McDonald’s Angus burgers are gone, but they are being replaced with three new McDonald’s Quarter-Pounders, including a Habanero Ranch burger. McDonald’s is also swapping their mediocre bacon for new thick-cut, applewood-smoked bacon. The new items should be on menus within a month.
Here are the three new Quarter-Pounders:
- Deluxe: American cheese, tomato, fresh leaf lettuce, red onion, crinkle-cut pickles, mayo and mustard on a bakery-style bun.
- Bacon & Cheese: American cheese, bacon, red onion, crinkle-cut pickles, ketchup and mustard on a bakery-style bun.
- Habanero Ranch: with white Cheddar, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and habanero ranch sauce on a bakery-style bun.
Two of the new Royale with Cheese are essentially just the Angus burgers only smaller. The Habanero Ranch is a brand new offering though, and it sounds amazing. I’m more of a Big Mac meal and an McChicken sort of guy, but this may have me making a switch. I’m a sucker for habanero.
Bacon is always delicious, but McDonald’s was about as worthless as it gets. The thin strips brought almost nothing to the table. It is finally getting upgraded to thick-cut, applewood-smoked bacon. The super strips will not only be found on two of the new Quarter-Pounders, it is an across the menu change. That will probably do more to drum up more business than the new chalkboard menu.
Check out more of BurgerBusiness’ interview with Greg Watson, SVP of McDonald’s USA’s Menu Innovation Team. He gives some interesting insight into how and why these changes came about. And here I thought Ronald just threw darts at an ingredient list.