McDonald’s is giving its burgers a makeover — here’s what changes are coming
Get ready for a McFlurry of changes.
McDonald’s has made a major overhaul on how it’ll be cooking burgers, prized Big Macs included, to improve upon a years-long shortcoming the company says made for unhappy meals, the Wall Street Journal reports.
In tandem with a spring ad campaign promising the fast food titan’s “best burgers ever,” the new initiative seeks to McMake the bunned delights much more juicy — with over 50 modifications.
“We can do it quick, fast and safe, but it doesn’t necessarily taste great. So, we want to incorporate quality into where we’re at,” Chris Young, McDonald’s senior director of global menu strategy, told the Journal.
These changes are going into effect due to pressure from the burgeoning burger market, particularly an expedited process recently implemented at Five Guys, according to the Journal.
How McDonald’s burgers are changing
- Six patties will be grilled at a time instead of eight for the auto-cooking mechanism to apply less pressure and retain more burger patty juices
- Big Macs will get more sauce
- Buttery brioche buns will be used and sliced with a thicker bottom to retain heat
- Sesame seeds will be more randomly scattered on buns to give a homier look
- Cheese will be taken out of refrigerators sooner so it melts more during cooking
- Onions will be rehydrated after purchase for more juiciness
- Lettuce and pickles will be stored in smaller containers so they must be refreshed more often
The test kitchen at the McDonald’s Chicago headquarters served as the proverbial Los Alamos, where chef Chad Schafer had been tinkering with a new methodology for burger flipping.
As part of a seven-year quest, he made a double cheeseburger in its standard way and then tried a new style.
“One is hotter…It looks meltier. Look at how my fingers sink into the bun. Smell it and you smell a big difference,” Schafer said of the revamped burger.
“This one, it’s kind of dry. It cracks…And this is the best-case example at headquarters,” he added of the cheeseburger in place now.
The new version was tested in Australia and is being rolled out at the chain’s 13,460 US locations, starting with the West Coast and Midwest. The plan is to have all US stores ketchup by early 2024.
“Great-tasting burger perceptions continue to grow,” McDonald’s Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said on an October investors call, lauding big results on Australian Big Macs.
Still, the company realizes that employees will have to continuously nail these workflow changes for success.
“This isn’t one of those ‘hello and you are done’ kind of rollouts,” McDonald’s said in an internal training video.
