunch” is a bit of an understatement:

Today, the McBurglar would have a difficult time sneaking off with Fred’s collection of almost 30,000 pins neatly displayed in cases that line the walls of his corporate office. His collection also includes over a half million duplicate pins that he uses for trading or for sale. The collection spreads to every room in the building, except his wife’s office. After living with Fred’s growing collection in her home for years (it took up three entire rooms), she wants all of her space to be lapel-pin free!

There is little doubt that Huebner owns the world’s largest collection of McDonald’s-themed pins: about 10 years ago, there were 3 other collectors in the United States who were contenders, but Fred, unlike his colleagues, has taken full advantage of the internet to further expand with his own website. Still, Fred insists that there are a few pins missing from his collection: “I’m still trying to get a regional award pin from Albany, New York. It is shaped like a Buccaneer ship with five canon holes. McDonald’s employees or owner/operators used to receive the pin as their first award, and then, each time they earned an additional award, the canon hole would be filled with a precious stone. I have a Buccaneer ship with 5 rubies in the canon holes, but I’m missing one with 5 diamonds. Most people don’t like to get rid of awards pins.”

Fred’s stories about his lapel pins are fascinating, even if you’re not a part of the McDonald’s family. He considers the crown jewel of his collection to be a 100,000 Club 10-carat gold pin with a slashed arch logo that Ray Kroc (McDonald’s founder) used to give as an award to restaurants in the 1950’s for selling 100,000 hamburgers in a month. “I would have easily paid almost $500 for that pin”, explains Fred, “but I was lucky to find my first one for just $75.”

In addition to collecting pins, Fred has also been inspired to design lapel pins over the years. He has created a “Fries Pin Collection” for his team of employees that is very meaningful to him, and he is the wit behind many of the most comical pins in recent McDonald’s history. For example, during the infamous O.J. Simpson trial, one of O.J.’s alibis was that at the time of the murders, he was in the drive-thru at McDonald’s. In response, Huebner created a pin that reads: “I saw O.J. at McDonald’s!”.

The Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal inspired Huebner to create a lapel pin that says: “I never touched her fries!” And, a few years ago, when Burger King introduced its so-called Stealth Fries in attempt to seize the “Best Fries” title from McDonald’s, Fred cheered on his company with a flurry of lapel pins that imagined what celebrities would say about McDonald’s fries. From “I’ll be back—for fries” (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to “The fries have left the building” (Elvis), the entire series is inspired.

Huebner will readily trade any pin  for which he has multiples. As for the future of his collection, he imagines that one day it will end up in the McDonald’s museum archives near Chicago. Until then, Fred plans to keep on collecting. As for me, I’m planning a visit to Exit 312 off of I-40 where I plan to eat some delicious McDonald’s French fries and marvel at McFred’s McPins in person!