Less than 24 hours after stating it was losing share at breakfast, McDonald’s revealed its counterattack: Triple Breakfast Stacks.
The trio of double meat and double cheese layered breakfast sandwiches, available for a limited time starting Nov. 1, are the first new sandwiches to land on the morning grub menu since the 2013 debut of the Egg White Delight McMuffin.
McDonald’s said the Triple Breakfast Stacks were inspired by the chain’s so-called “secret menu,” which features a variety of unofficial creations ordered in restaurants each day.
“People have been hacking our menu for years - so much so that it’s inspired our new Triple Breakfast Stacks,” Manager of Culinary Innovation Chef Mike Haracz said in a statement.
The Triple Breakfast Stacks, which look like a breakfast version of a Big Mac, feature two slices of melted American cheese between two sausage patties – all topped with Applewood smoked bacon and an egg. They come on a choice of a toasted McMuffin, a biscuit, or McGriddles cakes.
Linda VanGosen, vice president of menu innovation, said the hefty sandwiches are a direct response to customers asking for a “bigger, more filling sandwich option in the mornings.”
McDonald’s has dominated its QSR rivals at breakfast since the debut of the now iconic Egg McMuffin in 1971. But in a Tuesday morning earnings call, the Chicago-based chain said it is losing ground at breakfast despite an overall solid performance in the third quarter.
One reason for the breakfast slump: the company had not delivered consumers anything new in years, officials said.
“We’ve got to do better at breakfast,” CEO Steve Easterbrook said during the call.
Besides adding new morning grub, the company is luring customers by rotating in more breakfast items on its $1 $2 $3 Dollar Menu. In September, the company added any size McCafé brewed coffee, the Sausage McMuffin and the Sausage Biscuit to the three-tiered menu. Each cost $1.
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