McDonald’s boss reveals surprise item that’s overtaking Big Macs

McDonald’s has revealed that a few items on the menu that were proving to be performing incredibly well, and they all had one thing in common – chicken.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal’s Kate Linebaugh last week at the WSJ Global Food Forum, Joe Erlinger, McDonald’s US President sat down to talk about some of the best and worst performing food items sold at the chain. 

One of the biggest revelations came when Erlinger revealed that salads and plant-based items were set to be scrapped from the menu. 

“If people really want salads from McDonald’s, we will gladly relaunch salads. But what our experience has proven is that’s not what the consumer is looking for from McDonald’s.”

In addition to this, Erlinger also noted the lack of popularity surrounding the chain’s vegan McPlant, which was tested in two US locations during 2022: “I don’t think the U.S. consumer is coming to McDonald’s looking for the McPlant or other plant-based proteins.”

But what about the items that are performing well? “Obviously, the bigger trend around protein consumption is really around chicken,” Erlinger stated. 

“We’re poised to serve that trend well,” he said. “That’s what we’re making investments in.”

“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.”

“People change what they eat very slowly over time. 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.”

It’s not just about affordability, however, as more and more fast food restaurants are clamoring to create more chicken-based dishes as a result of customers’ taste preferences. Wendy’s is one such chain, as they brought their version of chicken nuggets out in June. 

In order to prepare the new products, Wendy’s looked specifically to the Gen-Z demographic, and according to the results, “what they want to eat protein-wise [is] chicken, chicken, chicken,” said Wendy’s Global Vice President of Culinary Innovation, John Li.

This is true according to a survey conducted by Piper Sandler, who found that Chick-fil-A was the most popular restaurant among teens.

He said that Wendy’s “already own[s] bacon and … fresh, never-frozen beef,” but there was room to improve surrounding their chicken offerings.

Even Burger King is now looking to chicken-based offerings, releasing flame-grilled chicken burgers in test markets.