McDonald's to launch new spring menu offerings

McDonald’s Corp. has confirmed the launch dates of several new menu items, spanning its breakfast, beverage and chicken menus.

Beginning March 25, three varieties of the chain's Premium McWraps will be available nationally: Chicken and Bacon, Chicken and Ranch, and Sweet Chile Chicken.

The large chicken entrees wrapped in flour tortillas were test-marketed at McDonald’s last autumn and coincidentally competed with rival Burger King’s launch of a premium chicken menu. As with other recent additions to the U.S. menu, such as Chicken McBites and the Cheddar Bacon Onion sandwich, McWraps have been imported from one of McDonald’s foreign markets, as they have been a popular item in Europe.

The Egg White Delight McMuffin, which was test-marketed in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta last November, will debut systemwide April 22. The sandwich features a whole-grain English muffin, egg whites, Canadian bacon and a slice of white Cheddar. A McDonald’s spokeswoman said the sandwich contains 250 calories.

McDonald’s is also making egg whites available for all of its breakfast sandwiches.

Finally, on May 15, the McCafé line of Real Fruit Smoothies will add a blueberry-pomegranate flavor. The chain has rolled out new frozen drinks during May the past two years, with the Cherry Berry Chiller launching in 2012 and the Frozen Strawberry Lemonade debuting in 2011.

During its recent fourth-quarter earnings call, McDonald’s officials said the company would accelerate its rollout of new menu items in the United States in the hopes of turning around recent slippage in same-store sales.

Global same-store sales decreased 1.5 percent in February, though an unfavorable calendar shift involving an extra day in February and the timing of Chinese New Year largely contributed to the overall decline. It was the fourth time in five months that monthly global same-store sales for McDonald’s were flat or negative.

Earlier this month, McDonald’s confirmed that it would discontinue the Fruit & Walnut Salad and Chicken Selects once supplies run out. Reports had speculated that the Angus Third Pounder line of burgers may also be on its way out, but the company did not comment on the sandwich’s fate.

Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s operates or franchises more than 34,000 restaurants worldwide, including more than 14,000 locations in the United States.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 15, 2013 An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that McDonald's offered Premium McWraps as a limited-time offer last fall. The item was only test-marketed, not a systemwide offering.

Contact Mark Brandau at mark.brandau@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @Mark_from_NRN