5 Major Changes You'll See at McDonald's In 2025
This past year has been a period of sweeping change for the world's preeminent fast-food chain. McDonald's rolled out upgraded versions of its signature burgers nationwide and completed its transition to 100% cage-free eggs in the United States. It also continued to expand its new drink-focused restaurant brand, CosMc's, and launched new menu items galore, including cajun chicken sandwiches, a Kit Kat Banana Split McFlurry, and the highly-anticipated Chicken Big Mac.
While we still have a little ways to go before 2024 comes to a close, the fast-food giant has already unveiled several major developments that are in the pipeline for 2025. And since they range from exciting new menu launches to improved affordability, many of these shifts will likely come as great news for fans of the Golden Arches.
Read on for the five major changes you'll see at McDonald's in 2025!
Bigger burgers are coming to menus
If McDonald's Big Macs and Quarter Pounders aren't quite satiating enough for your belly nowadays, prepare yourself for some exciting news. In response to customer demand for bigger, more satisfying burgers, the chain has created an extra-large sandwich called the "Big Arch"—which features two quarter-pound beef patties, three slices of cheese, crispy onions, pickles, lettuce, and a new tangy Big Arch sauce.
McDonald's began piloting the burger in several of its international markets over the summer of 2024, including Canada, Portugal, and Germany. Those tests turned out to be so successful that McDonald's is now accelerating its plans and intends to bring the Big Arch to more parts of the world in 2025, CFO Ian Borden announced during an October earnings call.
While company executives didn't reveal where they plan to introduce the Big Arch, McDonald's has previously designated America as one of the markets where there's an opportunity to offer bigger burgers. So, customers can keep their fingers crossed for a potential Big Arch launch in the States further down the road.
A new value menu
McDonald's is planning to go big on affordability in 2025 with its brand-new "McValue" menu. Slated to debut on Jan. 7, the new value lineup will include McDonald's $5 Meal Deal through next summer. Introduced in June and later extended by many franchisees due to its immense popularity, it comes with a 4-piece order of Chicken McNuggets, fries, a drink, and the customer's choice of either a McChicken sandwich or a McDouble.
The menu will also feature a "Buy One, Add One" offer that allows customers who purchase any full-priced McValue item to add another item from the menu for just $1. During breakfast hours, the Sausage McMuffin, Sausage Biscuit, Sausage Burrito, and Hash Browns will be offered as Buy One, Add One menu items. During lunch and dinner hours, the lineup will include Double Cheeseburgers, McChicken sandwiches, six-piece orders of Chicken McNuggets, and small fry orders.
On top of the national McValue menu, McDonald's restaurants throughout the United States will continue offering local deals and in-app offers to help customers save even more.
"When it comes to value, we know there's no one-size-fits-all. We've worked closely with our franchisees to create a new platform that will let our customers define value on their own terms," McDonald's USA President Joe Erlinger said in a statement. "From deals on their personal go-to order to universal favorites like the $5 Meal Deal, we're excited to give fans more ways to save every time they visit one of our restaurants."
A rapid expansion
McDonald's is already the world's biggest restaurant chain with over 40,000 locations in more than 100 countries. But in 2025 and beyond, McDonald's will grow its footprint far, far bigger.
Last year, the company announced ambitious plans to expand to a whopping 50,000 stores worldwide by the end of 2027. This will mark the fastest period of growth in McDonald's history and means that the burger chain will add roughly 10,000 new locations over the next few years. So, keep an eye out just in case you have a brand-new Mickey D's coming to your area in the near future.
Krispy Kreme doughnuts offered nationwide
Doughnuts are coming to McDonald's menus nationwide over the next couple of years, courtesy of Krispy Kreme. Back in 2022, McDonald's began selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts at select Kentucky locations as a test, and then expanded the treats to roughly 160 locations across Louisville, Lexington, and the surrounding areas.
That pilot run was so successful that McDonald's is now working to bring Krispy Kreme to all of its stores in the United States. The company expects to complete the national rollout by the end of 2026. However, it has already made significant progress on the initiative, recently debuting the popular doughnuts in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and east Tennessee. So, as McDonald's continues to expand its Krispy Kreme partnership in 2025 and 2026, keep an eye out for fresh doughnuts during your Mickey D's visits.
Fewer broken ice cream machines
McDonald's famously finicky ice cream machines have been a huge point of frustration among customers for a long time. However, a recent government decision will make it much easier for McDonald's stores to get their ice cream machines working again.
In October, the U.S. Copyright Office granted an exemption that will allow third parties to fix commercial food preparation equipment such as McDonald's ice cream machines. Previously, copyright law prohibited anyone but the manufacturer of McDonald's machines (Taylor) from getting past their software locks to fix them. The wait times for authorized repairers tended to be long. Meanwhile, restaurants could lose hundreds of dollars in sales daily while their soft serve machines were down.
Thanks to the new exemption, however, McDonald's operators are permitted to break through the software locks and hire third parties to fix their machines instead of Taylor. Hopefully, this will result in much faster fixes for broken machines and ensure McDonald's customers won't have to go without dessert.
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