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People are divided over McDonald’s tweaks to popular burgers
By Joanna Sarah-Freedman
26 Apr 2023
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You might remember us telling you about McDonald’s bold decision to tweak some of its most popular burgers recently.
Yup, the fast food giant is taking a closer look at its signature burger range across the US in order to make sure everything is as perfect as possible – and whilst some people are excited about the innovations, others aren’t so sure.
The changes include softer buns and oozier cheese across their Big Macs, McDoubles, classic cheeseburgers, double cheeseburgers and hamburgers (nothing to complain about there, right?!)
To start with, they have only been implemented across select US McDonald’s locations, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Portland, Oregon, and Sacramento.
McDonald’s is elevating its burgers (Credit: McDonald’s)
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However, despite the partial rollout, people already have a lot of opinions on the tweaks.
One of the new changes that is sparking conversation is the addition of fresh white onions to burger patties whilst they’re still on the grill, so the flavour is bolder and they’re “juicier and caramelised.”
Whilst we think this sounds pretty banging, there were others that weren’t convinced.
“As someone who hates onions, I’m worried about McDonald’s new policy of cooking onions directly on the grill. I won’t eat White Castle burgers for this very reason,” said one person.
Whilst another wrote: “I’m allergic to onions so I guess they lost a customer..”
McDonald’s burgers are getting an upgrade (Credit: Alamy)
“As someone who doesn’t like onion a ton texturally, the dehydrated onions at McDs were the reason it was my go-to quick double cheeseburger,” penned someone else.
Tbf guys, we’re sure you can ask them to make you one without…
Another change announced was the decision to add more sauce to burgers, but some people found something to moan about there, too.
“Big Mac already had too much sauce,” said one person.
And some people just didn’t like the idea of change in any shape or form.
“If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” said one.
Can’t please everyone, ey?
McDonald’s is making big changes (Credit: Alamy)
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For all the criticism, there were plenty of people who were fans of the changes, obvs.
“This sounds pretty bomb tbh,” wrote one.
Whilst another wrote: “I love onions, so I think I’ll like the changes.”
“Gotta flavour the meat somehow lol I had one today – a double hamburger – and it was really good,” said a third.
“They’ve implemented this in my area (Puget Sound region) and I have to say, the new changes are a noticeable improvement,” someone else chimed in.
Some Maccies fans are scared of change (Credit: McDonald’s)
McDonald’s hope that by the end of 2024, the whole of America will have new, improved burgers.
And it doesn’t stop there, either. Similar changes have already been introduced in areas like Australia, Canada, and Belgium.
As for when similar changes will hit the UK? We don’t know, yet. However, if sales are boosted in the States, we can’t see why franchises over here wouldn’t follow suit.
We’ve contacted Maccies for further comment.
“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 flavourful than ever,” said chef Chad Schafer, senior director of culinary innovation of McDonald’s USA.
This isn’t the first time McDonald’s has pushed improved quality as a way of encouraging sales to climb.
READ MORE: Chef’s recipe for recreating McDonald’s hash browns goes viral
Tweaks are rolling out in select locations throughout the US (Credit: Alamy)
In 2018, the chain switched fresh beef into its Quarter Pounders, and saw sales fly as a result.
Last autumn, UK markets were also treated to the McCrispy as a new improved version of the chicken sandwich.
Improving its core offering has been a big part of McDonald’s strategy since 2020, when it announced its Accelerating the Arches plans.
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