“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame bun.” If you were around when this commercial came out in 1984, that description of the McDonald’s Big Mac just rolls off the tongue. My wife hasn’t had a Big Mac sandwich in years yet she still remembers the jingle (first created in 1975) word for word. Not so, the kids of today.
In a corporate memo obtained by Julie Jargon of the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s executives not only worry that the iconic sandwich “has gotten less relevant,” but also mention this startling statistic: Only one in five millennials has tasted a Big Mac.
Then again, maybe this news shouldn’t be so startling. The current hamburger market is radically different from that of 1984. Back then, consumers had a choice between a Big Mac and a Burger King Whopper (and, to a lesser extent, a burger from Wendy’s). Today, there’s Shake Shack, Elevation Burger, In-N-Out, Culver’s, and Five Guys, just to name a few. These burgers are more expensive, but at places like Elevation, the patties are composed of grass fed beef free of antibiotics. Or they’re larger, like the Hardee’s Monster Thickburger—two-thirds of a pound of beef, clocking in at 1,420 calories.
The Big Mac, by comparison, is actually small. (My argument is we had smaller hands back then. Just kidding. But I do believe our appetites were smaller.) Those double patties total a mere 3.2 ounces—even smaller than the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder. The sandwich, invented by Pittsburgh franchise owner Jim Delligatti in 1967, was more like a glorified triple-decker sandwich with a sauce similar to Thousand Island dressing and not ketchup.
Today, the Big Mac (and McDonald’s) is faced with both healthier and more decadent alternatives. It’s edge is in terms of price and availability (no small edge worldwide). Even so, McDonald’s domestic burger sales have been stuck in a crawl, at about 1 to 2 percent a year for the last few years. According to the obtained memo, McDonald’s USA president Mike Andres is fully aware of the problem. Solutions include the possibility of using fresh over frozen beef, a larger sandwich called the Grand Mac, and a smaller version, too. Maybe it can be made-to-order, although this would certainly have an impact on delivery speed.
Speaking of which, the company has lately been obsessed with order times. Too many new menu items have slowed things down. (McDonald’s is aiming to reduce its current three-plus minutes at the drive-thru down to one.) But with speed can come a sacrifice of quality: Order a Big Mac today (and I just might—for research purposes!), and you’ll probably be disappointed by its appearance. With three layers of bread (not exactly a selling point anymore), it can look sad and disheveled. Take a look at those small fried patties. Not quite enticing, are they?
As Jargon notes,
Making any improvement would be less of a challenge for a small operation. McDonald’s, however, is anything but. It’s a global business with more than 35,000 locations and annual revenue of $8.6 billion. (Shake Shack’s annual revenue is around $200 million.) Implementing reform will be an arduous process. But improvement is possible: McDonald’s’ decision to offer breakfast 24 hours turned into a tremendous success. (Everyone loves McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches because they’re real—those eggs are cracked fresh! )
The goal is to change perception. At the moment, the Big Mac just isn’t seen as something cool by those sought-after millennials. On the other hand, it is still the beloved sandwich of a certain Republican candidate for higher office. And I’m not talking about Mayor McCheese.
