McDonald's has made few menu changes in recent years, focusing instead on improving operations in a world where delivery, pickup and drive-thru have gained importance.
The chain has added select items like its viral Grimace Shake, which took over social media. That clever use of nostalgia offered a vibrantly colored drink to draw the most attention with the least effort.
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Additionally, McDonald's (DCM) has taken advantage of its celebrity ordering promotions, where it simply sells what big names like Travis Scott, Saweetie, J Balvin and BTS order when they eat at the chain.
This is similar to the chain's “As Featured” promotion, where it showcases “a collection of fan-favorite menu items that have made iconic appearances in film, television and music,” as a release from press.
Both promotions are brilliant because they allow the chain to promote something special without adding anything new to the menu. That, in turn, allows the chain to appear to be keeping things fresh without adding complexity to its kitchens.
McDonald's, however, has included some new items on the menu, and drinks have played a big role in that. Now, the chain is bringing back three customer-favorite drinks to celebrate the warming weather across the country.
Image source: McDonald's
McDonald's goes sweet and southern
While McDonald's has kept its menu reasonably stable and hasn't offered many new items, it has selectively added limited-time offer drinks. In addition to the Grimace Shake, the chain also brings back its Shamrock Shake each year for the St. Patrick's Day season.
Last year, McDonald's also added some regional drink favorites to its menus across the country, and it will do the same this year.
“McDonald's just brought back their premium lemonade with two tea lemonade blends as we begin to emerge from the cold, dead winter,” the Snackolator instagram page reported.
The company has not provided any information about new drinks, but often releases new products before publishing anything about them.
“My local store has them today, but it looks like they'll be releasing them at participating markets this week, where you can get their premium lemonade that contains real lemon juice, pieces of lemon pulp, and is made with real cane sugar,” says the place. reported.
“In addition to lemonade, @mcdonalds has a blend with unsweetened iced tea and a Southern-style tea blended with lemonade.”
McDonald's has focused on improving
While McDonald's hasn't added many new items, it has made changes. It recently rolled out improved burgers nationwide and tweaked the Big Mac.
However, most of the changes have occurred behind the scenes. CEO Chris Kempczinski discussed this on the chain's website. fourth quarter results call.
“Focusing on the fundamentals of creating an exceptional customer experience has generated operational improvements, better service times and greater customer satisfaction in almost all of our major markets,” the executive said.
“Our Accelerating the Arches strategy is working, driving comparable sales growth of more than 30% since 2019, and our MCD growth pillars allow us to remain agile in response to changing customer needs.”
“Accelerating the Arches” is a global campaign to improve McDonald's operations and better serve customers. Kempczinski cited the growth of his chain's digital operations as a key part of that strategy.
“For example, we have expanded loyalty to 50 markets worldwide and reach more than 20 billion in annual sales across the entire loyalty system in 2023,” he said. “Our user base continues to grow with over 150 million users who have been active in the last 90 days, making us one of the largest loyalty programs in the world.”
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