Business
10 McDonald’s Items That Would Make America Great Again
McDonald’s was first founded in 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald and since then it’s grown to having over 37,000 restaurants worldwide. Millions of people around the world are familiar with the company’s iconic golden arches, and nearly everyone has visited a location at least once in their lifetime. McDonald’s biggest market though is the United States, where it was founded. To appeal to its large audience, McDonald’s offers a huge array of menu items (over 100!), and there’s been a lot of changes on it throughout the years. Unfortunately, this constant evolution leads to some people’s favourite items being discontinued and replaced with something new. Here’s the top 10 McDonald’s items that would make America great again.
10. Southern Style Chicken Burger
McDonald’s is well known for its burgers and the restaurant currently features 14 different burgers, either made of chicken, beef, or fish. A lot of burgers have come and go throughout the years but there are some that people miss more than others, An example of this is the Southern Style Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Sandwich, which made its debut back in 2005. Although many people liked the burger and it had generally good reviews, the sales were never the best so the burger was discontinued in 2015. The burger is made out of a classic McDonald’s bun that it buttered with a hint of dill flavouring. In between these two buttered buns is a thick piece of crispy chicken breast filet. On top of this are tangy pickles. McDonald’s still carries 8 different variation of chicken burgers but none of them are quite the same as the Southern Style Crispy Chicken. The closest thing to it on the menu right now is an item called the Classic Chicken Sandwich, which is almost the same as the Southern Style Chicken Burger, as it contains chicken and pickles but instead of having a dill flavoured buttered bun, it’s topped with a tangy and sweet Signature Sauce, a relatively new sauce that’s also available in the form of a chicken nugget dipping sauce.
9. Arch Deluxe
McDonald’s strongly markets itself towards children, especially through the use of Happy Meals. Mascots, and of course the indoor playgrounds in restaurants. So in 1996, McDonald’s decided it needed to start marketing itself to an older audience. In May of that year, the restaurant released a burger called the Arch Deluxe, which was specifically marketed towards an adult audience. The burger was part of one of the most expensive advertising campaigns ever seen from the restaurant, but it did not live up to the hype, and was discontinued only a year later due to poor sales. The burger was supposed to much more sophisticated than the average McDonald’s burger, but part of the problem with it is that no one is going to McDonald’s for a gourmet meal. The Arch Deluxe was made from a quarter pound of beef on a potato flour sesame bun, instead of the usual plain one. On top of the quarter pounder was lettuce, tomato, a slice of cheese, a piece of peppered bacon, onions, ketchup, and a sauce made of a mixture of mustard and mayonnaise that McDonald’s called a secret sauce. Even though the burger got bad reactions,mostly because of the advertising used, it sounds like it would taste pretty good so it’s no wonder there’s people who want it to be brought back.
8. Onion Nuggets
One of the most iconic menu items from McDonald’s is the chicken nugget. But before the chicken nuggets were released in 1983, there was another kind of nugget on the scene. In the early 1970s, onion nuggets were released as a part of the dollar menu and designed to be a side to the beefsteak sandwich, which was also quickly discontinued along with the onion nuggets in 1979. There’s nothing similar to these being sold today, other than chicken nuggets, as McDonald’s doesn’t even sell onion rings, which is slightly strange for a fast food joint. Onion rings are a classic fast food item that have been sold at various restaurants since the early 20th century. McDonald’s must have thought that rings were too mainstream and went with the nugget shape instead. The onion nuggets were made from diced onions that were then breaded and deep fried like a chicken nugget is. The product honestly sounds delicious and it’s a surprise that it was discontinued so fast. Many people today agree that this is a menu item that should be brought back to McDonald’s today, so hopefully we’ll see them back some day soon. But until then, we can thank these onion nuggets for being the successor to our beloved Chicken Mcnuggets.
7. McPizza
McDonald’s is mostly known for its quick and easy foods that can picked up in the middle of the day for a quick lunch. But in the 1980s, the restaurant decided that it needed to expand its horizons and try creating a menu item that could be enjoyed as a sit down dinner with family. So in 1989, McDonald’s decided to break into the fast food dinner category by releasing a line of pizzas. Even though the pizza apparently tasted pretty good, there were several issues surrounding the product that made sales quite rough.
Firstly, McDonald’s is known as a restaurant where you can pick up food quickly. McDonald’s claimed that this was the same for its pizza, but in reality it took an average of 11 minutes for a customer to receive the pizza they bought. Along with this there was also the concern of the drive-throughs. Many of the drive-through windows at McDonald’s locations weren’t big enough to fit a pizza both through, so customers would have to go inside the building if they wanted any. There were also some concerns about the freshness of the ingredients used in the pizza, and whether or not it lived up to the quality of local pizzerias. The McDonald’s pizza was discontinued only a few years after being released in the majority of locations. Until 2017, when the pizza was cancelled for good, there were two locations in the US who continued to sell the rare menu item. Saly today the pizza is gone from all locations, so we’ll just have to hope it returns someday.
6. McStuffins
Certain McDonald’s items don’t even get placed on the official menu. Sometimes they just get tested in select locations before either being passed on to the official menu or never being seen again. Some really good products have never made it past the testing stage, which is unfortunate because they sound pretty good. An example of this is a product called the McStuffin that was tested in select locations around the US in 1993. The McStuffin was essentially a rip off Hot Pocket. They were made of French bread filled up with things like chicken or pepperoni. This sounds delicious but honestly, the stuffed sandwiches didn’t look the most appealing, even in advertisements where products are usually edited to look better. There was also a lack of marketing surrounding the product, which is probably why the McStuffin didn’t pass the testing stage. Sadly, after less than a year, the McStuffin was discontinued. Now that McDonald’s has expanded its horizons and started selling things other than just hamburgers and fries though, maybe it would be a good time to bring this hot sandwich back.
5. Fish McBites
Currently the only fish item on the McDonald’s menu is the Filet-O-Fish, and it’s been a part of the menu since 1962. The success of this product inspired McDonald’s to try out other fish products throughout the years, including the Fish McBites, released in 2013. The Fish McBites were released in honour of Lent, so that people participating would have something to eat at the restaurant. The Fish McBites were a spin-off of the Chicken McBites that had a limited release the year before. The Fish McBites were made from the same Alaskan Cod as the Filet-O-Fish and were wrapped in batter similar to a chicken nugget. They were sold in three different sizes and a Happy Meal option. This was the first new item on the Happy Meal menu in over a decade and it was thought that kids would love the Fish McBites because of the fact that you can dip them in sauce. Though the item was supposed to be seasonal, the plan was to bring them back if the sales were good. Unfortunately, the sales were poor so the product was pulled from the menu pretty quickly after the release. Hopefully they’ll be back for another seasonal release soon.
4. McHotdogs
Hotdogs are a classic fast food item and you’ve probably asked yourself why McDonald’s, one of the biggest fast food chains in the world, doesn’t sell them. Believe it or not, McDonald’s did used to sell the fast food. In 1995, the McHotdog was released in some parts of America as a summer item. They were then introduced to the UK as a seasonal item, and then they were sold in Canada. Toronto, Ontario’s SkyDome (now known as the Rogers Centre) sold the McHotdog during baseball games until 1999. After that, the McHotdog completely disappeared from the US until 2007, when it was introduced as a seasonal item in several Pennsylvania locations. The reason McDonald’s went so long as a fast food joint without selling any hot dogs is because of a man named Ray Kroc. After the McDonald’s brothers founded the franchise in 1954, Ray Kroc took over and helped globalize the corporation. Ray Kroc actually completely prohibited the company from selling hot dogs because he was scared that they weren’t good enough quality for the restaurant. So after his death, McDonald’s took the opportunity to try finally selling hot dogs. Apparently the hot dogs were actually really good and there’s still many people who want them to be brought back, but there are currently no locations left in the US that sell them. If you’re willing to travel for one though, there are still McHotdogs on the menu at some locations in Japan.
3. Mighty Wings
Another classic fast food that McDonald’s doesn’t sell is chicken wings. Chicken wings are loved by many people so it’s no surprise that McDonald’s decided it needed to step up and start selling them. In 2012, the company did a test run for its Mighty Wings and even though the sales were not the best, the product was released nationwide the next year. McDonald’s has a large array of chicken products so it was about time that the chicken wings were released. Mighty Wings were made out of fried battered covered chicken wings and were sold in three different sizes, and came with dipping sauces similar to what the McNuggets come with, such as buffalo, sweet n’ sour, hot mustard, and more. According to revues, the wings tasted pretty good, though they were a bit too spicy for some people’s tastes, so you might be asking why they were discontinued in only a year after their release. This most likely has to do with the price of the wings. 3 wings were $3.19, 5 were $4.99, and 10 for $9.69. These are unusually high prices for a McDonald’s and there are plenty of other restaurants that serve fried chicken wings for a much lower price. To compare, you could buy 20 McNuggets for the same price as 5 wings, which is a lot more chicken. If McDonald’s every does bring back the Mighty Wings, hopefully it’ll know to lower the prices a bit.
2. McSalad Shakers
McDonald’s is not exactly known as a healthy restaurant. Most of its menu items are fried, oily, and full of fat, so it’s not exactly the best choice for anyone who’s trying to follow a healthy diet. McDonald’s was aware of this so in 2000, it decided to introduce the franchise’s first ever salad option, the McSalad shaker. This was made in an attempt to reel in a whole new audience to the restaurant- one that was much more health conscious than the usual consumers, but unfortunately the sales of the salads did not go very well, so the item was discontinued soon after their release. The McSalad shakers were salads stuffed into plastic cups that resemble the ones you get when you order a smoothie or a frappuccino, so that you’d be able to shake the cups to mix your salad. The salads were sold in three different flavours: chef, garden, and grilled chicken caesar. It’s a shame that the McSalad shakers never really took off, but in 2003 McDonald’s released its line of Premium Salads to replace them. But let’s be real here, eating salad out of a bowl instead of a shakeable plastic cup just isn’t as fun, so we just have to hope that the McSalad Shakers will be brought back some day.
1. Big N’ Tasty
McDonald’s specialty is of course, hamburgers. There are currently 15 different variations of hamburgers on the menu and a lot of them have come and gone throughout the years. And being one of the largest fast food companies in the world, McDonald’s has quite a bit of competition with other fast food giants. So in 1997, McDonald’s decided to start testing a new hamburger that was created to compete with the Whopper Sandwich from Burger King. The burger, called the Big N’ Tasty, made it through the testing process and was released to the US market in 2000. The Big N’ Tasty was composed of the exact same things as the Burger King Whopper Sandwich is: a quarter pounder beef patty on a sesame seed bun, topped with slivered onions, lettuce, tomato, pickle slices, mayonnaise, and ketchup. The burger spent a few years on the dollar menu, which made it a popular item. Sales of the hamburger were originally great, but worsened over the years, leading to the product to be pulled from the American menu in January of 2011. Luckily though, the burger is available under the name Big Tasty in several international locations such as Canada, South Korea, Brazil, France, and many more.