McDonald’s latest attempt at getting the bigger burger consumer is called the Big Arch.
Chris Kempczinski, CEO of the Chicago-based fast-food chain, provided the first details of the planned burger on Monday, saying the Big Arch will have two patties, melted cheese, “crispy toppings” and a “tangy McDonald’s sauce.”
“It’s a quintessential McDonald’s burger with a twist on our iconic, familiar flavors,” he told analysts.
The company is testing the sandwich in three international markets. McDonald’s plans to spend the year learning about the market before it decides whether to scale the burger across more markets.
Two of those markets appear to be Canada and Portugal. According to a release in Canada, the burger features crispy onions, three slices of white, processed cheese, slivered onions, pickles and lettuce. The test in that country runs through the end of next month.
It is uncertain when such a burger would come to the U.S., assuming that the tests go to plan.
But rather than produce different larger burgers in different markets around the world, the company is approaching this effort with plans to add a larger burger to its global, core menu.
“In the past, you would have seen us try and get after that opportunity in 20 different markets in 20 different ways,” CFO Ian Borden said in March. “And then you don’t have the ability to build a global equity that you can drive at scale.”
The company has demonstrated this in the recent past with its chicken sandwich. The company debuted a higher quality chicken sandwich in the U.S. in 2021 and called it the Crispy Chicken Sandwich.
But it later gave that sandwich the name McCrispy, which is now in 55 global markets and as a brand is worth more than $1 billion.
At the same time, McDonald’s has routinely tested larger or more deluxe burgers, kept them on the menu for a while and then killed them because of weak demand, menu simplification or other issues.
In the U.S., the company’s menu history is littered with such products despite a market that is generally favorable to larger burgers, including the third-pound Angus Deluxe burgers, Arch Deluxe and even the old McDLT.
Time will tell whether creating a large, global burger will take hold this time.
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