McDonald’s Big Mac Is Going Through Some Changes And Growth Spurts
McDonald’s has announced plans to introduce two new Big Mac sandwiches to their lineup in early 2017, reports Time. However, the only thing different about these two Macs will be their size. In addition to its “all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun,” the Grand Mac will have bigger patties, an extra slice of cheese, a bigger bun and will weigh about a third of a pound. The Mac Jr. will be about half the size of the original with just one 1/6-pound hamburger patty. They were test marketed in Columbus, Ohio and Dallas, Texas and will arrive nationwide in 2017 as a limited time offering.
“The Big Mac is a legend and a great-tasting burger with hints of pickle relish, mustard, garlic and onions,” McDonald’s Chef Mike Haracz said in a statement reported by Yahoo. “We listened to our customers who told us they wanted different ways to enjoy the one-of-a-kind Big Mac taste. The classic combination of ingredients remains timeless and customers around the world continue to enjoy its signature taste.”
McDonald’s hopes that the new Macs will regenerate interest in the 50-year-old burger. The Inquisitr recently reported that studies have shown that 90 percent of Millennials have never even tasted a Big Mac despite growing up in the Happy Meal era. Many are being lured away by newer chains like Five Guys, Steak ‘n Shake and Shake Shack. It appears that customers between the ages of 18 and 34 are avoiding McDonald’s burgers, especially the Big Mac, in favor of restaurants that offer fresh, made-to-order fare.
McDonald’s relies heavily on the sale of the Big Mac which is responsible for about 20 percent of the chain’s revenue, but burger sales have been flat, and McDonald’s is doing whatever they can to stay relevant.
While McDonald’s hopes to revive interest in the Big Mac, another experiment appears to have ended. In 2014, McDonald’s test-marketed a custom burger menu called “Create Your Taste,” which was the biggest menu change for the fast food giant in over 40 years. The new menu allowed customers to pick and choose from 30 different ingredients to create their own “premium” hamburgers with new items such as different sauces, caramelized grilled onions, chili lime tortilla strips and more. New ordering kiosks were installed in many locations, but now they are being pulled out. The menu name has been modified, and the name has been changed to “Signature Crafted Recipes.”
But was the new experiment a failure? It depends on you who ask. Business Insider says that McDonald’s claims the customers loved ordering from the kiosks and personalizing their own burgers, and the hamburgers also got positive feedback. But the new burgers were more expensive and took longer to make. Some franchise owners complained that the new burgers slowed down their kitchen operations too.
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“Create Your Taste was a test, which we used as the name for customizable burgers in select cities,” McDonald’s spokeswoman Becca Hary told Business Insider. “McDonald’s is now testing a customizable burger platform under the name ‘Signature Crafted Recipes.'”
The new menu still gives customers choices, just less of them. When ordering from the menu, the customer can choose from three proteins (beef, buttermilk crispy chicken patty or grilled chicken) and one of the following sauces; Maple bacon Dijon, deluxe, buffalo bacon, pico guacamole or sriracha.
Another change that gave McDonald’s a shot in the arm was the expansion of its “All-Day Breakfast Menu,” which began offering items such as the McGriddle sandwich any time of the day. A limited all-day breakfast menu was added in 2015, but it drew complaints because some items were still only available during the morning hours.
[Featured Image by Gene J. Puskar/AP Images]
