McDonald’s Chicken Big Mac has been spotted in enough locations around the world to spark social media fodder, reaching a fever pitch last weekend at a popup in Los Angeles, where guests unknowingly sampled the new menu item from a fictional concept called “McDonnell’s.”
Now, McDonald's is bringing the Chicken Big Mac to restaurants nationwide starting Oct. 10 for a limited time while supplies last. Pricing is determined by individual market. The offering features the same signature Big Mac toppings (minus the onions) – special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and a sesame seed bun – but includes two tempura-battered chicken patties in lieu of two all-beef patties.
“With the introduction of the Chicken Big Mac, we’re excited to pay homage to one of our most iconic menu items, the Big Mac, and introduce it to a whole new generation of fans,” chief marketing and customer experience officer Tariq Hassan said in a statement. “By tapping into some of our fans’ biggest passions from dupe culture to live-streaming, we’re able to serve up more than just a sandwich. There truly is something for everyone to enjoy in this campaign and we’re bringing experiences that will surprise and delight them, all before the Chicken Big Mac hits restaurants.”
“Dupe culture” is the practice of finding cheaper alternatives to in-demand products often bragged about online. McDonald’s leveraged the trend with its McDonnell’s popup experience, offering the menu item for one day only as “The Chicken Sandwich” served alongside other signature items from the chain, such as beef tallow fries, deep-fried apple pie and soft-serve ice cream.
To promote the Chicken Big Mac, McDonald’s has recruited streamer/YouTuber Kai Cenat and his friends to answer whether the Chicken Big Mac is actually a Big Mac on his Twitch channel. Cenat has 13.4 million followers on Twitch, making him one of the most subscribed streamers of all time on the channel.
The Chicken Big Mac launch comes as McDonald’s works to turn around a rare same-store sales decline from last quarter as lower-income consumers pull back from dining out. The company launched its $5 Meal Deal in late June, which has helped generate traffic, prompting an extension of the promotion through December. Reports have shown the Meal Deal has also helped McDonald’s gain some market share in this promotional environment.
The introduction also comes as McDonald's leans more heavily into chicken, an intensifying category driven by consumer demand. Last year, McDonald’s rebranded its crispy chicken sandwich to the McCrispy as part of its broader strategy to gain share in the chicken market. The McCrispy has since become a $1 billion brand. The initial crispy chicken sandwich was first launched in 2021 and has performed well, helping the chain to gain about a point of share on chicken in its first year. During McDonald’s Investor Day event in December 2023, executives said its chicken business is now on par with its beef business, generating about $25 billion in sales. The company has plans to push the gas in this category, teasing an expansion of the McCrispy platform with items like tenders and wraps, as executives have repeatedly called chicken a “big opportunity” for the company.
The company is scheduled to report third quarter earnings on Oct. 29.
Contact Alicia Kelso at [email protected]
