Honestly, we’re not surprised.
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For nearly 70 years, McDonald’s, arguably the world’s biggest fast food chain, has performed a careful balancing act, maintaining a core menu of reliable staples while also sprinkling in more inventive limited-time offerings to keep the public engaged with the brand. Throughout the decades, the top sellers have largely remained the same — burgers, fries, Coca-Cola products — but in recent years, our tastes have shifted slightly away from that perennial combo order.
Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, spoke with The Wall Street Journal’s Kate Linebaugh last week at the WSJ Global Food Forum on a range of topics, including McDonald’s commitment to sustainability and the future of fast food. Answering a question from the audience about vegetarian options, Erlinger touched upon the failure of the McPlant sandwich to catch on in the U.S. market, despite customers’ growing awareness of plant-based meat alternatives. Still, McDonald’s is a company that will never say never.
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“It’s a trend that we’ll continue to monitor,” Erlinger said. “Obviously, the bigger trend around protein consumption is really around chicken.”
And if that’s not “obvious” to you, reader, then you have probably been living under a rock with no Wi-Fi for the last five years. But a quick recap for the rock-dwellers: Although Chick-fil-A has reliably been serving up chicken sandwiches for decades, and although various chains have provided poultry entrées throughout the years, it was in 2019 that the Southern-style chicken sandwich — fried chicken breast filet, pickles, and mayo on a brioche bun — debuted at Popeyes, quickly breaking both the internet and Popeyes’ supply chain. It even kicked off the Chicken Sandwich Wars, a phenomenon where every fast food chain in America chased the same trend and developed their own interpretation of the sandwich to varying degrees of success.
Food & Wine / McDonald’s
McDonald’s McCrispy sandwiches, which come in several iterations, is on track to outpace the chain’s burgers.
McDonald’s wasn’t the first out of the gate with its Popeyes chicken sandwich competitor — its Crispy Chicken Sandwich trio debuted in February 2021, a whole 18 months later — but the marketing push around it turned the hype dial up to 11. Prior to the sandwich’s release, McDonald’s debuted exclusive chicken-sandwich-themed merch in a designer capsule collection, as well as a 7-inch vinyl record with original music from producer Tay Keith. Purchasing these capsules also entitled the customer to taste test the chicken sandwich a day before its national rollout. The capsules, naturally, sold out in minutes.
Upon its debut, the McDonald’s sandwich earned largely favorable reviews, and the lineup has since undergone a rebrand. These days, it’s simply the “McCrispy,” and it comes in four varieties: Regular, Spicy, Deluxe (with lettuce and tomato), and Spicy Deluxe. For customers reluctant to let go of the poultry of the past, McDonald’s still offers the McChicken sandwich, whose pressed chicken patty is topped with shredded lettuce and mayo.
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Erlinger noted that consumers are demonstrating a sustained love of chicken sandwiches. “We’re poised to serve that trend well,” he said. “That’s what we’re making investments in.”
Indeed, chicken is so top of mind for McDonald’s that when Linebaugh asked about the biggest long-term trend in the fast food industry, Erlinger didn’t hesitate. “Some of this protein consumption change is something that we really will have to watch,” he said. “We’ve seen that shift. We didn’t have a chicken sandwich when we launched our brand in 1955. We sell more chicken today as a brand than we sell beef.”
This shift, though relatively recent, is one that Erlinger believes will continue. “Some of it may be driven by climate… some of it will be driven by health decisions. Ultimately, it’s going to be the consumer’s choice, but they seem to be leaning more towards chicken.”
“So we’re going, burgers go down, chicken goes up?” Linebaugh asked.
“People change what they eat very slowly over time,” Erlinger said. “So yes, we are seeing those slow changes over time. I think some of it’s driven by affordability… we know that chicken is less expensive to produce, and so for a consumer that’s looking for more affordable food, chicken is a great option right now.”
If you’re still a beef booster, though, don’t worry — McDonald’s doesn’t want you breaking the bank, either. The chain just released a $5 meal deal that comes with your choice of a McChicken sandwich or a McDouble burger, small fries, a four-piece Chicken McNugget, and a small soft drink.
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