Three New Kinds of Quarter Pounders Are On the Way
McDonald's seems to be following the old "toss enough stuff at the walls and see what sticks" adage, as the burger chain recently announced that it will be testing three new variations of its infamous Quarter Pounder: habanero ranch, deluxe and bacon cheese, starting this week.
This new product announcement comes just weeks after the fast food giant began testing an upgrade to their popular breakfast menu by offering a healthier version of the Egg McMuffin called the Egg White Delight McMuffin.
Interestingly enough, all of these changes come just one month after McDonald’s saw its first decline in profits since 2003, which ultimately led to global chief restaurant officer Jeff Stratton being named to succeed Jan Fields as president of McDonald’s USA.
Now, industry experts say that McDonald’s is working on introducing new products as a means for shifting people’s focus more toward their value meals rather than ordering individual items off their dollar menu. “Anything that brings the focus back to core products brings the focus back to bundled meals,” said Tim Nelson, president of Tris3ct advertising agency. He continued:
“If you innovate around your signature equities and do things that, while they bring new news to those products, can sell Extra Value Meals, you can work back to … getting customers in the habit of buying core products as part of a meal bundle, as opposed to a la carte … McDonald’s is lucky in that they’ve never played this card, and they’ve had the Quarter Pounder for how long? It’s fortunate that they have something that could be so substantially incremental to their offering and value perception.”
Starting Tuesday, McDonald’s will test their new Quarter Pounder with habanero ranch sauce, white cheddar and bacon in Northern California, according to a press release.