McDonald’s promises ‘best burger ever’ after refresh

McDonald’s has a New Year’s resolution: build a better burger

Lesson summary

Hi there again, Jeff here for another Plain English. This time it’s lesson 637. Maybe you have listened to all 637 episodes. But maybe this is your first one. If it is, then welcome—remember, every episode is someone’s first episode.

And if that’s you, then you have found a great way to upgrade your skills in English. Because right here we use stories—usually about current events, but sometimes about whatever pops into my head—we use stories to help you expand your vocabulary and get exposure to English.

In today’s story, McDonald’s is making some of the biggest changes in decades to its most important menu item: the burger. This goes for the Big Mac, the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, for and its smaller burgers, too. But the changes have less to do with ingredients than with the process of assembling the burgers.

After that, I’ll show you how to use the English expression “fall behind.”

If you’d like to read the transcripts as you listen, you can do that at PlainEnglish.com/637. That is thanks to our producer, JR.

McDonald’s seeks to build a better burger

Outside the kitchen, McDonald’s has been on a winning streak. Its mobile app is by far the leading app among quick-serve restaurants, well ahead of Starbucks and leaving its burger competitors in the dust . The chain experienced a nice bump in sales during the pandemic and has held onto those gains even as the pandemic receded.

But consumer surveys show that it’s falling behind on its signature item: burgers. A recent survey asked consumers for their favorite burgers; McDonald’s ranked thirteenth. Only 28 percent of survey respondents said they crave McDonald’s burgers.

That ranking is a bit unfair, as it pits McDonald’s against chains like Five Guys, Smashburger, and Red Robin, all of which are priced higher. These “fast-casual” chains have positioned themselves as more economical and faster than a sit-down restaurant with table service. But they offer higher quality and charge higher prices than do quick-serve restaurants like McDonald’s and Burger King.

So the quick-serve restaurants realize they need to adapt to keep up with changing consumer tastes. Now, the Chicago-based McDonald’s is making the biggest changes to its core menu item in decades. They’re promising the “best burger ever.”

One thing that’s not changing? The ingredients. In 2018, McDonald’s switched from cooking frozen beef patties to fresh ones—a change that consumers welcomed.

This time, the company is making operational changes to make its burgers more palatable. The changes will apply to the Big Mac, the Quarter-Pounder with Cheese, and the smaller hamburgers and cheeseburgers.

Here’s a rundown of the changes they’re making.

First, consumers said the burgers seemed dry. To combat that, restaurants will adjust the way they grill the patties. Instead of batches of eight, they’ll now be grilled in batches of six, allowing for greater consistency.

The burgers are cooked on clamshell-style grills. These cook the patties on the top and the bottom at the same time, so they cook more quickly and more evenly. But the company found that these grills were pressing down too hard on the top of the patties, squeezing the juice out of them. McDonald’s says it re-calibrated those grills so they better preserve the moisture in the beef.

The Big Mac comes with 0.3 ounces of “special sauce”; the company increased that to 0.5 ounces. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s a two-thirds increase in sauce. Now, McDonald’s says, the sauce will squeeze out into the wrapper and give the Big Mac more flavor.

Next, consumers said the burgers didn’t feel hot. So now, the bottom slice of a bun will be thicker to hold the heat better. Franchisees will have to clean the toasting machines more frequently so that buns are toasted more consistently.

But part of the problem was that McDonald’s was putting cold toppings on a hot burger. So the patty might be hot, but the onions and cheese were cold, right from the refrigerator. McDonald’s will now be adding onions on the patty as it cooks, so the onions caramelize a little on the grill. They used to put a slice of cold cheese on the burger—now the cheese will be room-temperature, so it melts when placed on a hot patty.

There will be changes to the other toppings, too. Lettuce and pickles will be kept in smaller containers, so they’re refreshed from the coolers more frequently.

Finally, the bun is getting a rethink. It will be a buttery brioche-style bun. This bun, the company says, looks better, tastes better, and is less likely to break apart.

If your mouth is watering , you might be wondering when you can get a taste of the new McDonald’s burger. The company has already implemented its “better burger” strategy in Australia, Belgium, and Canada. And no, they’re not going in alphabetical order: the company is rolling it out in the U.S. in early 2024 and plans to implement the new burger strategy in all its global markets.

I’m curious. I’m not a huge McDonald’s burger fan, but I am curious how these new ones taste. I’ll let you know if I find one in my travels.

Here’s one funny detail. If you look at the top of a Big Mac, you’ll see the bun is sprinkled with sesame seeds. As if, in the bakery, someone sprinkled them on with their hands. But if you look at two Big Macs, or three, you’ll notice the sesame seeds are arranged perfectly evenly, almost identical.

Well now the bakeries—which make over a million Big Mac buns per day—the bakeries will scatter the sesame seeds in a more haphazard way so that it looks more artisanal. You have to give them credit for creativity!