McDonald's unveils a cautious menu for change
Later this week, McDonald鈥檚 will introduce new items to its menu in Australia. The makeup of these items reflect the careful, new-but-not-innovative thinking the chain is applying globally as it spends 2015 seating new management and trying to reverse its sales slide and once again post positive sales growth.
The centerpiece of the new Aussie menu, according to sources, will be the return of the Chicken Bacon Deluxe. Dropped from the menu there during a purge of upscale items in April 2013, the sandwich is simply the standard crispy or grilled chicken patties with bacon, tomato, Swiss cheese and mayo. That gives it two currently important elements: proven popularity (it came back as an LTO in March 2014 as well) and ingredients already on hand (i.e. kitchen efficient).
Two other chicken sandwiches will join the Aussie menu this week, and both follow the new-but-not-different path. A Spicy Chicken Jalape艌o burger and a Southwest Chicken BLT will arrive, neither needing any new SKUs. Nor will the new chicken, bacon and egg tortilla rollups coming to the breakfast menu.
Under McDonald鈥檚 newfound desire to keep the menu lean, when something comes, something goes. Three chicken items leaving the menu are the McChamp (notable for a one-two sauce punch of mayo and tangy relish), the McGrilled and the Chicken & Honey Soy McWraps (chicken lettuce, crunchy noodles, honey soy sauce and a茂oli).
McDonald鈥檚 tipped its intention to pursue a similarly restrained menu here when it recently began testing a Jalape艌o McChicken, which is nothing more than the jalape艌os from the Jalape艌o Double plopped onto the McChicken. Voila! A new-but-not-innovative item. Even if McDonald鈥檚 does finally offer its 1955 Burger here this year, it won鈥檛 violate the new strictures: It鈥檚 simply a quarter-pound patty with barbecue sauce, lettuce, tomato and caramelized onion, all of which we鈥檝e seen before in various combinations. Marketing noise likely will come from small discounts of the 鈥�2 for鈥� variety and from new McFlurry add-ins rather than splashy, truly new menu additions.
McDonald鈥檚 USA execs should note, however, that the Australian operation hasn鈥檛 completely ruled out innovation. At its聽聽caf茅 prototype in test, the latest menu item was waffles drizzled with chocolate. They reportedly did well.
