9 Major Changes Underway at McDonald's
With nearly 40,000 locations in over 100 countries, McDonald's is more than just the world's largest restaurant chain. It's a symbol of American fast food, drawing customers from far and wide with its iconic burgers, famous fries, and hot-selling chicken sandwiches.
Yet, despite its industry-leading status, the fast-food giant hasn't shied away from making significant changes to its business.
Customers saw dramatic changes last year, including new menu options, more digital and automated services, and an expanded partnership with the popular doughnut brand Krispy Kreme. This year, the transformation continues with several high-profile moves, like the recently launched $5 Meal Deal.
Over the last year, McDonald's has rolled out new items, tweaked its current offerings, directed its focus on affordability, and opened even more locations. Read on to discover nine major changes that are impacting McDonald's in 2024.
Cage-free eggs
In 2015, McDonald's pledged to source 100% cage-free eggs in the U.S. by 2025. The chain accomplished this goal two years early, announcing this achievement in February. To do this, McDonald's worked with animal welfare experts and academics to help egg producers build and renovate their farms and deploy new technology.
Now, every McDonald's-supplying egg farm in the U.S. has an attending veterinarian to ensure the hens receive a high level of care. The chain noted that these hens are "housed in an open environment that allows birds freedom to express their natural behaviors and includes enrichments such as perches, scratch areas and nests."
Improved burgers
Last year, McDonald's announced it would make more than 50 changes to its burgers to offer a hotter, juicier product. Some of these enhancements include using softer buns, adding white onions to the beef patties while they're on the grill, and cooking the patties in smaller batches. The upgraded burgers became available nationwide at the end of January.
Since the mass rollout of these burgers, McDonald's shared that it will launch a "larger, satiating burger." During an April earnings call, McDonald's CFO Ian Borden said the chain will test the burger in a few markets "later this year" to make sure it has "universal appeal before scaling it across the globe." The company has yet to reveal additional details about these new burgers.
New menu items
Burgers aren't the only new arrivals to land on McDonald's menu this year. The fast-food chain has debuted several new, limited-time items this year, most recently launching a Kit Kat Banana Split McFlurry. This dessert features creamy vanilla soft serve with real banana and strawberry clusters, plus Kit Kat chocolate pieces.
The chain also recently launched a new Special Grade Garlic Sauce, which is inspired by the Black Garlic Sauce sold at McDonald's locations in Japan. This limited-time offering features garlic and soy sauce notes with a "slight tangy sweetness."
Beyond the new launches, McDonald's recently revived its Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder with Cheese. This limited-time burger is made with McDonald's signature Quarter Pounder beef patty, two slices of American cheese, three half-strips of applewood-smoked bacon, Roma tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and a smoky BLT sauce on a toasted sesame seed bun.
A few other items that landed on menus for a limited time this year include the Grandma McFlurry, the Bacon Cajun Ranch McCrispy, and the Bacon Cajun Ranch Deluxe McCrispy.
A new value deal
Following mounting customer criticism over rising prices, McDonald's directed its focus on affordability by rolling out a new value deal this summer. On June 25, the chain began offering its $5 Meal Deal at locations nationwide. This deal includes a choice of a McDouble or McChicken sandwich, a small order of fries, four-piece Chicken McNuggets, and a small soft drink.
While McDonald's initially planned to offer this value meal for just four weeks, the chain is extending the deal at about 93% of its locations, according to a memo reported by Bloomberg News. While the timetables can vary across the U.S., some locations plan to offer the value meal through August.
In the memo, McDonald's said the value meal "is meeting the objective of driving guests back our restaurants." Going forward, the chain aims to boost its "affordability plans through the rest of the year."
More CosMc's locations
At the end of 2023, McDonald's opened its first CosMc's—a beverage-focused spinoff restaurant—in Bolingbrook, Ill. Since then, McDonald's has added more locations, opening new restaurants in the Texas communities of Arlington, Dallas, and Watauga. By the end of 2024, the chain plans to have 10 CosMc's locations open in the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio metro areas.
On its website, CosMc's currently lists two new locations as "coming soon"—one in San Antonio and another in Fort Worth. The company hasn't shared the exact timing for either opening.
More McDonald's locations
McDonald's presence is getting even larger—both this year and beyond. During a February earnings call, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski shared that the chain plans to open more than 2,100 restaurants in 2024. Of these locations, about 500 will be in the U.S. and the chain's International Operated Markets (IOM), while the chain expects to open more than 1,600 restaurants in its International Developmental Licensed Markets (IDL). About 1,000 of these will be in China.
Looking further into the future, McDonald's announced last December that it expects to reach 50,000 U.S. restaurants by 2027. This expansion would signify the chain's "fastest period of growth in the brand's history."
Krispy Kreme expansion
Select McDonald's locations have been selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts since the fall of 2022, when the chain first tested the dessert at nine locations. After expanding its partnership last year with Krispy Kreme to offer doughnuts at more than 160 locations in the Kentucky communities of Lexington and Louisville, McDonald's is making the beloved doughnuts even more widely available.
In March, the fast-food chain announced that it is deploying a "phased market rollout across the country," noting that customers will begin to see the doughnuts at their local McDonald's later this year. The chain expects the doughnuts to be available on a nationwide scale by the end of 2026. The flavor options include the Original Glazed, Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles, and Chocolate Iced Kreme-Filled.
The elimination of free refills in some stores
After announcing that it will phase out all of its self-serve drink stations at restaurants across the U.S. by 2032, McDonald's revealed another drink-related change this year: the potential end of free refills.
A McDonald's representative confirmed to CBS News that individual franchises will get to choose if they charge for refills. Some McDonald's locations have already done away with self-serve drink machines, a change aimed at creating a consistent experience for customers and employees across all ordering channels, including delivery, the mobile app, kiosks, drive-thru, and in-restaurant.
The return of bagels
While fans have mourned the loss of McDonald's bagels since the item's 2020 discontinuation, select restaurants have been bringing the breakfast staple back. For customers searching for their favorite bagel sandwich, there's even a public spreadsheet compiling the list of locations where this offering has been spotted.
At these locations, McDonald's fans can snag a bagel as a sandwich, which features a toasted buttered bagel with egg, American cheese, and a choice of bacon, sausage, or steak.
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