In a bid to keep its top spot as the United States’ most frequented fast-food restaurant, McDonald’s announced on Monday that it will be instituting recipe changes to some of its classic items.
The company stated in a news release that it will toast new, softer, “pillowy” hamburger buns, put onions right on the burger patties while they are on the grill, make its cheese “meltier,” and add more sauce to the classic Big Mac sandwich.
“We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever,” said McDonald’s Senior Director of Culinary Innovation Chad Schafer, per the release.
The move follows McDonald’s recent foray into the ever-competitive chicken sandwich game, having introduced two new variations of the item last month, bringing its total number of thick-cut deep-fried chicken breast offerings to six.
“In an environment where our customers are looking for the simple and familiar, our core menu items have never been more relevant,” said McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski on an analyst call back in January, CNN reported.
On the call, Kempczinski credited the company’s chicken items and improvements to its hamburgers for gains in market share.
“Throughout 2022, some of our most successful campaign platforms brought our customers closer to the core menu items,” Kempczinski said.
Still, whatever gains a renewed focus on menu items made last year did not appear enough to dissuade the company from streamlining its corporate operations. As previously reported in The Dallas Express, the company moved to lay off hundreds of non-restaurant workers and some executive positions, reduce compensation packages, and close several field offices earlier this month.
“While the McDonald’s Brand is in the strongest position it has been in years, we also recognize that our business has grown increasingly complex in recent years,” wrote Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, in an email to employees explaining the planned restructuring of corporate operations, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Still, it is unclear what impacts the shakeup at corporate will have on individual restaurants, if any, as the company simultaneously moves forward on menu improvements.
The “new” tweaks to the company’s burgers have already been implemented in Australia, Canada, and Belgium, as well as restaurants in Denver, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, per Monday’s news release.
It is currently unclear when Texans will get a chance to try them out.