McDonald's Is Making More Than 50 Changes To Its Burgers Next Year
If your McDonald's burgers suddenly become extra tasty next year, that's not just a trick of your imagination. The fast-food giant just announced that it's making dozens of significant changes to its signature burgers, which will roll out in early 2024.
In April, McDonald's revealed plans for several upgrades to its signature burgers—the Big Mac, McDouble, classic cheeseburger, double cheeseburger, and hamburger. They would include using softer buns toasted to a perfect golden brown, cooking onions directly on the burger patties, and ensuring that all cheese is perfectly melted. But Chris Young, McDonald's senior director of global menu strategy, indicated in a recent interview that there will be far more changes than initially announced.
Young told The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 30 that the chain is making more than 50 upgrades to its burgers—the biggest improvements to McDonald's core menu items in decades, the publication reported. And while most of the details are still under wraps, we do know that the beef patties will be cooked in smaller batches to give them a more consistent sear, while the burgers will come with more Big Mac sauce, meltier cheese, and fresher lettuce and pickles. McDonald's will also start using new buttery brioche buns with sesame seeds.
The chain remains a giant in the fast-food industry and continues to rake in major sales, but struggles to maintain a positive reputation with its customers. This year's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Restaurant Study, for example, showed McDonald's receiving the lowest customer satisfaction score (69%) out of all the fast-food chains considered this year, indicating that customers haven't been completely happy with their experiences at the Golden Arches.
McDonald's has also faced plenty of backlash from customers over rising prices this year and becoming less affordable. During the third quarter of 2023, the chain saw declines in customer traffic in the United States as lower-income consumers worried about their food budgets. Meanwhile, the company is also facing stronger-than-ever competition from higher-end burger chains like Five Guys and Shake Shack, the WSJ reported.
As part of McDonald's efforts to improve burgers, the company is changing certain methods it used in the past to produce burgers quickly, efficiently, and cheaply.
"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," Young told the WSJ.
McDonald's began rolling out these burger changes in restaurants on the West Coast earlier this year and then brought them to locations in the Midwest over the summer. The chain wants to have the changes implemented at all of its restaurants in the United States by early 2024, so customers should keep an eye out for those new and improved burgers in the coming months.
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