New York
Newssites.org
—
McDonald’s, which has focused on updating its core items to boost sales, is implementing a series of changes designed to improve its signature burgers.
The buns will be softer. Cheese, more crazy. The onion will be added to the potatoes directly on the grill. And the Big Mac sauce? There will be more.
“We found that small changes, such as adjusting our process to get a hotter and more melted cheese and adjusting the grill settings for better sizzling, made a big difference in making our burgers tastier than ever before ” said Chef Chad Schafer, Senior Manager. of culinary innovation at McDonald’s USA, in a statement Monday. The updates apply to the Big Mac and McDouble burger, as well as the classic cheeseburger, double burger and burger.
The improvements were first made to the burgers in international markets, the company said, and have already arrived in some US cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix and Las Vegas. They will be available nationwide early next year.
The changes follow other improvements to key menu items.
In 2018, McDonald’s announced that it would be switching to fresh beef for its quarter pounder, a complicated move with a huge sales profit. In 2021, it launched a crispy chicken sandwich to replace previous iterations — a relative latecomer to the chicken sandwich wars, but one that seems to have resonated with McDonald’s customers. .
“We’re gaining market share in both chicken and beef,” thanks to improved burgers and items like the chicken sandwich, McDonald’s said.
(MCD) CEO Chris Kempczinski during a January analyst call. “In an environment where our customers are looking for the simple and familiar, our menu staples have never been more relevant,” he said. In the US, sales at stores open at least 13 months rose 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022, up 10.3% for the full year.
Focusing on promoting your core menu items, rather than introducing new products, is one way to simplify processes and reduce friction in the kitchen. And McDonald’s has been using promotions like celebrity meal platforms and the adult Happy Meal to build buzz around its signature items.
“Throughout 2022, some of our most successful campaign platforms brought our customers closer to core menu items,” Kempczinski said on the January call.
McDonald’s isn’t the only brand trying to improve its core offerings.
Burger King, which last year announced a plan to turn around its business, has focused on improving the Whopper and making it more visible in advertising. In the fourth quarter of last year, he conducted Whopper training for franchisees. The brand said in February that the Whopper helped boost sales in the U.S. this quarter.