McDonald’s Is Creating an Even Bigger Burger

It appears McDonald’s is taking the saying “go big or go home” to heart. 

On Wednesday, McDonald’s confirmed that its teams around the world are working on rolling out a “’larger,” more “satiating burger,” according to the brand’s CFO Ian Borden. And it’s coming sooner than you think, as Borden added, “We’ll be testing this burger in a few markets later this year, ensuring that it has universal appeal before scaling it across the globe,” Fox Business reported. 

That’s really where the details end about the new, enhanced burger. However, this announcement has been a long time coming. In December, McDonald’s execs shared in an investor call that it planned to introduce the bigger burgers in select global markets, including the U.S., as a way to regain customers looking for a great deal.

“In some markets, our relative superiority on affordability has declined,” Chris Kempczinski, the CEO of McDonald’s, stated, according to Restaurant Business Online. “It’s a street fight,” Borden added. “Everybody is fighting for fewer consumers. We have to make sure we have that street fighting capability.”

Now, the larger burger will be tested in select markets to see and measure customer reaction to find the Goldilocks size and price to match, and once that’s complete, it plans to roll out the brand-new burger to more markets. This, CNN noted, is similar to how the brand finally hit the mark with its McCrispy chicken sandwich, testing different versions over and over again until it found the one everyone loved. And now, Jo Sempels, who oversees markets where McDonald’s has licensed its brand, told CNN that the chicken category brings in some $25 billion in annual sales — the same amount as beef. 

This news comes just a year after McDonald’s revamped its signature burgers, including the Big Mac, to create what it calls its “best burgers ever.” Those changes, Food & Wine previously reported, include creating “Softer, pillowy buns that are freshly toasted to a golden brown,” along with “perfectly melted cheese that will make you want to savor every last bit off the wrapper, juicier, caramelized flavor from adding white onions to the patties while they’re still on the grill,” and “even more of everyone’s favorite Big Mac sauce, bringing more tangy sweetness in every Big Mac bite.” 

“I’ll always remember my first burger from McDonald’s. And now my culinary team and I have the best job in the world: thinking about ways to bring even more of that iconic McDonald’s taste to fans,” Chef Chad Schafer, the senior director of culinary innovation at McDonald’s USA, said at the time. “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 flavorful than ever.” Hopefully, all these tiny tweaks will be on the even bigger burger, too.