McDonald’s will reach a milestone today when it opens its 150th restaurant in New Zealand, the first of 10 new restaurants to be opened in 2010.

Richmond, Nelson, will get the 150th restaurant as part of McDonald’s three-year $100 million capital investment programme into the New Zealand market, announced in 2009.

It will take the total to 32 restaurants in the South Island with 118 in the North Island.

McDonald’s has etched its name into the Guinness World Records ™ this morning with a breakfast fry-up like no other.

The company cooked a massive meal of scrambled eggs that weighed in at 1.24 metric tonnes, breaking the previous world record of one metric tonne by more than 200kg.

In order to break the world record McDonald’s had to use more than 20,000 eggs and 100 litres of cream, cooked on a specially made dish that measured more than five metres across.

Gourmet fast food operator BurgerFuel has reported an annual loss of more than $710,000, although its performance in the second half of the year was a lot stronger than the first six months as it expands its global operations.

For the year ending 31 March, BurgerFuel has reported a loss of $710,282, of which $669,000 represents the previously reported loss for the first six months of the year, while the second half’s loss was significantly lighter at $41,282.

A new study by the American Association of Wine Economists confirms what would seem common sense - a fast food restaurant within 500 feet of a school may lead to obesity rates climbing.

The economists at the University of California and Colombia University who conducted the study say their study suggest that "a ban on fast foods in the immediate proximity of schools could have a sizable effect on obesity rates among affected students."