The world’s largest fast food burger chain is making changes to its menu and bringing back a long forgotten former mascot.
On Monday, McDonald’s announced it would be making some minor changes to its existing burger line that it hopes will “add up to a big difference.”
Among the changes, McDonald’s will be upgrading its buns to be softer and more “pillowy.” The buns will also be toasted, the fast food chain says.
Additionally, McDonald’s is upgrading its cheese to be more “perfectly melted” and introducing caramelized onions to burger patties while they’re still on the grill.
And for the iconic Big Mac, you can expect more sauce in each bite.
McDonald’s says these changes have already been rolled out in some international markets, but the improvements will now come stateside to the world’s biggest burger market.
The changes are already being deployed along the West Coast, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Seattle and Portland, as well as major metropolitan areas in the southwest and Rocky Mountains.
Chad Schafer, Senior Director of Culinary Innovation at McDonald’s USA, said his team of chefs have been poring over the existing menu to find ways to improve and innovate.
“We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever,” Schafer said.
McDonald’s has faced some rising threats from fast casual burger joints like Shake Shack and Five Guys. It’s also made a switch from frozen to fresh beef in recent years; a common slogan and feather in the cap for its fast food competitor Wendy’s.
The fast food giant also dipped its toe into the chicken sandwich wars with several crispy chicken sandwich offerings and has also offered the McPlant, a vegetarian Beyond Meat patty, at select markets across the country.
While these new changes launch McDonald’s into uncharted territory, the company is also turning back the clock and bringing back a former mascot that many millennial Americans grew up with.
McDonald’s announced that the Hamburglar, a mischievous burger—thieving bandit, is returning to McDonald’s marketing.
“Keep your eyes peeled for our very own red-handed fugitive (the OG hamburger influencer) who is back to his old burger-snatching tricks in our newest TV commercial,” McDonald’s said in a news release.