As far as fast-food chains are concerned, McDonald’s has been part of the global
food psyche for decades now. But not everything the fast-food giant dishes out has been a
total success. So without further ado, let’s dig in. Here are 10 Cancelled McDonald's Items
That People Still Talk About (Part 4).
McStuffins
The fast food game can be a difficult and well, fast paced, industry to be involved
in. With the constant demand and need for new products and innovative combos, it can
be a very challenging business. When you're a world renowned company such as McDonald's,
especially as they are primarily known for their burgers, it can be difficult to come
up with new food items that will please the customers. Back in the early 1990's McDonald’s
tried to really rock the boat and bring out something completely different with the McStuffin.
The idea was actually a good one; Baked French bread stuffed with fillings of your choice.
You could have Cheese, Pepperoni and even Chicken Teriyaki! The idea was truly a bold
move for a brand like McDonald's, but unfortunately the McStuffin never took off. After market-testing
the product, which didn't go so well, McDonald's decided to launch the product anyway, hoping
that the public would take to it better. But they didn't and only a year later this item
was taken off the menu for good. We think it's a shame; with a re-branding, and maybe
a name change, we hope to see the McStuffin back on the menus in the future.
Spanish Omelette Bagel
We all know that McDonald's is at the foreground of fast food when it comes to burgers and
fries, but they also lead the way with breakfast. With hash browns, many varieties of McMuffins,
and coffee, McDonald's has been a staple for many people's breakfasts for years. We've
all had those days when we're rushed for work, miss breakfast and therefore have to go into
our nearest McDonald’s for something fast and tasty to start our day. McDonald's has
cornered the market on this. Spending years crafting out the perfect breakfast menu can
be difficult, and it took McDonald's a few tries to really get it right. We know, it's
hard to imagine the world without a Sausage and Egg McMuffin, but there was a time when
it didn’t exist. So you can forgive McDonald's if they’re tentative to change or to introduce
new items to their now popular breakfast menu. However, back in the early 2000's, The Golden
Arches decided to add an extra breakfast choice: the Spanish Omelette Bagel. In theory, this
was actually a safe choice for the breakfast menus, as it was essentially a bagel with
egg. Of course there were extras like ham, onions and spices, but the Spanish Omelette
Bagel should have been a real winner. Unfortunately it wasn't. We don't really know why the public
didn't take to this but shortly after it was released, the Spanish Omelette Bagel was taken
off the menu.
Eggs Benedict McMuffin
As we've seen from this list already, it can be very difficult to introduce new products
to a popular and well established menu. Sometimes those products really fly with the public
and quickly become part of our regular take-out routines, and other times they bomb so hard
that they quickly disappear from the menu as if they'd never existed. With that in mind
there can be a lot of pressure on those who have to make the choice on what to include
and what to pass. So, when those people are thinking of new breakfast items and ideas,
what better and safer choice than Eggs Benedict? This classic dish has been a staple giant
in the breakfast world since its creation over a hundred years ago. Is there any better
item to add to a breakfast menu? And it should be simple, right? Unfortunately for McDonald's,
the answers to both of those questions were “no”. In principle this should have been
a real winner; you take the McMuffin, poach an egg, and cover it in Hollandaise sauce,
then just add in some bacon or ham. The first problem that McDonald's had was the very simple
poached egg. Because of the specific timing that was needed to poach the perfect egg,
McDonald's couldn't cook them fast enough in testing, so they used their egg from the
traditional McMuffin. The public didn't respond well to this and the Eggs Benedict McMuffin
was taken off the menu. McDonald's should, however, be given praise for making their
own Hollandaise sauce, which is not an easy thing to do on such a mass scale.
Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry
It wasn’t just breakfast that fell victim to the unfortunate experimentations of the
McDonald’s chefs. The fast food chain turned its attention to its dessert menu, too. Trying
to revamp and add to its already popular items, McDonald's came up with a new McFurry. It
was called the Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry. Although McFlurry's are already a well established
and popular desert, the public always wants more flavors. Each holiday brings out a special,
limited edition, which of course we love! But how about a permanent new flavor that
we can enjoy again and again. Unfortunately the Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry wasn't the
answer. While the idea of that fresh strawberry taste mix with crunchy shortcake sounds amazing,
the public didn't take to it, and the Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry didn’t stay around for
long.
Triple Double Burger
When you release a new menu item to coincide with the release of a new superhero movie,
you better hope not only that your product is good but also that the movie itself becomes
a hit. In 1995 Val Kilmer was chosen to play the titular hero in Batman Forever. Nobody
knows why Warner Bros had made that peculiar decision, unfortunately for them it wasn't
the most popular of choices! On the other side, McDonald’s was trying to cash in on
the expected stunning hit that was to be Batman Forever. It was probably the presence of Tommy
Lee Jones and Jim Carrey as the villains that emboldened them to hitch a ride on the Batman
train. The brilliant idea they came up with was the triple-double burger. It had three
patties and two slices of cheese. And just to make sure everyone didn’t miss the connection
with the movie, they called this mammoth burger, the Superhero Burger. Ok, so Batman Forever,
and later Batman and Robin, didn't do so well and almost ended the Batman franchise for
good. But the Superhero burger was a great addition to the McDonald's menu, in our opinion
at least.
McSoup
One of the interesting things about fast food is that they don't really offer a lot of soup.
Which we find quite a strange thing. After all, soup is fairly easy and cheap to make.
Plus it's popular. So why don't they do it? The honest answer is that we don't know. There
are some restaurants out there that offer great takeout soup, so why can't fast food
restaurants mass produce it? Unfortunately a lot of fast food chains may have been put
off by McDonald's attempts to do it. The idea was brilliant and so very simple: serve a
cup of hot and tasty soup to the people. The results were disastrous for the fast food
giant, so much so that many people regard the McSoup as McDonald's biggest failure ever!
It's not surprising then that it was very quickly swept under the rug. The real reason
for its ultimate failure was probably down to the fact that it actually WAS Campbell's
soup just poured into a McDonald's cup. A fact that McDonald's didn't try to hide too
much. However, with a big rebranding, and care in preparation, the McSoup could really
make a big comeback. Especially in the winter months.
Sweet Chili Sauce
If there’s one distinguishing feature about fast food menus, it’s their exquisite sauce.
Without the dip, you end up eating practically the same thing in every outlet. This is why
McDonald’s R&D budget has a big chunk devoted to the sauce department. Right this very moment,
there is a small army of chefs and their minions working around the clock to come up with new
sauces. We have seen it time and time again. When the company needs to introduce a new
menu item in a hurry, they dig up an old item and serve it with a new sauce. It works every
time. So now we know the importance of the dip in the fast-food world and we know the
resources put into developing new flavors. So why would there be something called sweet
chili sauce? Considering the attention given to sauces, such a dip shouldn’t even have
existed. Basically this “new” sauce was just your regular duck sauce with an ample
amount of chili flakes thrown in. There was nothing new or original about it. That’s
why when it first appeared in 2010, it failed to impress anyone.
Hot Mustard Sauce
Unlike the previous sauce which fell flat on the palates of the foodies, this one was
different. The hot mustard sauce started a little fire in your mouth every time you introduced
it to your tongue. It made every morsel you dip into it a delicious bite to devour. It
was simply a hot item on the menu and customers couldn’t get enough of it. So why was it
discontinued? There’s no satisfying answer for that question. Back in 2015, McDonald’s
decided to pull this hot mustard sauce off the menu, much to the dismay of loyal clients.
Even today you’ll still find people going into an outlet and ordering the canceled item
in the hope it might have been reintroduced again. There are even rumors that certain
outlets still offer it. As we said, it’s just a rumor and we couldn’t verify it.
Still, hope springs eternal.
Supersize
There’s a forgotten rule of marketing that goes: if your customers like something, give
them more of it. OK, we made that up. We’re not sure if it’s a marketing rule or not.
We never studied marketing. We only used our great skills of speculation and deducted that
this must have been the logic behind McDonald’s starting a campaign called Supersize. In simple
terms, the fast-food chain gave the customers the choice to upgrade their orders of fries
and drinks to an extra-large size. Shortly after the supersize option hit the street,
a documentary called Super Size Me hit the theatre, TV stations or wherever people watch
documentaries. In it, a person named Morgan Spurlock claimed to eat only McDonald’s
food for 30 days, and he would only supersize a meal when asked. Spurlock’s body, health,
and wellbeing underwent some awful changes. Eventually, his dishonest practices with the
documentary came to light - he was eating over 5000 calories a day and not exercising;
anyone would be in poor health with those sorts of choices, no matter where the food
was coming from! Still, despite the documentary being over-dramatized at best, what the people
saw convinced them that having too much of McDonald’s fries and beverages weren’t
such a good idea after all. The company came to the same conclusion and discontinued the
campaign shortly after.
McJordan Special
In the early 1990's there were two names that seemingly ruled the world; McDonald's and
Michael Jordan. Imagine if those two giants came together to give us something special?
Well, imagine no more as that's exactly what happened. The NBA legend and fast food giant
came together to give us the McJordan Special. A 1/4 pound beef patty with cheese and bacon
topped with barbecue sauce, mustard and plenty of pickles. Many may say that the McJordan
is just a fancy Quarter Pounder with bacon, and that may be the case, but the Quarter
Pounder doesn't have Michael Jordan! For those out there that are too young to know who Jordan
is, then you're in for a treat. Jordan was a hall of fame basketball player who also
played baseball after his retirement. Where Jordan really made his mark in the NBA was
with the Chicago Bulls. Winning six NBA championships, including a 'three-peat,' Jordan very quickly
became the most famous, and richest, sports star on the planet. With his use of slam dunks,
he also earned the nicknames 'Air-Jordan' and 'His-Airness.' Unfortunately, this team-up
didn't last long, which is a shame!
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